Thanks for stopping by!
This is a new home for the reference material I’ve been working on behind the scenes. Bit by bit existing material will be re-released here as new material is developed, and I hope this is helpful for your work as a clarinettist, other instrumentalist or composer. I also welcome suggestions for future posts: what are you finding difficult at the moment? What do you want to know more about? What is a topic on which there are very few or no online resources? Feel free to suggest any of the above and more using my contact form.
Enjoy!
Over the last six months I’ve been busy upgrading my original Leblanc contralto and contrabass clarinets. These heritage instruments were built in the 1960s and have surely seen their fair share of action. I purchased my contrabass in 2008 and my contralto in 2021 from second-hand dealers and have been playing them in various orchestras and smaller ensembles ever since.
Thoughts on the nomenclature of the contralto or contra-alto clarinet
A guide to the transpositions, ranges and characters of the clarinet family
New arrangements for clarinet!
New chart: 88 Fingered multiphonics in multiple voicings for Leblanc contralto & contrabass clarinets
A brief post on the use of a microtonal scale in a work by Karlheinz Stockhausen
Information and speculation on the modern clarinet d’amore
Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin is an opera that was completed in 1848 and is scored for a large orchestra, stage musicians and of course, singers. The clarinet section comprises four parts: 1st, 2nd, 3rd and bass clarinets. The 1st and 2nd parts double on A, B-flat and C instruments. The 3rd on A and B-flat. The bass clarinet part is written in A and B-flat.