 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: emilliano
Date: 2006-03-09 20:58
I am a starter player so can you describe me the function of the Eb lever. What are its advantages?
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2006-03-09 21:25
It allows slightly faster transitions on some arpeggia and runs, eliminating some of the more complex fingerings.
Some love them, some can do without.
If you do want it, most techs can ad the lever and adjust the pad cup.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2006-03-09 21:35
If you do not want the LH Ab/Eb key, it can be removed ...GBK
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-03-09 21:52
It's a useful key to have, and if you have one fitted make use of it - later on when you play the Saint-Saens sonata (or some other piece) you'll find it very useful when there's a passage in the upper register that has the notes Eb, Db then up to Ab.
Without the Eb lever you have to slide your RH little finger off the Eb key and onto the Db key below it so your LH little finger is free for the Ab - as it's not easy to slide yor LH little finger from the Db lever to the Ab key cleanly.
With the Eb lever fitted, you take the Eb with the left, Db with the right and Ab with the left, and this avoids sliding.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2006-03-09 22:06
I assume you mean a lever for the left little finger that opens the right little finger key for low Ab, clarion Eb.
With only one Ab/Eb key, there are "you can't get there from here" passages, such as (chalumeau) G#-F#-E-G#, where you have to slide your finger from one key to another. The extra lever makes it possible to play these without sliding.
Some players object to the addition of this key because:
-- it adds weight (this seems dumb to me -- the weight is tiny).
-- the older key design put the lever between the two upper left little finger levers, separating them -- however, current designs mount the lever outside those keys and have it curve over.
-- in order to be easily reachable, the lever must be long enough to interfere with secure technique on the other keys for the left little finger -- but current designs let the key be easily removed.
-- if I remove the lever, it leaves an ugly pair of posts -- but current designs make the posts almost invisible.
-- if I don't have the lever on all my instruments, I may reach for it on an instrument that doesn't have it -- but almost all bass clarinets have the lever, and I know of no one who gets confused after playing bass -- certainly I don't.
There's no reason not to have the key. On the other hand, Robert Marcellus, Harold Wright and almost all the other great players have gotten along fine without it.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2006-03-10 01:17
I've had a clarinet with "extra" keys for over 40 years, and when my horn was in the shop recently, I had a devil of a time playing on a standerd 17-key clarinet.
Some think its risky to be used to a clarinet with extra keys unless you have a back-up with the same lay-out.
I've gone back and forth between trying to do without my extra keys and just using them. Right now, I'm being taught the most productive pinky sequences to use for given arpeggios and key signatures. I still, however, instinctly reach for my LH Eb/Ab lever when I'm "stuck" with a right hand pinky down and need to play Eb/Ab next. SIGH
Bob Phillips
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Author: Steve B.
Date: 2006-03-10 02:14
I've wrestled with this issue for awhile now. I have 2003 Buffet Festival
with the new design aux Eb lever that can be easily removed without leaving a gap. It's currently removed because I feel more secure on some fast left pinky passages without it.
It's true that there are definately times where it is needed to prevent sliding but these situations seldom come up in the material I'm playing. If they do I just put the key back on.
In the case of the Saent-Sans Sonata you can get by without it by using
the alternate fingering xx0 xx0 for the Ab so you don't have to slide from
the Eb to Db with your right pinky.
I think it's great to have for the times you might need it but as Ken said,
many great players didn't have it or need it. I also think it should only be used to get you out of a jam or where absolutely necessary. It's probably a
bad idea to get used to using it when it doesn't have to be used.
(For example just to avoid playing clarion C with the left pinky when it is followed by an Eb)
Steve
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Author: emilliano
Date: 2006-03-10 04:26
Thaks a lot for your replies. But I still can't take my decision. I've been a flute player for 6 years but I want to buy a clarinet too. So the question was more: Should I buy one with a Eb lever or one without?
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Author: Merlin
Date: 2006-03-10 13:43
If you're a beginner - no. You won't find a student instrument with one. At least not easily.
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Author: stagehand
Date: 2006-03-11 01:12
I have one with the Eb lever and love it. The only problem I have had is I can not find a new lighter case that will fit it.
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Author: Sean.Perrin
Date: 2006-03-11 01:20
What's "wrong" with using this key on a regular basis, I love having it available! Although it can not be such a good idea to use any key in a way which may be more work or more complicated I find there are times when this key allows a passage to be easier/more efficient. Is this improper? If so I dont' think it would have been added... in my opinion it exists to compliment technique rather than hinder it.
Granted for some people it gets in the way, but having learned with it I have never once hit it by accident. Admittedly, the only problem is when I switch to Eb clarient and it is not there hitting two keys smack in the center does nto produce the proper sound!
Founder and host of the Clarineat Podcast: http://www.clarineat.com
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2006-03-11 05:40
I started on a clarinet without it, after about ten years of playing I changed to a clarinet with the left side Eb/Ab key, but I never used it, and it never got in my way for the other left pinky keys. Now I play again on a clarinet without this key. When I played classical music I used to slide or if it is not too fast change during the note. For me both these methods were easier than using the left pinky Eb/Ab key.
Also our country's most successful clarinetist, which is one of the few classical clarinet soloists in the world (i.e. doesn't also play in an orchestra) plays and has always played a clarinet without the extra Eb lever.
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2006-03-11 19:09
Dear emilliano,
I'm not a flutist, but wonder if you won't miss the articulated G#.
The argument that says that traditionally, clarinetists have been stuck swapping pinkies or sliding to an adjacent key if there is no time to swap is sort of like saying that we should all be playing antique instruments because (say) Stadler could do the Mozart Kv 622 without a a Boehm system instrument.
On a clarinet, the register key moves the pitch to the 12th --unlike your flute that only goes up an octave. That means that the clarinet must fill in those 6 semitones with extra keys. The third line G#, the A above and the middle line Bb are taken with the left forefinger and thumb. There are alternative keys to expedite trill fingerings for these notes and to sneak the pitch up to 3rd line C for trills.
The other three semitones are those played with the pinky keys. There are left and right 3rd line B's, left and right C's, left and right C#s; and on a 6/17 (normal Boem) clarinet, only one right hand Eb. For everything other than Eb, you can always play the next note amongst these on the other hand --except that you must always (if possible) to plan the notes before AND after an Eb to come from the left pinky. Bummer. Think of all the sequences that involve two Ebs. You'll come up with many combinations that just don't work with a single Eb key. (Same thing applies in the chalumeau when you need G# 3).
You will find most working clarintists parts pencil marked with L's and R's to cue the player as to which finger to use BEFORE an Eb/Ab comes up.
That's riduculous, and it means that, unless you can read ahead, you can't sight read fast passages. You have to go through and mark up the part before starting to play it. Some of this stumbling goes away with experience and guidance from a good teacher --which/who will develop good practices on "leading" with a left or right pinky in a given arpeggio. NOT worth the trouble.
I'm working through a bunch of tricky etudes along with scales in 3rds and other standard clarinet pedegogy. Every week, I start my new material by going through it with a pencil and planning out my pinky switches.
Silly, waste of time, inefficient, probably stupid, but traditional.
Save your marking and planning for the alternative fingerings needed in the altissimo register.
And buy those extra keys.
PS.
I have a full Boehm instrument, but am trying to break myself of using the LH Eb and the articulated G# so that I can play all my stuff on someone elses horn --and to expand my choice in the next purchase --you know, that perfectly in-tune, responsive, perfect clarinet.
Bob Phillips
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