Klarinet Archive - Posting 000932.txt from 1997/04

From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: 1 + 1 fingering (Boehm system)
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 10:38:10 -0400

On Tue, 29 Apr 1997, Christopher G Zello wrote:

> Date: Tue, 29 Apr 1997 23:56:27 -0500 (CDT)
> From: Christopher G Zello <czello@-----.edu>
> Reply-To: klarinet@-----.us
> To: Klarinet <klarinet@-----.us>
> Subject: 1 + 1 fingering (Boehm system)
>
> 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
>
>
The side B flat key seems to have been added to both oboes and pre-Boehm
flutes early on - no doubt any cross fingerings previously used were not
too good. Perhaps clarinet makers simply copied this. It's certainly on
the Mueller clarinet.
Roger Shilcock