Klarinet Archive - Posting 000568.txt from 1995/05

From: "Sydney R. Polk" <jazzman@-----.NET>
Subj: Weird keys and the piano players who love them'
Date: Fri, 19 May 1995 12:04:40 -0400

My mother is a rank amateur at piano, but she loves to play and I grew
up with her inexperience. She absolutely refuses to play in sharp keys;
she will take any peice with shaprs and transpose it down one half step,
even if it ends up in 6 or 7 flats. Her favorite key is Db.

When i was taking piano, the scales were easier in flat keys, and
the apreggios were also. B major was also a good key. F, G, Bb, D
and A gave me the most problems.

When it somes to woodwinds, different winds have different problems.
On clarinet, I like C, G, F, Bb, and Eb, and I hate D, A, E, B,
Db, and Ab. I don't mind F# because I have played it so much.

On flute, i have a slight problem going from middle D to middle E
because of the pinkie, so I am a little slower in F, C, G, D, and
A. Other than that, flute has a great scale, and no real bad keys.
If only it and clarinet had articulated G#.

I have problems with the G-Ab-Bb combo on sax, so I don't like
Eb or Ab very much. Ab is just horrid, with only one complete octave
of the scale, and the awful G-Ab-Bb-C-Db in the middle. Bleah.
B also is not pleasant. Favorite keys are C, G, D, and E.

Syd Polk

PS Playing in any key on any woodind and being able to transpose
are essential skills in playing shows. We had the lead fall into the pit
before opening in one show, and we had to take all of his stuff up
a major third because he was a bass and his replacement could not
sing that low.