I want to play directly from piano sheet music with piano accompaniment. Does anyone know of an adapter to change a B-flat clarinet to a C? (Shorter barrel?)

I don`t know if there is a shorter barrel to change the key of the instrument, but I`d suggest you just transpose your music. Use Finale and it will do it for you.

I`m not familiar with Finale. Is it a software pkg? Is it web accessible? Please advise. Thanks.

Jim, this is a perfect opportunity to begin learning to transpose on the fly. The more you play, the more you`re gonna find yourself in a situation where it`s necessary. It`s a fairly simple concept that gets easier to execute with practice. First, find what key it`s in and add two sharps (e.g. 2 sharps becomes 4 sharps, 3 flats becomes 1 flat, 6 sharps becomes 4 flats). Then, run through the scale of the key you end up in a few times. Then, start playing, but move every note up a spot (lines move up to the next space, spaces move up to the next line). Take it slow at first, and you`ll get the idea pretty quick. Good luck.

You can either transpose the music at sight (read it a whole step up) or get some software to do it for you. You can find this software online. Try downloading Finale Notebook (it`s free). You can also buy better programs if you plan to do a lot of this. The clarinet, however, cannot be changed to another key by getting new barrels or anything else.

Can anyone tell me where to purchase sheet music for bflat? Hymns or praise & worship music for church. We are trying to start a jr. high/high school group at church and need music for bflat instruments (trumpet,trombone, clairnet). I have found a couple Fred Bock but they are one-page, too simple. Thanks.

Karen -- sometimes, if you buy scores for music (that is, vocal and instrumental parts), you`ll get some b-flat parts included. Otherwise, you can transpose C parts by taking every note up a whole step (and the key signature would change by a whole step to, from, say, D to E). If you don`t know how to do this, get a musician to help you out.

""The clarinet, however, cannot be changed to another key by getting new barrels or anything else.""

Woah! Yes it can! I have 4 barrels for my clarinet and each one changes the key. I have one that makes it play in C as well.

-Jen

Jen,

What other keys can you play in with your barrels, and what company makes them? Barrels usually change the pitch and timbre of a clarinet, not the key. I`m curious to see what company makes these barrels. I find it hard to believe that a barrel can be made to change the key of a clarinet without the pitch and tone suffering.

Like my mouth peice they were custum made. One of them was bought from NOVA and it`s an A, then I have custom ones fo C, Eb, and I have an Ab one as well. They don`t let the tone or timbre suffer either.

Do you have a contact for "NOVA".

Jen, I have some trouble believing that. If it were really possible, why would people buy expensive clarinets in different keys? If you have it on hand, I`d love to contact this company as well.

honestly don`t have contact info, people by different clarinets because they sound better than this

I am a proffesional clarinetist of many, many years and I have never heard of such a thing. I find it somewhat hard to believe that it is possible "without letting the tone or timbre suffer". Could you provide a little more detail on the company and equipment, at the least? My curiosity is killing me!

Surely a different barrel could only ever change the base pitch. C Clarinet would have its holes spaced differently.