Klarinet Archive - Posting 000020.txt from 1994/09

From: Timothy Tikker <tjt@-----.ORG>
Subj: Re: Prokofieff's Peter and The Wolf (low blow)
Date: Fri, 2 Sep 1994 21:20:57 -0400

I have such a clarinet: full-Boehm with low E-flat.

The low E-flat was first introduced by Aldolph Saxe, as part of his new
"fully chromatic" clarinet key system. The idea was that such a clarinet
allowed one to play properly in any key, so that one could simply
transpose A clarinet parts on such a B-flat, provided you had the added
low E-flat to cover the A clarinet's low E.

Somehow, the idea never quite fully caught on throughout the clarinet
world, though I understand it was the rule for many Italian
clarinettists, and some Spanish as well - less so today, apparently.

What I like about the low E-flat is that it overblows to B-flat, with a
far beter tone quality than the usual throat B-flat. It also can prevent
some awkward register leaps in certain passages.

The full-Boehm system is a 20-key clarinet (standard Boehm has 17 keys)
with not only low E-flat, but an extra (left hand) G#/d# and
"articulated" g#.