Full information about the Bohlen-Pierce project is given
in the article elsewhere
on this site, but briefly, the Bohlen-Pierce scale
is an alternative musical scale, arrived at by dividing the just twelfth
(a 3:1 frequency ratio) into thirteen steps, giving extensive new musical
possibilities to those involved in the creation of new music. For
the first time, instruments built to this scale are now offered for sale
to musicians.
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Soprano clarinet The BP soprano clarinet is the same size as the conventional Bb clarinet, and is played with the same mouthpiece. The fingering uses a combination of open finger holes and keywork derived from the Boehm system (the complete low note mechanism for the little fingers, plus a throat key for L1, a trill key and the register key). In keeping with the futuristic nature
of the BP project, the BP soprano clarinet is constructed as standard in
Delrin, a high quality synthetic material.
BP soprano clarinet
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Tenor and contra clarinets The tenor and contra clarinets are the larger sizes in the BP family. The former is midway in size between the conventional alto and bass clarinets and is constructed similarly to the alto; the latter is the same size as an Eb contrabass. Further details will be posted as
the prototypes are field tested.
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Metallophone and glockenspiel Various mallet instruments can be envisaged, to provide ready reference to the pitches of the equal tempered BP scale and for rhythmic accompaniment in performance. The metallophone is built along the same lines as the Orff metallophones used in schools, with aluminum bars and a wooden resonator box, giving a soft, sustained sound. The range of the alto metallophone covers the middle of the range of the BP soprano clarinet, the soprano the second register of the BP clarinet. The glockenspiel uses steel bars mounted in a wooden box,
as with a conventional marimba. The range is a tritave higher than
the soprano metallophone.
BP alto metallophone |
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