 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Aussie Nick
Date: 2005-09-06 07:56
G'day G'day As you can guess from my subject heading, my top Eb on my Bb clarinet is really flat. I realise that this is typically a flat note on probably all clarinets but this is much flatter than my A clarinet, to the point where I can't lip it up easily. I nearly always have to add the left hand c/f key to bring it up to pitch. I was wondering if I got someone to open up the banana key on the lower joint (the one used to play the high Eb) a little more would this help. Or could it be the standard Eb vent key? hmmm decisions... any advice? Thanks
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Author: donald
Date: 2005-09-06 08:12
i have this problem with my Festival A, and performed the Brahms Trio and John Ritchies concertino, desparately sweating to get the E flats up to pitch, before discovering a fingering that worked really well.... maybe this will work for you.....
thumb + reg
then *** 0*0 (or 1,2,3 and 5..... in other words finger a clarion F#)
then (while keeping fingers on the left hand holes) open the throat G# key with the side of the index finger. (the rhand little finger Eflat key will sharpen it even more)
i found that this fingering works really well on both Bflat and A
opening the bannana key up does sharpen the note to some degree, but in my case (at any rate) nowhere near enough.
hope that this was helpful
donald
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2005-09-06 08:41
What fingering do you use for the Eb Aussie Nick?
For me two fingerings that work pretty good are (x means pressed o mean left open):
R T o x x x o (banana) o (Eb/Ab)
R T o x x o o x (Eb/Ab)
Sometimes instead of the right hand pinky Eb/Ab press the right hand pinky C/F and it would be even sharper.
Others might have better suggestions.
Good luck.
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Author: donald
Date: 2005-09-06 10:27
that was much clearer than my attempt!
RT xxx oxo (plus Throat G#)(Eflat/Aflat optional)
d
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Author: javier garcia m
Date: 2005-09-06 13:25
I prefer the second option Clarnibass suggest with the Eb/Ab RH pinky key. But difficult to play C# - D# quickly (for the E mayor scale).
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-09-06 13:28
In this case, alternate fingerings for Eb6 (and I could probably list 10 of them) do not solve the fundamental problem.
Short of undercutting a tone hole, which of course will effect other notes besides Eb6, the easiest thing to try at this point is raising the sliver key (banana key) arm so that it opens a bit further. You should also check the opening of the right pinky Eb/Ab key for correct venting.
BTW - while the above fingering choices which were given are just adequate, but certainly not great, a higher pitched (sharper) Eb6 can simply be obtained by removing your thumb from the standard Eb6 fingering:
Thus:
R x x x / x o I o Eb/Ab
...GBK
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Author: donald
Date: 2005-09-06 20:42
the problem i found working with this note was that most of the "sharper" fingerings were too sharp to use easily, or had other problems (ie tone didn't match well, note didn't speak well in legato etc)
this will, of course, be different on every clarinet and with every player. I spent quite a bit of time going through the different options to find a fingering that was (for me) the most versatile.... and i only did this AFTER trying to open the sliver key up as much as possible (and was very disapointed with the effect this had).
I'm sure that Aussie Nick would rather just have the standard fingering work well, so try opening the key, but in reply to your original post, i don't think it's worth experimenting with the Eflat key height IF low G# and D#/Eflat are well in tune, but someone else may have more experience with this....
donald
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Author: kenb
Date: 2005-09-06 21:18
The reform boehm design solves this problem - an extra vent hole opens when you play Gb/Eb with the right hand middle finger.
The B&H1010 had a similar mechanism, known as the Acton vent.
It's an improvement which, after being around for 50 years, should be more widely available.
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