Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
Subject: Re: clarinet arcana and transposition
From: comjohn@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz (Mr. John T Jensen)
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 02:22:35 GMT
 <1992Aug25.225722.21384@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz> <17el9lINNn59@darkstar.UCSC.EDU>
Organization: University of Auckland, New Zealand.

haynes@cats.ucsc.edu (Jim Haynes) writes:


>In article <1992Aug25.225722.21384@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz> comjohn@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz (Mr. John T Jensen) writes:
>>dgolber@aero.org (Dave Golber) writes:
>>
>>>Take a piece whose key signature has no sharps or flats, as written
>>>for A clarinet.  This means that when I play it on A clarinet, I have
>>>a (comparatively) easy time of it.  If I transpose it to play on Bb
>>>clarinet, I end up with a key signature full of flats ... lots of them.
>>>[Actually, it may be full of sharps ... I forget which ... I'm a humble 
>>>folk musician these days, and I don't do this kind of stuff.]
>>>As a result, the damn thing has become much harder to play.
>>
>>I dunno, this just sounds like saying what the prevous writer suggested:
>>that clarinets in keys a semitone or tone apart are to avoid the effort of
>>transposition, which we horn players have to do all the time.  Seems fairly
>>extreme to have to own two expensive instruments in order to avoid adding
>>five sharps (B-flat to A).  We horn players have to transpose all sorts of
>>rot.
>I think dgolber has a plausible explanation, which I hadn't thought of.
>What you're trying to avoid is not the transposition of the printed
>music; rather it is that the instrument is harder to play when there
>are lots of sharps and flats.  Maybe this doesn't apply to the horn,
>where you just have three valves anyway.  As a former high school
>clarinet blower myself I can testify that the sharps and flats tend
>to have more awkward fingerings than the naturals.  To get from C
>natural to D natural you move only one finger; to get from C# to D#
>you have to move three fingers.

Actually, to go from C# to D# on the horn I only have to move two fingers
(pointer up, ring finger down).  But ...

Yes, well, perhaps it is a LITTLE more awkward to play accidentals on the
clarinet than natural notes.  I play the recorder a bit and the fingering
principles are similar, so I know what you mean.  But he cites piano which
he thinks is less of a problem.  I don't see why it should be.  One is still
doing transposition.  And arguably black notes are a teeny bit harder, at
least for a relatively beginning player, than white notes.  But they don't
make B pianos :-) !  You just practise more.

Common sense says that there MUST be a reason for A clarinets other than
just the avoidance of transposition, but I can't see what it is.  I mean,
doesn't it seem like overkill to buy another maybe $500-$1000 instrument
just to avoid a little mental gymnastics?

Certainly transposition is commonly required of horn players, because
pre-valve horns they changed the KEY of the instrument by sticking a crook
in to lengthen it.  Double horns have a shorting tube to raise it from F to
B-flat, but this is to make high notes easier to play.  One doesn't use the
thumb valve to transpose.  It actually is an extra job for horn players, as
you learn a different set of fingerings for the B-flat horn and play it with
F-music (or whatever, but I am always playing at mentally in F).

Near transpositions, like dropping a semitone or a tone, are, in my
experience, quite simple, as you are just looking up or down a space or a
line on the music (and adjusting the key signature appropriately).  Far
ones, like a fourth or a fifth, are a bit tricker.  Effectively, I suppose,
I actually do them by treating the music as written in a different clef, and
learn the clefs as I need to.  I'm pretty good at music written in C
(usually played down a fourth) and D (down a third), because I happen to
have had to play music written like that.

Dunno.  Why DO they make clarinets in A and C??

jj

John Thayer Jensen                      64 9 373 7599 ext. 7543
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Newsgroups: rec.music.classical