Bb vs. A clarinet in union orchestras [closed]

Question

A sometimes-mentor and someone in the know at a professional orchestra advised me recently on writing for orchestra. I'll paraphrase his advice here:

Writing for a flute player doubling on piccolo reduces the chance of us playing the piece. Even though it's a very common thing to do orchestration-wise, we'll need to hire an additional player for the night because the union rules don't allow one of the flautists to play it. This additional budget could be the difference between us choosing to perform your piece, or not.

He also suggested I write for a Mozart-sized orchestra as I'm getting my name out there. There is likely a classical-era piece on every program and it's a guarantee that they won't dig into their thin margins to program my work. It sounded like good advice to me.

Now here's the question... Do the same union rules hold true for the clarinet parts? I think they would be much nicer to play on an A clarinet instead of a Bb clarinet simply because of the key signature. But it's certainly nothing a pro can't handle. Note that I am not referring to bass clarinet, just the standard A/Bb soprano clarinets.

In case you're interested, the piece is in A. So the key sig would be B major, or C major for A clarinet.

Answer 1

In any professional or semi-professional orchestra (i.e. anywhere where union rules might apply) the clarinettists will be required to play both Bb and A clarinets as needed. There is no reason not to write for A clarinet, although if the piece is simple enough the players might just transpose it on Bb anyway.

An amateur or school orchestra might not have A clarinets available, and they might not play your piece for that reason.

In any union orchestra at least one of the flute players will also have piccolo in their contract.

Answer 2

I have never heard that unions don't allow a fautist also to double on piccolo, and I played in a professional orchestra for 32 years. However, I stopped 10 years ago, so maybe things have changed. I am, though, confident that it's the clarinettist's responsiblity to have both a Bb and an A instrument. I doubt that anyone's going to say they'll have to hire another performer as the Bb player can't play an A as well. If your piece suits the A better, then go for it.

Answer 3

The clarinet in Bb is pretty much the standard clarinet nowadays. Clarinet in A is pretty uncommon, and clarinet in C is basically non existent. Chances are high that if you write your part for clarinet in A they are going to be played on a clarinet in Bb, the player just transposing the part. So unless there is a really good reason to do so just write for clarinet in Bb. If you insist on the part being played on a A clarinet the piece will have lower chances of ever being performed, as some orchestras do not in fact use A clarinets, and then it gets complicated if they are required to use them.

But regarding the way you mean it in your question: Of course everything depends on what terms the orchestra’s union has. To me it sounds almost ridiculous that an orchestra’s union does not allow doubling of regular flute and piccolo flute, which is a very common orchestra practice. Most likely in this case the orchestra won’t be able to demand their players to switch between Bb clarinet and A clarinet. But really, I do not thing that this is a common thing.

But in case: Just ask the orchestra if they rather want to have parts for A clarinet or parts for Bb clarinet (you could even prepare parts for both instruments). Quite differently to Flute/Piccolo the distinction between Bb/A clarinet is small, and most of the stuff that can be played on one instrument can also be played on the other instrument (unless you go into extended technique with stuff like multiphonics).