Klarinet Archive - Posting 000243.txt from 2003/01

From: Dan Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] fingering systems
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 10:52:41 -0500

Wonderful question Rebecca. It is something to which I have devoted
very little study. But I offer as a first throw-away that fingering
systems are a function of the mechanical creation of the instrument.
Thus, without any standardization, it would be very natural for two
different instrument makers to produce instruments that require
different fingerings for the same pitch. In fact, it would be remarkable
if that did not happen.

Cultural considerations are also probably involved, with a German
instrument maker perhaps being influence by fingering mechanisms for
wind instrument of his country, and a French maker influenced by other
factors.

Marketing might also be an influence. For an Italian maker to say that,
"My fingering system for the clarinet permits much greater facility than
anyone else's," might have given him a marketing advantage. This may or
may not have been true but that never prevented anyone from not saying it.

In America I think that I have seen at least 6 fingering systems used
over the last 50 years. Some were modestly different from what we are
used to today. Others wildly so. The MacIntire system was of the
latter type, even though the objective was to produce something very
useful. The Mazzeo system was a modest difference. The full Boehm
system was another. And when I was a child, most of the oldest players
still used the Albert system. Today's basset horns have two or three
different fingering systems for two or three different companies, and
all are contemporary.

This will be an interesting topic to read about as others contribute.

Dan Leeson

Rebecca Brennan wrote:
>
>
> How many different fingering systems are there for clarinet? How do they
> compare and contrast? Why are there different fingering systems?
>
>
>
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**Dan Leeson **
**leeson0@-----.net **
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