Hello,

I am a non-clarinetist arranging "Clarinet Polka" and I'd like to know... what key do you clarinetists prefer (or what is most common) for this piece?


thanks!

Note: please indicate whether the key you state is at concert sounding pitch or at transposed B♭ clarinet written pitch.

Well, I don't know about this piece specifically, but the difficulty of different keys depends on the experience of the player. A good clarinetist can play in pretty much any key, although there are things you need to avoid. If you want to be safe, stick to anything from three flats to three sharps (written).

If you really want to make sure you don't write anything akward, get a good fingering chart that includes alternate fingerings and just go through to make sure there are no impossible changes (for instance avoid writing Eb-C-Db-Eb in the second register).

i have a version of "clarinet polka", the main melody starts in Cmaj (clarinet pitch)

<Added>

thought you may like to know, it modulates to 1'#' in the 1st development, then modulates again to 1'b' in the 2nd development

Bb (concert pitch, written C-Maj) - I think this is the original key, very easy to play. It's the most idiomatic key for this piece, being mostly arpeggios. The arpeggios will sound effortless for most players.