Boehm system (clarinet)
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The Boehm system for the clarinet is a system of clarinet keywork, developed between 1839 and 1843 by Hyacinthe Klosé and Auguste Buffet jeune. The name is somewhat deceptive; the system was inspired by Theobald Boehm's system for the flute, but differs from it (necessarily, since the clarinet overblows at the twelfth rather than the flute's octave), and Boehm himself was not involved in its development.
Klose and Buffet took the standard soprano clarinet, adapted the ring and axle keywork system to correct serious intonation issues on both the upper and lower joints of the instrument, and added duplicate keys for the left hand and right hand little fingers to simplify several difficult articulations throughout the range of the instrument. The Boehm clarinet was initially most successful in France -- it was nearly the only type of clarinet used in France by the end of the 1870s -- but it started displacing the simple system clarinet and its descendants in Belgium, Italy, and America in the 1870s and, following the example of Manuel Gómez, a prominent clarinetist in London who used the Boehm system and the Full Boehm system clarinet, in England in the 1890s.[1] [2] By the early twentieth century, virtually all clarinets used by performers outside of Germany, Austria, and Russia were of the Boehm system or one of its derivatives. The only alteration to Klosé and Buffet’s clarinet that has wide currency is the Full Boehm system clarinet which was introduced by Buffet in the 1870s.
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[edit] Development
The clarinet was an inelegant instrument in the early 1800s in spite of the eight keys it had acquired. In 1812, Iwan Müller remodeled the instrument and raised the number of keys to thirteen. Other instrument makers made small improvements to Müller's design, but the Boehm system clarinet represented the first complete rethinking of the key system to attain success after Müller.
[edit] Historical Timeline
The historical timeline of the Boehm system clarinet is important for understanding its development.
- 1839 - 1843: Buffet and Klosé collaborated on the development of the Boehm system clarinet.
- 1839: Buffet exhibited a flute, piccolo, and clarinet patterned after the Boehm flute keywork system at the Paris Industrial Exhibition.
- 15 Dec 1843: Buffet applied for French patent no. 9759 for the construction of his clarinette à anneaux mobiles or ‘clarinet with moving rings’.
- 19 Feb 1844: His application was approved and the patent was granted.
- 1860s: The ‘clarinet with moving rings’ became known as the ‘Boehm clarinet’.
- 1870s: The Full Boehm system clarinet was introduced by Buffet in the 1870s.
[edit] How the instrument was changed
The ring keys that Boehm created when constructing his flute gave other instrument inventors the means to devise logical fingering systems that allowed for more physical agility. Ring keys and needle springs were the two major features in the design of Klosé and Buffet's new clarinet. However, they refrained from incorporating Boehm’s concept of full venting.
Ring keys virtually eliminated the problems of cross-fingerings. These rings surround the tone holes so that when a finger covers the tone hole, it also pushes a metal ring down to a level flush with the top of the hole. The ring, in turn, is connected to a long axle, or brille (borrowed directly from Boehm’s flute), which then causes another hole, somewhere else on the instrument, to be covered by a padded key.
As an original invention for the clarinette à anneaux mobiles, Buffet created the needle spring in order to control the opening and closing of keys. The needle spring is mounted on posts screwed directly into the wooden body of the clarinet and is used for all keys other than those with extremely short pivoting axles.
[edit] End Results
The acoustics, tone, and technique of the Boehm system clarinet are decidedly different than the pre-Boehm clarinet.
Shackleton writes, “In particular, it is easy to perceive that the pre-Boehm clarinet, with rather small tone holes spaced about 2 cm apart, should have very different characteristics from the Boehm instrument carrying tone holes every centimeter or so.” The tone of individual notes and the intonation of the scale depend on the precise relationship between the resonances. For example, if the second prominent resonance is not exactly an octave plus a fifth above the fundamental, the resonance will not be properly built and will therefore result in a less vibrant tone. Modern acoustical research has shown that the tone hole spacing on the Boehm system clarinet is ideal.[citation needed]
The tone of the Boehm system clarinet is more open sounding than its predecessors’ veiled sounding tone. Forked-fingerings and cross-fingerings create a greater number of closed holes which is another cause of the pre-Boehm clarinet’s dull sounding tone. Due to the advancements in keywork, the Boehm system clarinet does not rely on many forked-fingerings and cross-fingerings, therefore allowing for more open holes and a more vibrant tone.
Furthermore, Boehm keywork advancements greatly improved the technical facility of its players. Boehm clarinetists are able to manipulate their instruments in a more sequential fingering pattern and therefore can play faster passages more accurately.
[edit] Full Boehm Clarinet
The Full Boehm system clarinet is the only extensively accepted modification of Klosé and Buffet’s 1843 Boehm system clarinet, though its added complexity, weight, and cost have kept it from supplanting the latter altogether. It features four improvements creating an even more streamlined fingering system. The first improvement was to include a seventh ring on the instrument; adding a cross-fingered E flat’/B flat’’ to the range. Next, an articulated C sharp’/G sharp’’ key was added; permitting a B/C sharp’ and F sharp’’/G sharp’’ trill to be made in nearly perfect pitch with a much simpler fingering pattern. An E flat key was also added because it is a note that did not exist on previous clarinets and it is required by some composers. The addition of the E flat key is also convenient when A clarinet parts must be transposed at sight on the B flat instrument, so that the former's lowest note, (written) E (often called for because it is part of any clarinet system’s practical range) may be played on the latter as (written) E flat. Finally, an alternative A flat/E flat’’ key for the left hand fourth finger was added which gave a more efficient fingering pattern in certain kinds of passages.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Rendall, F. Geoffrey (1971). The Clarinet. Ernest Benn Limited, 99. (Third Edition)
- ^ Baines, Anthony (1991). Woodwind Instruments and Their History. Dover, 320-323. (republication of third edition, 1967, as reprinted with corrections, 1977)
[edit] References
Bate, Philip; J. Voorhees. “Keywork.” Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed [03 November 2006]), <http://www.grovemusic.com>
Benade, Arthur H. “Woodwinds: The Evolutionary Path Since 1700.” The Galpin Society 47 (1994): 63-110.
Béthune, Anthony; W. McBride. “Buffet, Louis-Auguste.” Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed [04 November 2006]), <http://www.grovemusic.com>
Brymer, Jack. Clarinet. New York: Schirmer Books, 1976.
Halfpenny, Eric. “The Boehm Clarinet in England.” The Galpin Society Journal 30 (1977): 2-7.
Lawson, Colin, ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Clarinet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
---. The Early Clarinet: A Practical Guide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Pino, David. The Clarinet and Clarinet Playing. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1980.
Rendall, F. Geoffrey. The Clarinet. London: Ernest Benn Limited, 1957.
---. “A Short Account of the Clarinet in England during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.” Proceedings of the Musical Association 68th Sess. (1941-1942): 55-86.
Rice, Albert R. “Berr’s Clarinet Tutors and the ‘Boehm’ Clarinet.” The Galpin Society Journal 41 (1988): 11-15.
Ridley, E. A. K. “Birth of the ‘Boehm’ Clarinet.” The Galpin Society Journal 39 (1986): 68-76.
Shackleton, Nicholas. “The clarinet of Western art music: Compass, registers and Intonation.” Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed [04 November 2006]), <http://www.grovemusic.com>
