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Re: Fantasy fingering

Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2006-08-26 15:17

Terry Stibal wrote:

>>...it's with stuff like this that I thank myself for the presence of mind I had to go with full Boehm horns...>>

It's interesting to see this thread from my own perspective: namely, that of someone who habitually plays simpler clarinet systems, down to and including the 5-key clarinet.

On such clarinets, both key-sliding and the use of 'acoustically challenged' fingerings are commonplace requirements, and are therefore practised to the extent that they interfere only minimally with musical expression. Sometimes we find they even serve to ENHANCE musical expression.

On modern instruments, the undesirability of sliding is greatly exaggerated because people regurgitate what they have been told without SUFFICIENTLY trying it out for themselves. The fact is that what is (or is not) possible or desirable with regard to sliding cannot be determined by spending five minutes on it after lunch, as watching any excellent bassoon player will make evident.

The Paris Conservatoire resisted teaching more advanced clarinets than the 5-key instrument for many years before yielding rightly to the inevitable, so making way for the possibility of ever more complicated clarinet music. But that they could plausibly resist at all is evidence for the degree of mastery attainable on even a simple instrument.

What sort of mastery? Well, consider: the great virtuoso Ernesto Cavallini played throughout his career on (and therefore wrote ALL his Etudes for) a 5-key clarinet. That should give anyone pause for thought.

Tony

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