 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: jim lande
Date: 2003-05-03 04:38
Redhedclrnetist asked about the different number of keys and got good responses illustrating different key systems. I was going to mention my loop style contra alto which goes down to low C and it dawned on me -- I don't know how to count the number of keys. What counts? The number of moving things that you can press with a finger? Do extra tone holes count if they are attached to a ring? If a plateau system clarinet is set up exactly like a 17 key boehm, except that there is a pad on the third ring, would that make it 18, or does it have to control some other pad?
Anyway, even if the contra only has 20 or 23 keys, I bet it has twice as many moving parts.
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Author: Redhedclrnetist
Date: 2003-05-03 05:14
Aha! This one took some thought but I figured it out. Hopefully I can describe it as well.
In counting keys you count the "moving things that you can press with a finger"(I'm pretty sure). On mine there are four for the right pinky, four for the left pinky, two sliver thingys, the register key, those four for the right pointer finger, and the two for the left pointer (A and Ab keys). That makes 17, which I read somewhere is the most common number.
20 or 23 keys!! Wow!! Contrabass and contra altos sound really cool; I wish I could play one. What are all the "extra" keys used for? Lower notes?
Post Edited (2003-05-03 18:17)
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Author: javier garcia m
Date: 2003-05-03 14:09
What a problem! properly speaking, a key is a device to cover or uncover a hole that is not possible to reach directly with the fingers.
On boehm soprano or piccolos Clarinets (standard 17/6 models) there are 7 holes that are covered by fingers:
LH: thumb, 1st, 2nd and 3rd fingers
RH: 1st, 2nd and 3rd fingers
there are 3 holes that are covered by pads when you press the rings: the pad aligned with the three rings on RH, the pad attached to medium finger on LH and the pad actioned by LH thumb or 1st finger to play F or F#.
And there are 14 holes that are covered or uncovered by keys, described on the previous thread.
On big clarinets things change. On my bass for instance, RH 3rd finger press a key (a device to cover a hole that is not reached by the finger), not a hole and RH 2nd finger press a plateau directly over the hole. How do you count it? But if I say you my bass has 18 keys (the extra key for the low Eb) you understand what I'm saying.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2003-05-03 15:00
Jim, I believe Javier says it very well, in that there appear to be NO "set rules"on [clarinet] key/ring numbering, except for those that the makers supply in their descriptions, such as "simple" Boehm as 17/6, with the additionals up to 20/7. Differences show up, like with my Selmer-Paris cls, soprano Full Boehm vs my F B bass, the latter lacking the additional rt. hand 1st finger"banana" alternate to the artic. C#/G#. Then, trying to describe our "special" key system horns, Mazzeo, Stubbins, Gomez, McIntyre, etc approaches impossibility [to do it simply], IMHO. You might try to study-out the keying descriptions for the oboe-bassoon family, and flutes [partic. the earlier ones] ranging up from 1 key, whereby the note being "served" is the basis for the description. Lots of luck, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Rene
Date: 2003-05-03 19:53
German clarinets are counted differently, it seems. They advertise 21/22 keys (in German "Klappen"). This counts the number of points you can put your fingers on, including the rings. Actually, the Boehm clarinet has more keys (4 for the left little finger, where the German one has only 2), though it is advertised as 17/18.
?
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2003-05-04 00:57
Rene, your comment about counting differently makes sense to me. My Richard Keilwerth "Top Sound" is said to have 24 Keys/6 Rings, but trying very hard, I never have counted 24 keys.
By the way, you mentioned a German 17/4 has two keys for L4. Don't you mean three? R4 has only two.
Regards,
John
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Author: geo
Date: 2003-05-04 01:00
"Klappe" in German is like "key" in English, ist also stands for the cup which covers the tone or resonance hole. In the Boehm world I think we tend to count the levers. On an Oehler type system (not all have the Oehler plateau key mechanic) you are getting the number of cups with pads and not the levers which you use to push them down. Oehler type systems can have a remarkable amount of these (Schwenk & Seggelke advertise their top model as having 31 Klappen; however I've never had one of these beasts in my hand) and most top models often have a low E correction cup on the bell, sometimes operated by a thumb key... this would help explain why Sabine Meyer was able to handle an Oehler basset clarinet standing up with only a neck strap... I can't even begin to imagine using RH thumb keys without some other kind of support. Fortunately we all seem to count rings the same way.
happy counting!
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Author: geo
Date: 2003-05-04 01:46
John, now you have me counting and being uncertain, I may be wrong. If you include along with all of the pads the third alternate L4 (Bb or G#?) lever on your Top Sound do you get 24?
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2003-05-04 05:52
Something just came to me: The L4 key that produces E/B when the R4 F/C is depressed, or produces F#/C# all by itself, is counted twice. So if all functions of all the multiple-function keys are counted, then I *think* I just found 24 on the Top Sound. Whew!
At least counting the rings is easy. Six. For sure.
Regards,
John
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