 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: colinthecamel
Date: 2011-03-14 21:40
I have just started to play the clarinet. What I would like to know is why the music score is wriitten as C for example but it says this sounds like a Bb. I cannot understand this at all. So am I playing a C or am I playing a Bb? Seems to be basic stuff but I just don't understand it. Please help!
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2011-03-14 22:11
sonicbang wrote:
> When you play a score in C it actually sounds in B. Simple.
You mean Bb ...
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Author: TomA ★2017
Date: 2011-03-14 22:57
Since sonicbang is writing from Hungary, he likely does mean "B", which is the name over here for Bb. "H" is the name for B-natural.
TomA
Bad Homburg, Germany
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Author: concertmaster3
Date: 2011-03-14 22:58
The clarinet is a transposing instrument, meaning that the written pitch is different from the sounding pitch.
Your clarinet (like the majority of clarinets) is in Bb, and that is what is used for most beginners, and the standard clarinet for bands and for most orchestral parts. This means that when you finger the note C, you will be playing the note Bb.
Clarinets come in many different keys also. The next most common is in A, which is a half step below the Bb clarinet. This clarinet paired with the Bb is the common orchestral setup for a player. The next 2 common are the Eb sopranino and Bb Bass, and then the C clarinet, which is used mostly in orchestral work, especially in operas.
I hope that clears up any confusion.
Ron Ford
Woodwind Specialist
Performer/Teacher/Arranger
http://www.RonFordMusic.com
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Author: Tony M
Date: 2011-03-15 04:08
It clears up any confusion about what a transposing instrument is but I still have difficulty understanding why we have them in the first place? I'm assuming that this relates to the family of instruments rather than a single instrument but I've never been 100% sure about how to explain it, particularly to a bass player friend who asks me about it on a regular basis.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2011-03-15 12:50
>>It clears up any confusion about what a transposing instrument is but I still have difficulty understanding why we have them in the first place? >>
The answer goes back to the way earlier versions of our instruments were made. Even today, the placement of the keys on a clarinet optimizes good intonation for the key of (clarinet) C major / A minor. The sharps and flats tend to come out less well in tune. Also, because the clarinet register change is a twelfth instead of an octave, there are many compromises in exactly where to put the holes. That means the too-sharp / too-flat errors are different in the clarion and the chalumeau registers.
The result is that even now, clarinets play with good intonation more easily in the key signatures with few sharps and flats. It's more difficult to overcome the problems with "remote" key signatures on the antique basset horns and clarinets with fewer keys. In "remote" key signatures, with more than four sharps or flats, these old instruments can go grossly out of tune unless played by unusually expert musicians.
With transposing instruments, composers can write in any key without worrying so much about the winds going off-pitch. That's why we rarely see orchestral clarinet parts in key signatures such as G-flat or F-sharp. The composer will just switch us to a different clarinet.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: Nessie1
Date: 2011-03-15 13:34
The only other thing that colin the camel might like to know is that other instruments which are transposing include saxophones (either a B flat/E flat family or an older, more unusual C/F family), trumpets (mostly in B flat and D but occasionally other keys, horns (french horn usually built in F but also plays in other keys) and cor anglais (in F).
Don't worry, Colin, it's something that probably mystified all of us when we started. I remember the first time I went to my (supposedly musically educated) piano teacher with an accompaniment for a clarinet piece, she was surprised to see that the key signatures were different for both of us.
Happy playing.
Vanessa.
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Author: Tony M
Date: 2011-03-16 08:07
So, if I understand this correctly, the thing behind transposing instruments is to accommodate composers (although I'm still not following this clearly, but I'm trying). I'm still not sure why the pitches of the clarinet, whichever clarinet, could not be named at concert pitch.
Harmonica players play an instrument that comes in twelve keys and all the pitches are named at concert pitch and they seem to get along ok, why couldn't we?
I'm not advocating change. I'm just still trying to work out the genesis of arrangement.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2011-03-16 15:31
No, writing for transposing instruments is actually more difficult and time-consuming for the composer. The transposing instrument makes life much easier for the clarinet players. We don't have to struggle so much to play in tune and the score is already pre-transposed for us so that we only have to memorize one set of fingerings that will work on any clarinet.
When we play the instrument that the composer indicated for that part, then if we see a B-flat at the middle of the staff in your score, we can play that note with the "pinch" of thumb and first finger no matter whether we're playing an E-flat sopranino clarinet, a soprano in C, a B-flat soprano, a clarinet in A, an E-flat alto, a B-flat bass, an E-flat contra-alto or a B-flat contrabass. If the music weren't transposed, then in order to get the transposing instrument advantage of playing with better pitch, we'd have to learn separate fingerings for each key of instrument.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: Philcoman
Date: 2011-03-16 18:55
Colinthecamel -- If it makes any difference, Lelia Loban's explanation of the transposed instrument is the first fairly clear one I've heard in 20 years with the clarinet. Whenever I've asked why the clarinet is transposed, most people's answers come down to "because it is."
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The Clarinet Pages
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