Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2006-09-20 14:16
I once subbed for a baritone sax player who had serious problems playing clarinet, as his right middle finger had been broken back in the old days of primitive medical care and had not been properly set. As a result of the injury, the last joint of the finger pointed off to the right at about a 20° angle, making it very hard to consistently cover the RH 2 tone hole. I suggested a plateau clarinet, which I understand he ordered, but he died before he could ever use it. Bummer...
I used to have an alto player who was never comfortable with the finger hole coverage issues on the clarinet when he first started doubling seriously. (Prior to that time, he was mostly a concert band guy, playing alto exclusively, and he was very sloppy with placement on that horn, probably due to his bassoon playing roots.) I explained the plateau option, pointing out that the coverage issue was made mostly irrelevant by going that route but that you lost part of the tonal quality.
He bought (new) a Noblet horn, and at first was quite satisfied with the result. However, as he put in more and more time on clarinet, he found that he could deal with the finger placement issues after all, and transitioned to an R-13 (natürlich) pretty quickly thereafter. He has passed the Noblet horn on to his daughter (who was a sax player who wanted to learn clarinet) , so it wasn't a total waste of money.
I had him use both horns on a gig once, and I found that I could not tell which was in use at a given time. But, it did make a difference to him, the player.
In short, for those just used to saxophonic style finger placement, the plateau horns would be a welcomed short term crutch, but unless you are cursed with serious physical problems (like the baritone player, or those mentioned with finger nerve sensation diminishment) it probably should be avoided.
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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The Clarinet BBoard
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