 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: maxopf
Date: 2016-02-08 03:09
I just noticed something very interesting about resonance fingerings for throat tones.
When I overblow throat tones by a 12th, they come out really flat. (e.g. overblowing throat G to altissimo D comes out about 20 cents flat, and overblowing throat A to altissimo E comes out more than 50 cents flat.) However, when I add the best resonance fingerings that I typically use for the throat tones, the overblown notes come out right in tune, or at least very close.
I understood that resonance fingerings altered the upper harmonics of the throat tones, but I didn't realize that they would directly affect the overblown notes. But I guess it makes sense - by bringing the 12th in tune, the throat tones sound more resonant.
Post Edited (2016-02-08 03:13)
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Author: kdk
Date: 2016-02-08 03:20
The altissimo harmonics for the throat fingerings - F#(4), G, G#, A and Bb don't necessarily need to be that flat. If they were, they couldn't be used as alternate fingerings for C#5, D5, D#5 and E5.
I haven't tried any of those fingerings as altissimo alternates with resonance fingers added, but I would intuitively have thought adding those fingers would flatten the pitches or drive them up to even higher harmonics. I'll have to try them later.
Karl
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Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2016-02-08 04:31
Maxopf wrote:
>> I just noticed something very interesting about resonance fingerings for throat tones.
>> When I overblow throat tones by a 12th, they come out really flat. (e.g. overblowing throat G to altissimo D comes out about 20 cents flat, and overblowing throat A to altissimo E comes out more than 50 cents flat.) However, when I add the best resonance fingerings that I typically use for the throat tones, the overblown notes come out right in tune, or at least very close.
>> I understood that resonance fingerings altered the upper harmonics of the throat tones, but I didn't realize that they would directly affect the overblown notes. But I guess it makes sense - by bringing the 12th in tune, the throat tones sound more resonant.>>
This is a beautiful way of looking at the situation that I'd never thought of myself. Thanks very much for that.
It's a commonplace of period instrument playing that the alternative fingerings for say, top C#, D, Eb and E involve right hand additions to make them viable. But the direct theoretical connection to resonance fingerings, which we also use a great deal, had nevertheless passed me by.
Clearly, what makes the normal modes of the (complicated) lattice that is the clarinet coincide with the harmonic series of the lower note that you're playing, must both improve the sound of that lower note AND make the 'overblown' note in tune.
Mostly on the modern clarinet, we're limited by interlocking keywork in our exploration of these effects – apart from the throat notes. But that's not true on simpler instruments; and going to the extreme: on an early basset clarinet, you can independently add the bits at the bottom to make a great difference even in the lower clarion register: C, C#, D and so on.
Great post:-)
Tony
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Author: Dibbs
Date: 2016-02-08 15:48
kdk wrote:
> ... I would intuitively have
> thought adding those fingers would flatten the pitches or drive
> them up to even higher harmonics ...
That's what usually happens but not always. There's an interesting effect on my tarogato. The high B (above the first ledger line) is very flexible and hard to hit in tune. If I add R3 and the low C key it stablises and pops in tune. If I lip it sharp and add those fingers it goes flatter but if I lip it flat and add them it goes sharper. I'll check this evening if they improve the resonance of the lower B too. It doesn't need improving but it will be interesting to see.
The high C on my early clarinet goes sharper when I add right hand fingers too. As Tony says, it's the linkages on on Boehm system instruments that stop these things working, specifically the long Bb linkage.
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Author: Wes
Date: 2016-02-08 23:28
Well I haven't tried the 12ths from the throat notes lately. I recall them being a little flat on some older clarinet. However, on my five year old Buffet Prestige, they are quite good 12ths, even to the Bb 12th.
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Author: maxopf
Date: 2016-02-09 04:17
@kdk and Wes, I can bring them more or less up to pitch on my Prestiges, but they definitely sit on the low side with a neutral embouchure/voicing (especially as you go up.) My main point is that they are easier to play in tune and sit higher when using the throat tone resonance fingerings. Perhaps I will record a short video later demonstrating the effect.
@Tony Pay and Dibbs, that's very interesting about early instruments and Tarogatos! I'd never thought about the possibility of using "resonance fingerings" in the chalumeau register of the basset clarinet, but it makes a lot of sense. I'd be curious to try it if I ever have the opportunity to play a basset clarinet.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2016-02-09 05:25
Max, are you using the register key to vent the harmonics or only overblowing? What resonance fingerings are you using - what tone holes are you covering? A little experimenting on my 1970s 10G shows that adding right hand fingers to those harmonics (with or without opening the register vent) flattens the pitches. This may be a function of the individual clarinet's design.
Karl
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Author: maxopf
Date: 2016-02-09 06:50
No register key, just overblowing. (I would add the register key for tuning purposes if I were actually using the overblown notes in a piece of music, of course, but in this case I'm not.) I'm playing on a Buffet Prestige A and Bb so maybe things are different.
G:
ooo|xxo
(ooo|xox and oox|xxo also work to an extent)
Ab:
oox|xoo
A:
oxx|oxxF/C
Bb:
oox|ooxF/C
Adding random right hand fingers does bring the pitch of the overblown note down. It's only when I use these specific resonance fingerings, the ones which I find most effective in the throat tones, that the pitch of the overblown note rises.
When I take a break from homework this evening I'll record a video.
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Author: Dibbs
Date: 2016-02-09 15:56
As predicted, the same fingers that centre the pitch of the high B on my tarogato also increase the resonance of the lower B. Now I'm looking for resonance fingerings for other short tube notes. I'd never thought to do that before on the tarogato.
Maxopf, you've definitely discovered something new here. It follows from the physics but if Tony has never spotted it before I doubt anyone has.
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