Klarinet Archive - Posting 000455.txt from 2001/10

From: "Jim Hobby" <jhobby@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Re: klarinet Digest 12 Oct 2001 08:15:01 -0000 Issue 3387
Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2001 17:53:59 -0400

Anne,

(I think I "snipped" the part I mean to leave, but ...) a small help might
be to find out how much of the fingering for B2 can you close on her
clarinet w/o adversly affecting the A2. With mine (40 yr old Selmer 9*s) I
can close everything on the right hand, and the ring finger and pinkie of
the left hand. (There is no noticable change on the Bb clarinet and
actually improves the clarity on the A clarinet. I vaguely remember having
to compensate on the A fingering when playing a Bb/piccolo duet came up in
something, but I'm not sure that was my fingering. <g>)

If she could do that, then all she has left to move for the break is close
thumb, roll A down to close 1 and close 2. I've had a number of students
that this, or varients of it, solved the break problem. Often as their
facility grew, they would drift away from the extra fingers, but many did
not. I had one who upgraded from a student to pro clarinet before going to
college (don't remember the brand) and he kept only the ring finger on the
left hand, due to the differences in the way the instruments spoke.

Some of the same thing has worked for people having problems going from Bb
to B natural. You just have to use your ear to make sure it doesn't "stuff"
up too much.

Hope this helps a bit.

Jim Hobby

---------------------

>From: AnneLenoir@-----.net (Anne Lenoir)
>Subject: Re: [kl] Simpler is Better (Most of the time)

<snip>
>Yesterday at her lesson, I tried for the whole lesson to get her to go
>over the break from an A to a B, so that I could help her
>memorize a simple Bb concert scale
<snipt>
>We tried for dozens of times to go from A to B.

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