 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: TomD
Date: 2010-06-28 16:20
Is the altissimo 'E' typically a stubbon note. It seems you can have a reed that plays every note well except that one. I have a Yamaha CSG-h. More often then not, that note does not come out with ease. Once in a while I find a reed that lets it speak pretty easily.
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Author: William
Date: 2010-06-28 16:42
I assume you speak of E6. That is a good note on my Buffet R13, but many years ago, I had the upper bore of my instrument adjusted by a master accoustician for specifically, "that" note. The same note on my Leblanc Concerto Bb is somewhat a problem not that it does not speak easily, it doesn't seem to project well. To correct this, I use an alternate fingering:
TR XXX lhAb/OOO or basically, G5 plus the throat Ab key.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2010-06-28 16:59
Check to see if the 1st pad on the lower joint is opening enough or stifling the E. If that's opening enough have the upper joint checked for leaks. Sometimes even a very small leak can cause a big problem. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2010-06-28 17:24
First, check how far the register key opens. If it's too open, the altissimo can be unreliable. You should be just able to slide a nickel coin between the cork and the vent. Also, if the cork is flat, it can be useful to bevel the outer area slightly.
Experiment with how much you open the left index finger hole. Keeping it half covered, or even less, can make the note more secure. To find the best coverage, play clarion G and roll your left index finger up slowly until it jumps up to the E.
The altissimo needs to be voiced differently from the clarion. See the section on voicing in http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=20&i=757&t=757 and do the bugle call exercise described at http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=292768&t=292753 and http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=44343&t=44230.
As William says, the fingering with the three left hand fingers down and the throat Ab key open is absolutely secure, but it tends to be loud and blaring on the R13, so I avoid it, at least on my instruments.
Ed is correct, as always. In addition to the opening of the pad connected to the right hand rings, check to make sure it's flat. If it bulges down, this can interfere with the venting.
Ken Shaw
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Author: TomD
Date: 2010-06-28 17:37
Thanks to all, I'll check all of those things. Pardon my ignorance, but I'm not familiar with the notations: E6, G5, etc. Can someone explain?
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2010-06-28 18:23
Tom, look up at the top right hand corner at the top of these posts where it says Clarinet BBoard, the C written says C4, you go up from there. The next C world be C5 etc. ESP
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Author: JJAlbrecht
Date: 2010-06-28 19:04
All the notes are available for viewing if you click on the SMILEYS/NOTES link at the top of a thread.
Examples:
C4 ![[C4]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/c4.gif)
or, for your issue, E6:
![[E6]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/e6.gif)
Jeff
“Everyone discovers their own way of destroying themselves, and some people choose the clarinet.” Kalman Opperman, 1919-2010
"A drummer is a musician's best friend."
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Author: TomD
Date: 2010-06-28 20:08
Duh, now I really feel like an idiot. Thanks for the tips!
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Author: mrn
Date: 2010-06-28 21:12
This note does tend to be a bit unstable as compared to the notes around it.
I use William's fingering quite a bit, although as Ken suggests, it can actually work "TOO well," depending on the context.
When I need the sound of the standard E fingering and need to jump up to it from the register below, I typically half-hole the LH1 finger hole. It only takes a small amount of opening on that hole to make the E come out. In fact, that's the problem with E6--that first finger hole is really too big to be acoustically optimal. Of course, once you've got the note to speak, you can lift your LH index finger up all the way--you don't have to continue to half-hole.
I thought I'd share a couple of other nifty E6 fingerings I use occasionally. I don't use them a ton, but when I do, they make a huge difference.
One of these is simply to overblow the "pinch Bb"--in other words, you just press the LH A key and the register key. This lets you play E6 without changing registers. Now most "overblown" fingerings like this (such as the infamous "open D") don't sound too great--they're out of tune or tonally deficient or both and usually only good for very rapid passages where you can't tell the difference. But this one (at least for me) sounds surprisingly good, so it's great for passages where you have to jump to the altissimo and back on the same note.
Another fingering I sometimes use is one I discovered accidentally one day--it came out of a fingering "mistake" I made when learning the Poulenc Sonata that didn't sound like a mistake (it was the right pitch, after all), so it got incorporated into my muscle memory. It wasn't until much later that I realized I was using a fingering I had never seen before!
Turns out it was a more stable fingering than the usual E6. It goes like this:
RT o x x (C#/G# key) | x o , o (Ab/Eb key)
See what I did--I played the F6 and Eb6 fingerings simultaneously! 
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Author: GBK
Date: 2010-06-28 21:29
mrn wrote:
> Turns out it was a more stable fingering than the usual E6. It
> goes like this:
>
> RT o x x (C#/G# key) | x o , o (Ab/Eb key)
>
> See what I did--I played the F6 and Eb6 fingerings
> simultaneously!
A better option would be to play the standard Eb6 fingering and just add the throat A key.
...GBK
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Author: skennedy
Date: 2010-06-29 15:34
I sometimes use the G5 fingering with an open thumb hole. The tone quality is good on my instruments.
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Author: John Peacock
Date: 2010-06-29 20:58
I agree with GBK:
> A better option would be to play the standard Eb6 fingering and
> just add the throat A key.
But I find this slightly sharp. Certainly you need to add the LH 1st finger, but also shade the middle RH hole. Then it is a very nice option when you need to attack E6 pp (e.g. coda of Bruckner 9).
The alternative of LH all down plus Ab key is more strident, and harder to attack pp. On my Buffet Bb, adding the E/B RH pinky key improves the tone quality a lot, but this doesn't work on my A - and that fingering is significantly sharper on the A. Doubtless these fine details differ between instruments and players.
I must say that, having spent ages experimenting, E6 seems to be a note that lacks good fingerings compared to those around it. I've been convinced for years that there must be an analogue of the 'long F', which is a completely stable, nice-sounding and in-tune alternative for F6. The GBK option is the best I've found, but it's hard to believe it's all there is. E6 is my least loved note on the entire instrument.
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The Clarinet Pages
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![[Ab5]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/ab5.gif)
followed by ![[F6]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/f6.gif)
(as in Poulenc mvt. 3) it saves you a finger movement in your left hand (so you can use "slow fingers" for the whole little run).