Bohlen-Pierce clarinets

From Oddwinds

Current revision as of 17:35, 14 September 2006

A Bohlen-Pierce clarinet is a clarinet tuned to a Bohlen-Pierce ("BP") scale -- an exotic scale based on division, not of the octave, but of the twelfth. In fact, most tunings of BP scales contain no octaves -- which poses a bit of a compatibility problem with most types of wind instruments, which overblow at the octave. Clarinets, however, overblow at the twelfth and therefore are ideal candidates for BP tuning. Stephen Fox has built a prototype BP soprano clarinet and plans a BP bass clarinet soon.

Note that, because a chromatic BP scale has only thirteen notes in a twelfth -- versus nineteen for a conventional (12-EDO) chromatic scale -- a BP clarinet can be simpler than a conventional one. Fox's design has open finger holes with no associated keys, a single key for the left 1st finger analogous to a conventional clarinet's throat A, a dedicated register key, and several keys for the 4th fingers to produce the lowest notes like on a conventional clarinet. A diatonic instrument, analogous to the earliest clarinets but playing a 9-note diatonic BP mode, could presumably be made with eight holes and no keys.

[edit] Miscellaneous Links

• The Bohlen-Pierce Site
• Stephen Fox Clarinets: The Bohlen-Pierce clarinet project -- description and photo.