 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Buster Brown
Date: 2007-05-06 18:03
We've been having some altissimo intonation difficulties in our community band, in particular C# and D. So I did some checking with my horn. I find my C# is about 30 cents sharp when I open the Eb key and right on with Eb closed. D is not quite as bad; 10 cents sharp with Eb and right on without. The rest of the altissimo range is pretty much in tune using the Eb.
My question is on which altissimo note do most start using the Eb key? When I took lessons (many years ago), I was taught to open the Eb on C# and continue using it as I go higher. In those days we didn't have tiny, inexpensive tuners. Not that it matters, but I'm playing a new Buffet Vintage with a 55 year old Woodwind mouthpiece and Gonzales FOF 3-3/4 or 4.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2007-05-06 18:26
I learned NOT to use the Eb key for C#.
The behaviour above (read: higher notes) seems to differ with the equipment one's using - on one of mine I have to use the Eb key, on one I don't.
I was tempted to say "whatever works for you" but I feel the wrath of the community...
(edited for clarity)
--
Ben
Post Edited (2007-05-06 18:47)
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2007-05-06 18:42
Generally speaking you do not use the Eb key for C# for the reason you've discovered: it inflates the pitch excessively.
Generally (again) it is altissimo D that is the first note to use the Eb.
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: Chauncey
Date: 2007-05-06 18:44
I, too, was taught to not use the pinkie on the C#. Not only does it make it way too sharp, but it also makes it sound shrill
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Author: Buster Brown
Date: 2007-05-06 22:26
Thanks for the confimation of my sharp experience. You'd think after all these years (and I'm getting old) I'd know this.
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Author: Max S-D
Date: 2007-05-07 02:55
Yeah, I've always been taught not to use the Eb key on C#. I always used the Eb key on D until recently, and I was always sharp. Lately, though, I've not been using it much for the D or the D#/Eb unless they are flat (which is happening more and more as my embouchure is getting better--less jaw pressure, more side pressure). The E, however, always needs that little boost to bring it up to pitch, as do all the notes above it, in my experience.
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2007-05-07 11:44
"The E, however, always needs that little boost to bring it up to pitch, as do all the notes above it, in my experience."
...Until I get up to G#, A, A# and B. You switch to the Db key here, and I personally relax a great deal or else my pitch goes way up!
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: robertgh
Date: 2007-05-07 18:12
<<I was taught to open the Eb on C# and continue using it as I go higher. In those days we didn't have tiny, inexpensive tuners.>>
B.B. — That was my experience, too, back in the day—with the result that the altissimo always seemed to be a set of compromises. I guess if the whole row of 1st clarinets went sharp together, you didn't notice it quite as much (imagines many readers cringing in horror or LOL). When I bought a Korg tuner a while back and actually saw that 20-30 cent truth (among other lesser needle swings) it sent me back to the fingering charts and commentaries real fast. Good-bye "close enough," hello "clean." (Okay, cleaner—I'm not claiming dead-on perfection with 58-year-old ears.) 
Bob H.
Post Edited (2007-05-07 18:25)
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