Klarinet Archive - Posting 000517.txt from 1998/07

From: ROBERT HOWE <arehow@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Re: Left hand Eb/Bb key
Date: Sun, 19 Jul 1998 05:42:09 -0400

Re: The discusion of this little key on the top joint of the clarinet,
have none of the discussants read Rosario Mazzeo's book? Is reading out
of fashion amoung clarinettists?

Anyway, Mazzeo advocates this left hand Eb/Bb fingering for use in
chromactic passages, to replace use of the side key, thereby keeping the
right hand still and improving facility. He makes the following
argument (here paraphrased) to those who find the fingering
"awkward"--'you have used the side Eb/Bb key for years. You are used to
it. Use the left hand key for as long as you have used the right, and
you will be used to THAT fingering, too. You will then be doubly
skilled and your technique will have improved.'

The logic of this argument, as stated by one of the fine woodwind
pedagogues of the century, is compelling and inescapable. Use this
key!, you will find it invaluable once you know how to use it.

That said, I find it strange that two holes are provided for the right
and left hand Eb/Bb keys. With a bit of silver rod and a spring, both
keys could open a single hole, and there would be one less potential
leak in the top joint, and one less acoustical distraction eating up
energy and making the clarinet play out of tune. Before you reply to
THIS point, read the sections on woodwind acoustics in any modern text,
which will point out the each deviation from an ideal cylinder (provided
by a tone hole extending off the bore, or a thumb key sticking a third
of the way into the bore) disturbs the standing waves in the bore and
contributes to inharmonicity amoung the partials of a given tone, thus
leading to the pitch problems that we all know and "love"...

Robert Howe

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