Klarinet Archive - Posting 000387.txt from 2004/06

From: ormondtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya)
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: Fingering Book-clear diagrams
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2004 14:34:48 -0400

Gary Van Cott wrote:

> While it is my personal favorite, I would not
> recommend Clarinet Fingerings (also known
> as 303 Clarinet Fingerings and 276 Trills) by
> Alan Sim to Mr Wood (who doesn't play the
> clarinet) or any beginner. It has too much
> information. They would be better off with the
> fingering chart in a beginning clarinet method,
> which would also be easier to read.

Gary, while I don't want to debate how many angels can dance on the head
of a pin, I personally disagree quite strongly!

First of all, if a person is going to write clarinet music, then they
**do** owe it to their readers to understand the instrument.

Second, while "303 Fingerings" does include a lot of information, the
information is not presented in the manner of a "scholarly tome" that
forces you to wade through 100's of pages word-by-word before you begin
to extract whatever details are critical to you.

I'm not saying that "303 Fingerings" is the only suitable book, but I
would choose it without question over a beginner's method book.

Third, I still remember my very deep frustration when my beginning
teacher would tell me (more than once): "This beginner's book doesn't
tell you, but since you're going to play [a certain note] immediately
before this one, you need to know an alternate fingering for it." And
since I didn't have a pencil handy, and since the teacher wanted me to
learn <gasp!> three other fingerings during the same lesson, I went out
front and I asked the store's clerk for "the real fingering book". The
clerk replied "...well, you already have the beginner's book, it should
be enough, and I don't have anything else except this [$45 tome that
will take you 6 months to read]...."

Now that I think about it, the first clarinet item that I bought online
(because I couldn't find it anywhere else) was "303 Fingerings" from
Gary. It's lying on my desk next to my clarinet right now, definitely
thumb worn and stained with orange juice, and I still consult it every
so often.

Again, Robert, if you're going to sell me some music, I demand that you
know a bit more about clarinet than what's in a beginner's method book.

<Ormond climbs down from soap box>

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org