Klarinet Archive - Posting 000467.txt from 1998/02

From: "Karl Krelove" <kkrelove@-----.com>
Subj: Re: bothersome b
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 13:52:51 -0500

-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Roberts <troberts@-----.net>
Date: Saturday, February 07, 1998 6:43 PM
Subject: bothersome b

>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
>
Not to sound condescending, but be sure your left thumb isn't coming up off
the bottom of the thumb hole when you reach for the B key. Do you have the
same problem with both the right and the left hand B keys? This could be a
problem if you've been away for a long time and your hands are rusty.

Karl