soo i recently got accepted into MYO(metropolitan youth orchestra) and when some of the music were going to be performing arrived in the mail most of the songs were for an A clarinet and i only own an R13 Bb clarinet... is it worth buying another clarinet or should i just play a transposed copy?

My advice is if you plan on playing in orchestra's for awhile look into getting an A clarinet. Until then you should try to transpose your part at sight. Learning to transpose at sight is a very valuable skill.

Does your clarinet have an extension down to C# (proper notes)? If not then you need a proper instrument.

my instrament goes to a low E, and i'm probably going to stay in the orchestra intill i go to college, so i have roughly 4 years

You ought to get an A clarinet - there is a lot of orchestral music which uses it & some which will be very difficult to play on a Bb.

Assuming you meant written E on a B Flat Clarinet then that is only a D in real notes. As I said, an A clarinet goes down to C# in real notes, so you cannot transpose onto your Bb clarinet, even if it is an R13. You need an A clarinet.

I hear that clarinets are available which can be switched between A and Bb as necessary. I am curious to hear the opinion of clarinet players about such an instrument.

As far as I'm aware no maker has tried producing these for many years - the only ones I've seen are in museums. The best place for them!

........ or maybe you have read about Bb clarinets with the low Eb key. This does give it the range of the A however the player still has to either transpose the A part at sight or spend time writing out the transposition.

As far as I'm aware no maker has tried producing these for many years - the only ones I've seen are in museums. The best place for them!

Please explain your opinion. What is wrong with them?

........ or maybe you have read about Bb clarinets with the low Eb key. This does give it the range of the A however the player still has to either transpose the A part at sight or spend time writing out the transposition.

Yes, I heard also about those. But I also heard about the switchable ones.

I would not bother transposing A parts for your Bb. Too hard & becoming adept at this serves no purpose. Better to get some concert pitch (C) music-flute/oboe parts, piano music, etc.- if you want to do something to improve transposing. Especially since quite a bit of orchestral music is written for C clarinet. Best option is to buy an A and maybe even a C (for those parts that were actually meant to be played by a C clarinet-rare).

Since one of those "rare" C clarinet parts is Vltava, I am sure if you got that you would be very grateful for having a C clarinet to hand.

Hi!

I would have to agree with the other posters recommending you get an A clarinet. My orchestral experience dictated that, as it would seem more of the orchestral literature is geared toward the A.

I'm not certain as to where you are located, but as I am no longer doing any orchestral work (I'm playing mostly jazz now), I am selling my A clarinet. It's an R13 Buffet, if you are interested.

I should add that the throat tones on a C clarinet are naturally out of tune. Perhaps because you use a normal mouthpiece (Bb) and the barrel is tiny to make up the difference. Maybe that's why the Bb clar. came about?