Klarinet Archive - Posting 000926.txt from 1997/04

From: Christopher G Zello <czello@-----.edu>
Subj: 1 + 1 fingering (Boehm system)
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 10:38:04 -0400

I was teaching tonight and had a strange thought that hit me while
listening to a student of mine going through the Rubank Intermediate.
For those of you who have it handy, ever notice how they mark the 1 + 1
fingering as merely "x" above the note?

My question is regarding the real practicality of teaching this.
Wouldn't time better be spent teaching students a few pages of practical
technical information, such as cleanly going between high G and B-flat
on the right (a minor third higher)? Maybe it is just me, but I can say
I use that 1 + 1 fingering less than 1% of the time.

So to take thing this a step further, I started thinking about the Rubank
text historically. There's a stretch! And then I got to thinking back
to how Stadler's clarinet didn't have a C#/G# pinky lever, yet he
maneuvered through the Mozart (using the 2 + 2 fingering, like we can use in
Galanta too).

Could it be that this 1 + 1 fingering which is somewhat rarely used, was
created out of necessity for those players with clarinets lacking a RH
B-flat "trill" key?

Does anyone know at what point out there the B-flat trill key was added
to the clarinet mechanism? And then estimate when that key would be
functional enough to be widely accepted (like 15 or 20 years later or
when?). What about carry over into the Albert system, is there a tie in
there?

Maybe this doesn't make any sense logically. . .but I'd kind of like to
drop the marching band discussion. (I have nothing against it; when I did
it I had a blast; and when I marched bass drum, we did headstands!)

Christopher Zello

czello@-----.edu
http://www.stritch.edu/~czello