clarinet microtones

In the basic sense, I'm kind of surprised by this performer's claim that
multiphonics would be impossible on a German clarinet. It would seem like that
would have the most to do with its fingering system, and, best I know, the old
so-called Albert fingering system instruments are essentially gone at this point
throughout the world. As far as I know, virtually all modern clarinets are
keyed in the Boehm system the entire world over.

That is not true, by the way, of the bassoon, and to a lesser degree not of
the oboe. France, Spain, and a few other countries use a supposedly
Boehm-inspired French keying system on their bassoons. Their bore and reed
dimensions, and their overall sound, are also different. In the case of the
oboe, the Conservatory system is pretty much universal, best I know, but there
are manual, automatic, and semiautomatic (sounds like a gun eh?!) variants in
how they manage its double octave key scheme. That in particular I imagine
would have ramifications effects upon multiphonics.

I understand that recently the flute has seen some enhancements to the now
ubiquitous Boehm system, under the heading of the Cooper system, but I don't
know the details of that.

Perhaps this fellow is claiming that, despite having the usual Boehm
fingering system, there are subtle differences in the dimensions used by his
particular German manufacturer that make multiphonics infeasible. That strikes
me as a little surprising, but not impossible.


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