 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Igloo Bob
Date: 2004-07-09 20:02
I had read plenty of old threads on this board discussing how the upper clarion is the range that defeats most beginning and intermediate Bass Clarinetists, and would think to myself "yeah, I hear that". So I was messing around today, playing the Clarinet part from the Gopfert piece (Quatuor Op. 16 no. 1), of which a significant amount of the beginning is in the upper clarion range.I went to play a G#, and squeaked horribly. I then paused for a moment, and realized that not only had I halfway uncovered the first finger hole (not sure exactly what it's called; I'm pathetic, I know. In any case, when you uncover it completely and slide your finger down, you start playing altissimo), and had let the register key slip about halfway open. I then stopped, readjusted my hand and made sure pressure was kept on the register, and successfully played four G# staccato notes in quick succession. I tried the same with other notes in the upper clarion, and had similar success.
In the past, I had always blamed my inability to play with stability in the upper clarion on my mouth ("Braces will solve that!"), or the instrument being school-maintained, "fixed" by less than adequate techs over the last 20 years (which indeed, was almost always the case), or the mouthpiece. But now that I've fixed my hand position and have no problem whatsoever, I feel rather... well, dumb. I wonder how many other Bass Clarinets are "defeated" by the upper clarion range and buy expensive equipment and other fixes, when it can be something as simple as hand position that's causing the problem?
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Author: Robert Small
Date: 2004-07-10 16:59
The little hole in the middle of 1 plateau is called the half-hole. And it is absolutely critical that it remain completely covered when playing in the clarion and chalumeau. It is only opened in the altissimo. Another problem caused by imprecise finger placement is inadvertantly opening the left hand sliver key (alternate Bb/Eb). The left middle finger can bump or rub up against this key causing it to open slightly. This is most likely to happen when reaching for the left pinky keys which can pull the middle finger slightly out of position. Alot of problems with squeaks and squawks and poor response can be traced to imprecise finger placement.
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