Hi there, to who can help me, that would be fantastic thank you.

I have just started learning the Eb clarinet, no lessons yet, just got it about 2 days ago, and am wondering for some tips on it?

I play the Bb, and am wanting to learn the Eb too, any guides would be great.

Thanks

Treat is just like your Bb clarinet only a little tighter in embuchure, breathing techniques, and fingerings. Never tune to the Bb clarinets....if you do you will be way off your mark...always tune to the Eb alto saxes and make sure you are sitting near the middle of the band so you can tune your ear to them.

work on the high register. Once you play the Eb, you`ll never want to go back. Its so much fun!

Could someone please explain to me the differences in the body of an Eb clarinet. I have seen some with 13 keys, 14 keys and 17 keys. On some the body is one piece others have upper and lower body parts. Also what about the fingering differences between Eb and Bb clarinets? Is Eb clarinet harder to play then a Bb clarinet?

I play a one peice Eb Clarinet. Some have two joints, it depends on the instrument and your preference. I would definitely say Eb Clarinet is more difficult to get a clear sound that is in tune. However, each type of clarinet has its different difficulties. Playing Eb clarinet has really improved my sense of pitch and intonation. Especially when I have to play up in the high register around F# G A and B in the 4th octave. If you have the patience to spend a lot of time on tuning, you will really enjoy the Eb Clarinet. In my opinion it is one of the most fun instruments to play.

Hi,

Sure, with few exceptions, that`s the only clarinet I`ve been playing for the last 16 years since I first tried it back in high school. After that, I really never went back to playing the B flat. As others have said here, it is an EXTREMELY fun instrument.

Someone said treat it just as B flat clarinet. I`d actually have to disagree with that (sorry); it is very different and you can bring the best sounds out of it by keeping that in mind and treating it differently. I think that those who try to play it just like a B flat miss out on the uniqueness of this instrument. It works, but not as well - you miss out on a particularly nice sound you can get.

Now, you can start playing it like a B flat clarinet, but eventually you will want to work on a different embeshure (spelling? sorry ). The specific difference with this is difficult to explain, but once you get it, it is noticably different. You will just have to play it a lot and try different things until you start getting a sound you like. Should be a kind of almost "sweet" sound that is clearest around upper G to C. The only advise I can give on this is to practice on it a LOT.

Remember that it is far more difficult to keep in tune. Get a tuner and find where each note tends to fall. For my instrument, the extremely high range from E to F# is sharp, then G to A are flat. You can try alternate fingerings to help with those. I made up some fingerings of my own that help a lot for E and F.

Don`t use reeds that are too hard. I use 3&1/2, but had been using 4`s in the [now distant] past. Turns out that it was a big mistake using the 4`s. They are very hard to control and in the battle to make them work, you lose a lot of the sweetness in the sound.

Don`t play too loud. It is easy to be very enthusiastic on this instrument, but in the upper range it is very high to start with and can even get shrill if you are not careful. Since on a B flat clarinet, it is often good to be louder, especially in the lower range, playing softer overall on the E flat may take some getting used to.

Try very hard to listen to others if you are playing in a group, especially flutes and the pic. If you are not in tune with them, even if they are sometimes the ones who are out of tune , it will sound like you are the one who is wrong. You`ll spend a LOT of effort lipping up or down to adjust dynamically. A lot of E flat parts double the flutes and pic, so listen very carefully and adjust.

Speaking of doubling, I can tell you that most E flat parts (at least in band music) spend a lot of time doubling the 1st clarinet, the flutes, or the pic. And there`s also a lot of solo stuff, or an octave up when doubling a clarinet part. There`s also a lot of rests in certain peices, but that`s due to lazy composers/publishers/whatever in my not so humble opinion Anyway, you`ll be easy to hear in many cases and so have to be VERY careful to listen to intonation.

If you love E flat as much as I do, you may want to learn how to transpose B flat parts to you can play them on E flat. It takes a lot of effort to learn, but is well worth it in my opinion. But that`s if you really get into it.

There are actually some E flat clarinet solos. I have a bunch. But they are now out of print as far as I know. I`d have to dig back through my music to remember who published them and such. They have piano accompaniment.

Convince your group to play Holte`s First Suite in E flat; the E flat part is a blast There was also one called or by "Hammersmith" that I remember was particularly difficult yet enjoyable. There`s a bunch of others with particularly good E flat parts, but those are the only titles I remember off hand (I have kind of a bad memory for composer and song titles, sorry).

I play on a Yamaha, and it has been a great instrument. I`m currently in the market for an expensive instrument several steps up, but this one has been great for the price (about $800 in 1989). Anyway, mine is that 1-peice (doesn`t come apart) and I`m very happy with it.

As to the other question: Never played on a 2-peice E flat (the one that comes apart in the middle) but I doubt it matters much. Never heard of those having more/fewer keys; the ones I`ve played on all have the same number of keys as a B flat. I assume you`re talking about E flat soprano clarinet and not alto or contra-alto, right? The reason I ask is that I think I recall seeing an alto, bass, or contra-alto that had one extra key.

Hope that helps

Thanks

Gary

the eb is more difficult than the bb but once you get used to it its the greatest. I switched to it about a month ago and i love it.

but you dont always get a solo. Im in my HS`s oncert band. I used to be 3rd clarinet before i swiched to eb.

the conductor just took the 3rd claribet`s partr and transposed it a 5th down so that our parts sound exactly the same. we just got our new music for next year. i switched because i wanted to do something diffirent but it hasnt really made a diffirence in the sound of our band. it sucks when your an eb and your part tunes with the 3rd bb`s part. the fun of eb is about easily and claerly reaching high notes that are difficult on tha bb. but anyway its a great instrument and i love it.