Klarinet Archive - Posting 000405.txt from 1998/02

From: Dodgshun family <dodgshun@-----.nz>
Subj: Re: bothersome b
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 1998 20:57:57 -0500

At 06:36 PM 7/02/98 -0500, you wrote:
>I've been playing my clarinet again for about a month now following a
>layoff of many years.
>
>I'm having difficulty getting the third-line B to play. I can make it work
>if I really think about it, but often when I'm moving along through an
>exercise, I finger the B for an eighth note or a sixteenth note and nothing
>sounds.
>
>In reading Jack Brymer's book, I see that he makes mention that this is a
>difficult note as one learns to cross the break from the open throat notes,
>but he seems to indicate that once the problem is identified and the note
>is attacked with a little diaphragmatic push, all is well.
>
>I have no memory of this note being a problem from my playing days in high
>school. I find my self wondering whether there might be an equipment
>problem associated with this, but I don't know where to look for that. The
>low E seems to sound without problem. And I just had the clarinet repadded
>and bought a new mouthpiece a few weeks ago.
>
>Any thoughts?
>
>Tony

I've had this problem too. It was the C key that wasn't sealing properly
when I held down the B key - it was easily fixed. A tiny piece of tissue
paper chewed up and stuck onto the connector will cure it temporarily - it's
just a matter of raising the level so that the B key pushes the C key down
earlier. For a permanent repair, just get the connector recorked, or add a
tiny piece of cork yourself. It's not hard to do.

Anna