my first bohlen-pierce clarinet video

Samr plays his brand new toy ...
The instrument is a pearwood Bohlen-Pierce clarinet made by Stephen Fox. The Bohlen-Pierce scale is an analog to the usual scale, using 3, 5 and 7 as the basic harmonics rather than 2, 3 and 5. The tempered chromatic scale divides the tritave (the 3:1 interval, called a twelfth in the usual scale) into thirteen equal steps. The clarinet is a particularly appropriate instrument for BP music, since it naturally lacks even-numbered harmonics.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Bohlen
• Pierce
• 13-edt
• Music
• macrotonal
• microtonal
• nonoctave

[pivotcup2580]

could you play what normally be a chromatic scale?

[SamrFoster]

@pivotcup2580 No, the usual (12-edo or 12-tet) chromatic scale is not present on a Bohlen-Pierce clarinet, just as the Bohlen-Pierce scale is not present on an ordinary clarinet.

[pivotcup2580]

@SamrFoster I understand that but could you post a video of you playing from the lowest to the highest note? im really intrigued by this instrument :)

[SamrFoster]

@pivotcup2580 Oh, I get it... Yes, I'll get that up in a day or two.

[dmt1000000]

I wish he was wearing trowsers

[SamrFoster]

I only had to count to 15.

[ericoschmitt]

@SamrFoster actually the flute has all those harmonics plus the even ones, so i can blow a G2 with C1 fingering

its harder to control, but it is possible to make bp flutes in that way... i guess

well my cello is tuned in just fifths so it is possible to play BP on it..

i still think a non-octave scale is too weird!

i may try it someday but i want to play 19tet first, maybe 22, then bp

and thanks for all explanations, about the BP and the clarinet too, i was thinking about starting playing it! :)

[SamrFoster]

@ericoschmitt The tritave is the same interval* as the 12-tet twelfth, like from C1 to G2. Note that the 12-tet fifth, like from C1 to G1, is not present in BP.

*To be very accurate, the tritave is the same interval as a just twelfth, not an equal-tempered twelfth.

[SamrFoster]

@ericoschmitt A clarinet with fundamental C1 would have harmonics G2 E3 Bb3 D4, where that Bb is of course not a true Bb but a 7-limit 7th and those two highest can be pitchy and difficult to control.

You could place the toneholes on a flute or oboe or sax so that the low register played the BP scale but then the next register would be wrong, because those pitches are an octave higher and so are NOT the continuation of the BP scale from the lower register.

[ericoschmitt]

@SamrFoster finally, what is the equivalent interval in 12-tet of an "octave" in the bp scale?

[ericoschmitt]

@SamrFoster aahm so you mean a clarinet has only octave and fifth harmonics, no major thirds and sevenths?

and when you say clarinet has a range of 2 full tritaves in harmonics, lets say its tuned in C, it would have

C1, C2, G2, C3, G3? or would that be two twelfths? like.. C1 C2 G2 G3 D4?

what about other single reed like sax?

also, using different fingerings for each "octave", wouldnt it be possible to play all bp notes on other kinds of woodwind?

[SamrFoster]

@ericoschmitt The clarinet lacks the even harmonics, unlike other woodwinds. Its harmonic series *is* part of the BP scale. The interval called a twelfth in the usual scale (tonic to 3rd harmonic, aka a fifth one octave removed) is called a tritave in BP. A clarinet has a range of two full tritaves, plus a little more if you can coax out really high notes with good pitch.

The other woodwinds' even harmonics do not belong in the BP scale, so you can't really make a BP oboe or flute or sax.