 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: C.Elizabeth07
Date: 2012-09-11 23:32
I'm in the universities contemporary music ensemble and I'm playing this INSANE piece by Philippe Hurel. It is just non stop finger gymnastics and bizarre rhythms (and time signatures.... like 2 1/2 over 4???) There are also quarter tones.
I'm new to contemporary music and have no idea what I'm doing interms of playing quarter tones. Are there "standard" fingerings for them? Should I bend the pitch up or down? Any help or advice on how to approach this would be great.
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Author: Simon Aldrich
Date: 2012-09-12 03:34
After a few decades of playing quarter-tones in my contemporary ensemble, the other clarinetist and I have, unintentionally and without consulting each other, settled on what might be called "standard" fingerings. This is a result of the fact that one wants the most resonant and audible quarter-tone fingering that actually produces a quarter-tone for each note. So you end up using the same quarter-tone fingerings over time, by necessity.
In the beginning we consulted Rehfeldt's "New Directions", but the reality of needing strong, sonorous quarter-tone fingerings renders most of the fingerings in New Directions unusable in ensemble settings.
Composers and conductors don't understand that rendering a note quarter-tone usually kills its resonance and you usually end up scrambling to find a more audible fingering because they can't hear the quarter-tone above the din. Often the most resonant quarter-tone fingering does not produce a true quarter-tone, but that is OK for most situations.
Simon
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Author: C.Elizabeth07
Date: 2012-09-13 03:54
Thank you! I got a few fingering charts, requested a book and will have to apologize to everyone in the practice rooms next to me, (and the people in my apartment) but I am going to figure this crap out. I've been playing for almost 20 years. Had a good run free-lancing before going back to school for my M.M. I didn't think something could make me feel like I was learning the clarinet all over again from square one!
Question in regards to tuning quarter tones (and this may be a dumb question....but what should the tuner read if it is "in tune"?
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Author: Campana
Date: 2012-09-13 07:44
50 cents deviation from adjoining half tones, or have I misunderstood the question.
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Author: maxcoletti
Date: 2012-09-13 08:20
I think an open mouthpiece and softer reed will also be very helpful for lipping microtones up/down as needed. That's routinely done e.g. in Turkish art music on clarinet.
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