 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Klarnt
Date: 2021-04-04 01:57
Okay so I was thinking... Why is there no Long Eb/Bb on most Bb Soprano Clarinets?
Most Alto/Tenor, Bass, & the Contras have low Eb, so why doesn't the Soprano? I know that Bass Clarinets have them because transposition with A or Wagner or whatever, but why wouldn't a common feature in the Clarinet family be on the most common member of the Clarinet family?
I guess some would ask, Why would you want a Low Eb on the regular (not-full Boehm) Bb Clarinet? What use would it have, all it does is add weight & would rarely be used.
Well, it adds range. Now we could play as low as an Alto Saxophone! I'm not sure how useful that'd be, but it'd be cool. Also, it gives us another way to play Bb!
Or would it? Maybe I'm a bad player, but the last I checked on my Bass Clarinet when I finger the Clarion equivalent to Low Eb instead of getting a Bb I get a really flat B natural. Hm.... that's odd. By the way, I mention what happens on the Bass Clarinet because I don't have a Clarinet that plays to low Eb therefore I cannot test if it can play a Long Bb in the Clarion register.
Here's the thing: I don't understand the physics behind intonation of the Clarinet. All I know is that temperature, length, size of holes, & volume (loud/quiet) affects the pitch. I don't know the why behind these things, but I'll try to explain my thought process.
Let's assume the physics between the Bass Clarinet & Soprano Clarinets are similar enough. So say that Low Eb is added to the Bb Soprano and it plays in tune with the instrument. And then I press the register key and... Oh no, Long Bb is extremely sharp! Alright fine, let's then extend the instrument (which shouldn't be too hard because the Clarinet is 'cylindrical'*). Great, long Bb is in tune, but... Oh no, Low Eb is extremely flat! But... what if we add a hole that only opens when the register key is NOT pressed? That way Long Bb will play in tune (with the hole closed), and Long Eb will play in tune (with the hole open).
Anyways, why would I want to do all of that for obtaining two notes? I hate throat Bb so much. The dang note appears so often in my music. It's not that I struggle with the bridge or anything, it's more like my long C is explosively loud & fat compared to throat Bb's quiet & thin sound. Yeah I'm aware of holding down the right hand & the alternative fingering on the side, but Bb still sucks. With the right hand I still have a weak note. With the side key, while Bb is much stronger, it's very awkward to move from the Chalumeau to Clarion (& vise-versa but worse) like that. I will admit that the side key is my preferred method and I will use the alternative fingering as often as I can; even if it might be frowned upon.
Wouldn't it be nice if there was a Long Bb? If we had one it would keep a similar timbre to the lower half of the Clarion register. If you don't have short pinkies, you could easily trill or play phrases without sacrificing C,B, or Bb. No more airy/weak trills is a plus! Right? You could play music that demand alot of C to Bb action & not get two very different sounds! In my opinion, the current throat Bb is a outdated compromise that had more than enough time to be fixed. But who knows, if it ain't broke why fix it?
All I'm saying is that it'd be nice to have a long Bb/Eb. What do you think?
Post Edited (2021-04-04 01:59)
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2021-04-04 03:58
I hate that every great idea I ever have, somebody else already thought of it. At least this time it's not me. Full Boehm soprano clarinets do have the low Eb you refer to, or at least a low Eb - I don't know if it's the same mechanism as on other clarinets. Full Boehm instruments also come with several other extras, which others can list (or it's online.)
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Author: Klarnt
Date: 2021-04-04 04:25
I'm aware of Full-Boehm soprano Clarinets. Could they play a long Bb (in tune) though?
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2021-04-04 12:08
Attachment: r4430.jpg (330k)
Klarnt wrote:
"I'm aware of Full-Boehm soprano Clarinets. Could they play a long Bb (in tune) though?"
Yes.
Although the term 'Long Eb/Bb' you're using should only be reserved for the long Bb fingering (Sp.Th. xoo|xoo - best as a Bb than lower register Eb which is too sharp) as the 'Long Eb/Bb' you're describing is best called 'Low Eb' as that's what it is - low Eb.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2021-04-04 12:11)
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Author: Matt74
Date: 2021-04-04 21:32
The problem with the clarinet is, well it's a clarinet. You're absolutely right that the throat Bb is a problem, but that's really what makes it a clarinet. Moving the Bb key to double as a register key is what made the "chalumeau" a "clarinet", because by doing so it could play in the clarino range.
It's kind of like the bassoon. If you fixed all the problems with the bassoon by eliminating all the stuffy notes, you'd have something more like a saxophone - and who want's that? (Sorry Chris...)
As so astutely observed by Cole Porter, "You're the nose, on the Great Durante." Who wants Jimmy Durante with a nose job? It's the Top! https://youtu.be/i6oGytt0Hiw
Usually the Bb can be fixed satisfactorily by keeping the register tube clean and having adequate venting. The difference between the long and short notes is inherent of course, but don't forget the option of playing "C" with the trill keys.
- Matthew Simington
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2021-04-04 22:14
Klarnt wrote:
> Wouldn't it be nice if there was a Long Bb? If we had one it
> would keep a similar timbre to the lower half of the Clarion
> register. If you don't have short pinkies, you could easily
> trill or play phrases without sacrificing C,B, or Bb. No more
> airy/weak trills is a plus! Right? You could play music that
> demand alot of C to Bb action & not get two very different
> sounds!
The downside to more hardware at the bottom of the clarinet is the possibility of increased confusion about which key is which. I have one clarinet that had a LH Ab/Eb on it. After a couple of months I removed it. The extra posts are still on the clarinet, but the key sits in a drawer. I found it more often than not in my way when using the other standard keys and too rarely of benefit to be worth the risk of accidentally hitting it when I wanted to play LH E/B or F#/C#. Maybe practice would have made things easier, but my other clarinets don't have the extra key. OTOH my bass clarinet's low Eb key (which I confess I've never tried to use as a Bb) is a reach for my right hand. It might be easier on the smaller (soprano) instrument, but I'd still have to reach over RH E/B and F#/C# to get to it.
An "airy/weak" quality is not necessarily endemic to the standard throat Bb fingering. It may not be ideally resonant or perfectly in tune, but it can be played with clarity, if the reed and mouthpiece combination is responsive, and improved with resonance fingerings, if there's time in the music.
> In my opinion, the current throat Bb is a outdated
> compromise that had more than enough time to be fixed.
That same clarinet that had the LH Ab/Eb, a Patricola C clarinet that I bought several years ago, has a very effective mechanism for correcting the throat Bb problem. It's one of the features I like most about the instrument. Unlike Mazzeo's attempt to do something similar, Patricola's mechanism doesn't require the player to change any of his normal fingering habits. I don't know if Patricola's solution is protected by a specific patent, but I think it's a good solution to an age-old problem. I suspect there have been other proprietary mechanisms added to clarinets but, because they haven't AFAIK been picked up by Buffet, Selmer or Yamaha, they aren't known to most of us.
Karl
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