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Position:Home>Performing Arts> Why is it called the "B-flat" clarinet?Question: Why is it called the "B-flat" clarinet!? Ok, so I've been playing clarinet for 8 years now!.!.!. and I feel stupid asking this!. What does the B-flat in the soprano clarinet's title mean!? It has to do with the way the clarinet's built!. When we tune on a concert C, my tuner always says I'm playing a B-flat, which I've never understood!.!.!. I'm looking for a music theory answer that will finally help me understand my instrument!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Captain Liger actually has it exactly reversed!. If you play "C" on your clarinet, it sounds like "Bb" on the piano!. So, if you were playing unison with a concert-pitched instrument (such as piano), you'd have to play a whole-step higher to match pitch with the piano!. There is a long history about why things are this way!. To make a long story short, it was because various instrument makers couldn't agree on a standard (absolute) pitch for tuning!. Finally, in 1955, the International Organization for Standards defined the A above middle C should be 440 Hertz!. Most strings and keyboards adapted to the standard pitch!. But wind instruments retained their historical tunings, mainly for defining certain ranges or timbres of those instruments!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Since the time of recorders playing groups called consorts, wind instruments were made in families!. The next largest member was 1!.5 the length of the previous one!. The ghris one was twive the length of the first - the fourth on, twice the length of the second, etc!. This meant that they were tuned a fifth apart - F,C,F,C!. Over the years, we got accustomed to the warmth of the voice of the clarinet when its fundamental tone was Bb!. Ever hear a C clarinet!? Just a little shriller!. SO that players could more easily change form one WOODWIND to another, common fingerings became relatively standard in their basic forms, and the SIZES of the instruments defined their fundamental pitches!. Thus - we have alternating saxes in Bb and Eb, same with clarinets!. Flutes!? C and G (alto flute - the high flute in G is more often seen in Irish bands)!. Db piccolo!? To afoid certain difficult key signatures, like using the A clarinet!.Www@QuestionHome@Com It's called a B-flat clarinet because your C is the same as a concert B-flat!. If you were to play some piano music, for example, and you read a C and played your C, it would actually sound like the piano's B-flat!. I was a little confused at first too ^_^ EDIT: Thanks auxpowerunit for pointing out that I was backwards! I was in a huge hurry because I'm sick and my dad was yelling, so I didn't actually proof read it (which I usually do!.!.!.!.three times) >!.< It has been fixed though! lol Thanks again for pointing that out!Www@QuestionHome@Com |