 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Roger Merriam
Date: 2000-01-17 11:33
Many professional model clarinets now offer an eb (ab) lever to be operated with the left pinkie finger. The advantages of this key are obvious. What are the disadvantages?
I think I recall being told that such levers seldom stay in adjustment
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-01-17 12:23
Roger Merriam wrote:
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Many professional model clarinets now offer an eb (ab) lever to be operated with the left pinkie finger. The advantages of this key are obvious. What are the disadvantages?
I think I recall being told that such levers seldom stay in adjustment
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This has been available for a long time. I've seen it on instruments 70 years old and older. It just happens to be rare as it is/was a special order item. The only difference today is that on a few select models, it comes as standard.
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Author: Dave Spiegelthal
Date: 2000-01-17 13:28
The only disadvantages of this lever I can come up with are that it makes the technician's job harder, when working on the (now three) left-hand side levers. It's just a bit trickier to (a) get the relative heights and travels adjusted correctly, (b) get all the slop and rattle out of three levers in very close proximity to each other, and (c) get the three levers correctly installed simultaneously (they all have to be "plugged in" together). There really shouldn't be any downside to the player.
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Author: Ginny
Date: 2000-01-17 15:38
I have one on my Buffet Festival, I only use occasionally, but it has completely cleaned up some difficult passages.
I haven't noticed it being out of adjustment.
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Author: Ginny
Date: 2000-01-17 15:38
I have one on my Buffet Festival, I only use occasionally, but it has completely cleaned up some difficult passages.
I haven't noticed it being out of adjustment.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-01-17 16:38
Good advice above, yes the lever is one of the four additional key/ring features to make a so-called "Full Boehm" clar., and prob. is the most useful as it simplifies the [little] cross-fingering problems found in multi-flat/sharp keys. J B points out the maintenance problems very well, but with mine I have had no adjustment difficulties. There is the slightly added weight, but as a student I played my teacher's Full Boehm [with more added weight] without fatigue. Don
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Author: Al
Date: 2000-01-17 22:14
We had quite a discussion on this subject a few months ago.
I still maintain that if every beginner had this key from the outset, it would save a myriad of problems......and frustration for both students and teachers.
The oboe is a good example of a woodwind that has taken advantage of improvements to the fingering system. the alternates on the oboe are a testement to engineering and open mindedness.
We who have been playing regular Boehm system for years find it difficult to endorse the Ab-Eb lever. It's stoginess, that's all. Try it. You might like it. Think of all the things you WOULDN'T have to worry about or anticipate. If your right pinky happens to be caught on the C lever, no problem. Just play the Eb with the left.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-01-17 22:36
Well said, Al, our widespread resistance-to-change has defeated many improvements that would have made life simpler! Also re: the oboe, my 10 years of tusseling [sp?] with it, is why I have kept looking at inventions so as to help me play better. There was a series of patents in the '70's for a Boehm system oboe, and I'm still trying to find if it were commercialized in any manner, such as Selmer's making the Mazzeo cl models, which failed $wise. Dont have any solutions, open-mindedness will help!! Re: the earlier ?, the latest brochures I have show the partial and full Boehm cl's still available, prob. special order only! Don
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Author: John Dean
Date: 2000-01-18 00:01
Does anyone know where I can get such a lever for my 1929 Selmer. It originally had the alternative key but it was missing when I recieved it. I have been looking for an awful long time. The only option is to find a repair guy to make one specially?
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-01-18 03:19
John Dean wrote:
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Does anyone know where I can get such a lever for my 1929 Selmer. It originally had the alternative key but it was missing when I recieved it. I have been looking for an awful long time. The only option is to find a repair guy to make one specially?
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Unless you can find one in a junk bin somewhere, that would be your only option. When restoring anything this old, whether it be cars or clarinets, replacement parts simply are not available except through one of these two options (i.e. salvage from a junker or have one custom made).
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Author: Roger Merriam
Date: 2000-01-18 11:29
Patricola clarinets offer a full bohem system---not sure if you can buy it in us
go to www.patricola.it
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Author: Mickey
Date: 2000-01-19 03:06
Years ago.. the Eb-Ab lever was squeazed in between the E-B lever and the F#-C# lever... this made for a strange feel and a spacing problem .. and of course, adjustment problems. Buffet at least adds it onto the outside of these keys. (About time) No real problem with adjustments.. and the feel is like any other regular system. You have to "Reach to actualy get this lever.. and therefor .. a new tecnique. Is it worthit?? Some passages it would be nice to have. Smother transitions. Try it.. you may like it. I use the regular fingerings for the most part.
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Author: paul
Date: 2000-01-27 15:37
I have a Buffet Festival with the left hand lever. There are times it's good and times it's bad. Sure, for certain multiple sharp/flat arpeggio drills the key comes in real handy. That's a good thing, right? Well, as with many other things on the clarinet, that's not always true. If a quick fingering sequence asks for say clarion C#, D#, and G#, the only way to get it on an "18 key" clarinet (i.e. ordinary Boehm system but with the left hand Ab/Eb key) is to use the typical fingering combination of left hand pinky finger C# (LH), D# RH (the only key available on an ordinary Boehm system clarinet), G# LH (the only key available on ordinary Boehm 17 key and 18 key clarinets), as you "walk" up the horn. There are bunches of times that sliding actually gets to the next note quicker and smoother. It's a sophisticated trick, but it's really neat when it works.
I'm still learning how to develop the "muscle memory" to react instinctively to the demands of the music. Occassionally, I still get caught in the trap of not being able to reach for the next note because I used the LH Ab/Eb key at the wrong time. I'd say be cautious and study the piece before you play it to see where you can use this key and where you should slide to get the next note. Some drill books (Hite's Baermann III book comes to mind readily) have "slide marks" to help guide a novice like me. A very simple rule of thumb I use is if there is a clarion G# (or Ab) in the measure, slide with the right hand pinky finger so the left hand pinky finger is ready for the G#/Ab. If there isn't one in the measure, try to finger the D#/Eb with the LH key and see if it works.
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