Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2004-06-05 03:24
One innovation that I wondered why never caught on was the use of the properly located and sized #3 side trill key to voice the Bb. Even on the best set up bass clarinet, the normal "bottom register vent plus A key" sounds "different", and on many horns it's as doggy as they come.
Mazzeo's "system" (in this case, an accurate use of the word) allowed for this opening to be used for the Bb, but he was hobbled by the changes of the various throat fingerings and it never "caught on". I've never played a Mazzeo bass clarinet (and I don't know that they have ever existed in the first place), but on a soprano Mazzeo the Bb is a gem.
More's the pity, for the Bb played that way (on my horns, at least, using the #3 trill key in place of the register) is as sweet and even as can be. Other than the somewhat awkward fingering that displaces the right hand so much that it is hard to make a smooth transition over the break), there's no flaw there at all.
How about this? A "double register key" setup, with one of the touch pieces operating the "true" Bb fingering, and the second operating a "traditional" double register key with the linkage to the lower joint. That way you could roll to the left for the Bb, then down and to the right for the notes over the break (opening the lower of the two register vents in the process), and then on up through the trigger point to open the second register vent. The opposite would work as well on the way down.
As far as I can see, this deals with all of the problems without adding any inordinate complications. I never had any trouble with the manual double register keys, so it would work well enough from a fingering standpoint. No significant extra complexity, since it's just a matter of an axle set up to lift the #3 trill key for the Bb. And, it retains the "normal" venting for the register key fingering. In fact, you wouldn't even have to use whenever you didn't want to.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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