Category Archives: spectral multiphonic

spectral multiphonics for the contrabass clarinet

Posted on October 3, 2016 by

Last week I wrote about spectral multiphonics for Bb and bass clarinets and I promised that I’d supply a chart for the contra as well, so here it is. While I’m talking about the contra, I thought I’d just bring … Continue reading →

Posted in contra, multiphonic, performance, spectral multiphonic | 5 Comments

spectral multiphonics (bb and bass)

Posted on September 26, 2016 by

The spectral multiphonic: those elephantine sweeps from low fundamentals, easy to play once you’ve got the hang of it, easy to write, very idiomatic (especially for the bass clarinet), and one of the great clichés of clarinet writing in the … Continue reading →

Posted in multiphonic, performance, spectral multiphonic | 7 Comments

Low register colour fingerings: the special case of the paperclip contra

Posted on August 28, 2015 by

It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to add something useful to the blog, but I think this will be worth it; not only is this a beautiful effect, but it’s also my very first post on the contrabass clarinet. Composers, try … Continue reading →

Posted in contra, flutter tongue, slap tongue, spectral multiphonic | 3 Comments

(Quiet) Multiphonic Trills for Bass Clarinet

Posted on May 19, 2015 by

The effect I’m looking at today is fairly recognisable as something Sciarrino uses extensively, but particularly in his clarinet solo, Let me die before I wake. If you don’t know the piece, it’s worth listening to it, if only because it’ll make … Continue reading →

Posted in multiphonic, spectral multiphonic, trill | 5 Comments

… on writing Bb clarinet harmonics

Posted on August 11, 2014 by

As composers and clarinetists, one thing we know about the clarinet is that its distinctive sound comes in large part from the fact that it only has access to odd partials in the harmonic series. This is all very well … Continue reading →

Posted in clarinet techniques, multiphonic, register key, spectral multiphonic | 6 Comments