Author: maxopf
Date: 2014-06-25 09:40
I've been playing in a high school youth orchestra for 2 years. While ideally matching clarinets would be best, I have no problem switching between a Yamaha 650 Bb and an R13 Prestige A, and they're pretty different (keywork styles are different, for example, and the A clarinet has the extra little finger Ab/Eb key whereas the Bb clarinet does not.)
The main thing to get used to is switching instruments, especially in the middle of a piece. You can (and should) use the same mouthpiece, reed, and ligature on both, but make sure you grease the cork on the mouthpiece often so your setup doesn't fall apart during instrument switches. (I've played some pieces with really fast switches where my setup falling apart would've meant totally missing an entrance. Take a look at the sheet music for Night on Bald Mountain... 4 or 5 switches total throughout the piece, many of which only give you 5-7 bars of fairly fast 2/4 time to make the switch.) After moving the mouthpiece from one clarinet to the other, make sure you warm up the instrument by blowing warm air through it, otherwise you'll come in flat. I would also get a clarinet stand so that you have somewhere to put one clarinet while using the other.
Barrels are not compatible between A and Bb clarinet, so if you have, for example, a Clark Fobes barrel for your Bb clarinet and you want to use a Clark Fobes on your A, you'd need to get a new one specifically for A clarinet.
That's all I can think of, but I'll leave another comment if I think of something else... Good luck with your new instrument. I personally love playing A clarinet, probably more so than Bb. It has a different timbre, plus there's all sorts of great music written for it (Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A, for example.)
Post Edited (2014-06-25 10:01)
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The Clarinet BBoard
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