 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Eoin McAuley
Date: 2000-07-06 12:29
I play clarinet, recorder and tin whistle. In all three, I have been told I lift my fingers too high off the holes. I tend to lift them up about an inch. I know for a fact that my recorder and tin whistle playing have not suffered as a result of this so-called fault. But I'm only learning the clarinet and my teacher keeps telling me not to lift my fingers so high.
Last night, I saw a world-class clarinetist, Michael Collins. I notice that he lifts his fingers just as high as I do.
Has anybody any ideas on this?
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Author: Nicko
Date: 2000-07-06 12:56
It's a problem alot of players have including myself. Often if I struggle to play a fast or very technical passage, it's because my fingers are all over the place and my left hand particularly is swinging round towards the side G# key. If you keep reminding yourself to try and left or move your fingers as little as possible, it actually does make it alot easier as your hands arent working as hard. I can't really give you too much advice because it's something troublign me as well. Another problem I have that you may wish to make yourself aware of when your playing, is that my right and index finger often gets caught under the side Bb/Eb key, almost as if it is supporting the clarinet. Try not to get into this habit either..it will only hold you back later on.
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Author: Meri
Date: 2000-07-07 14:38
If a piece is expressive and not too fast either in tempo or the notes themselves, I lift my fingers quite high--it helps me feel the expressive quality. If the notes are fast, however, I keep my fingers quite close to the keys.
Meri
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Author: paul
Date: 2000-07-07 14:40
Technically, you can't lift your fingers too high. But you can lift your fingers too low. Play your horn with the full intent of making bad notes by barely lifting your fingertips off the tone holes. Listen for the note. Lift your fingertip slightly more. Listen. As soon as you are not affecting the note, you have lifted your fingertip high enough. Any more is wasted movement that you can use for speed later on. There is a calculation for figuring out how high to lift your fingertips off the tone holes. It's used to figure out how high to lift the keypads. However, even if you calculated it perfectly, you still need to feel for it to get correct tuning on its own and with other notes.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-07-07 17:05
paul -
lifting your fingers higher seems to cause a different type of shading. I don't really know if it's because if you lift them high it generally means there's more time to "shape" the note or whether the act of raising the fingers high actually causes the shape/color to change.
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Author: paul
Date: 2000-07-07 19:55
I discussed the concept of high lifting possibly affecting the note with my pro tutor at great length over the course of several lessons. I tried really hard to convince him of it. After all, the concept seemed plausible. He never bought it. He said that after you get past the point of no shading, lifting any farther is moot. That's why the key pads only go so far, too. Obviously, there is more of a mechanical limit on the keypads, but they lift up only just beyond the point of no shading for efficiency reasons, too. He made mention of the flashier jazz style clarinetists lifting their fingers way high up for showmanship. He and his classical peers played the same music with a "minimalist" finger lifting strategy and there was no net difference in the sound or performance. Read into this that pure skill will squash flash and showmanship almost every time.
Straight-cut tone holed clarinets are less likely to be as sensitive to shading than undercut clarinets. Both horns can be fingered for shading, but you can hear the effects much easier on an undercut horn. For novices, this helps a bunch by making the straight cut horn more forgiving of sloppy fingerings. Holding the fingertip too close to the tone hole is a prime example of a sloppy fingering. Resting fingers or parts of the hands on keys is another. You tend to trade off quality of tone for greater forgiveness.
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Author: Kai
Date: 2000-07-07 21:34
Whatever reason Mr Michael Collins lifted his fingers that high for or whether it is useful in anyway or to be avoided at all cost remains debatable. Just one point, sometimes, teachers tell us certain things for pedagogical reasons and really not because they are wrong in the first place!
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-07-08 14:01
I found that on my Selmer Bundy Eb soprano clarinet that lifting the fingers too high resulted in an overall sharpness. Of course not lifting them enough resulted in a flatness and a stuffiness.
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