Klarinet Archive - Posting 000226.txt from 1997/05

From: <chr@-----.de>
Subj: Re: Step 2 of n - Dan Leeson
Date: Thu, 8 May 1997 08:33:00 -0400

Dear Dan,

Sorry to put a fly in the ointment, but the following quoted statement is
not true:

>The most important relates to the fact that the
> clarinet plays only two scales naturally, F and C; i.e., when
> a player's fingers cover all the holes of a clarinet, their
> one-at-a-time removal in the natural sequence produces an F
> major scale in the lower register. The upper register, using
> the same fingers, produces a C major scale.

This is true only on the Boehm system clarinet, but not on period
instruments. Low Bb is a forked fingering on classical clarinets (5 or 6
key) and B natural is fingered like Bb on the Boehm clarinet, but is
somewhat flat, compensated by opening the Ab key with right hand 5th
finger. The same holds true for f'' and f#'' respectively, although f#''
can be so low on some instruments that instead the following fingering is
used:

=
=
=
-
O
=
=

Also the biggest problem I see with the suggestions of comparing clarinet
problems to that of the classical flute lies in the fundamental
differences between the sound quality and therefor relative usefulness of
forked fingerings. Whereas many forked fingerings on the classical flute
may sound a bit thinner than diatonic fingerings, they are still quite
useful (somewhat like the recorder today). The clarinet, most especially
in its fundamental register, does not produce a good sound on most forked
fingerings. This can be somewhat ameliorated with softer reeds, but the
sound generally remains questionable on certain fingerings (i.e. c#').
Thus a 2 key flute was more flexible in moving through more keys than a 5
key clarinet.

FWIW,

Don Christensen
chr@-----.de
http://www.w-4.de/~chr/