 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: JDinNJ
Date: 2010-12-09 03:23
I need to have a clarinet adapted for my daughter's hands. The left is fine. The right hand has only 3 fingers and a thumb. Problems with the 3 fingers prevent her from covering the keys and holding the instrument "properly."
Any clues would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks much.
JD
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Author: SteveG_CT
Date: 2010-12-09 03:36
You can get a clarinet with plateau keys to solve the problem of not being able to cover the holes fully. To alleviate the issue with the thumb you could have her use a neckstrap so that most of the weight of the instrument will be supported by the neck rather than the thumb.
As for the missing finger it would help to know which finger is missing.
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Author: SteveG_CT
Date: 2010-12-09 04:40
That one-handed saxophone is truly impressive. I hadn't seen that video before so thanks for posting it.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2010-12-09 06:18
The first question that begs to be asked: is your daughter just beginning on the clarinet and, if so, would she be as happy on another instrument that doesn't require all the right hand fingers?
A good tech can do lots of things with the mechanism to adapt it to your daughter's hand, but it will be expensive. It will make some difference which finger is missing. Perhaps she'd need to use her existing three fingers to cover the holes and use her left pinky to handle all of the lever keys. This might require a combination on the bottom (right hand) joint of using plateau keys and building an extension onto one or more of the rings so she can cover the holes. She might need rollers of some kind on the left hand levers if she's going to work all of those with the left hand pinky. An alternative (again depending on which finger is missing) might be to build plateaus and extensions so that they are close enough together for one finger to control two holes, rocking back and forth to hold either one or both keys with the same finger (hard to describe, but I'm sure it can be done).
As you can imagine, there will be a lot of design time involved as well as the time to build the key adaptations. You'll need to find a very skilled and imaginative craftsman-tech. And, assuming you start the experiment with a less expensive instrument, if your daughter progresses to the point where she needs a better clarinet, all the adaptation work will need to be done again.
Best of luck, whatever you and your daughter decide to do.
Karl
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2010-12-09 10:14
About ten years ago I acquired a vintage clarinet that had been modified for someone who evidently had been missing all or part of a finger (the right-hand index or middle finger, I'm not sure which). I speculated that the original owner had been a WWI veteran. The modification was very clever, I wish I had taken photos of it before I removed the mechanism --- it involved a homemade plateau key on a pivot that was operated via a roller, allowing the finger adjacent to the missing one to close its own, usual pad but in addition close the 'plateau' pad over the tonehole for the missing finger. It was nicely done, I expect it would have been a lot of work to design and fabricate.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2010-12-09 10:40
If she's playing seated for the majority of the time, then using a Quodlibet or similar telescopic support clipped onto the thumbrest will free up her right arm and thumb so thumb keys can always be added.
Slings or neckstraps don't offer much benefit in terms of freeing up the weight of the clarinet on the right arm and hand as they will just make the clarinet drop downwards if you're not supporting with your thumb for the time you're playing - the Quodlibet will keep the instrument held up at a good playing angle and takes all the stress off the right arm.
If the keywork is fitted to an intermediate level instrument and she upgrades to a pro model later on, it may be possible to transfer most of the altered/additional keywork onto the pro model with some modification to save the cost of making all new keywork from scratch.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2010-12-09 11:00)
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2010-12-09 12:44
You are in the US, so I think Steve Fox would be the person to contact for this kind of thing.
As kdk mentioned, though, what about other instruments that don't rely on the left hand fingers as much- horn or percussion come to mind. Or maybe one of the one handed saxophones?
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Author: kdk
Date: 2010-12-09 13:32
Skygardener wrote:"As kdk mentioned, though, what about other instruments that don't rely on the left hand fingers as much - horn or percussion come to mind. Or maybe one of the one handed saxophones?"
It's her daughter's right hand. An obvious alternative to a woodwind of any kind might be a string instrument - the right hand holds the bow, but a bow grip depends mostly on opposing the thumb against the rest of the fingers - it really wouldn't matter whether 3 fingers or 4.
Trumpet valves are operated by only three fingers. There might (again, depending on which fingers are available) be a possibility of playing it in the "normal" way or, if not, then by reversing the hands and holding with the right hand while working the valves with the left (a purist might object, but it can work much more easily than trying to adapt a woodwind). And a trombone slide could easily be worked with an incomplete right hand - you don't really use the fingers at all, only a grip, like a bow grip, between the thumb and the remaining fingers, however many are available.
Percussion is an option, as skygardener suggests.
I can imagine that with some innovation in fingerings, it might even be possible to manage a piano or other keyboard with only a thumb and 3 fingers on one hand or the other. I'm sure it would be more difficult, but no adaptation would be needed to the instrument, only to the technique.
What it comes down to is that, unless there is some strong attachment to playing a woodwind instrument (always a possibility with a given individual), almost any other instrument would be more accessible and require less adaptation.
Karl
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Author: concertmaster3
Date: 2010-12-09 16:05
Maybe the pinky keys could be rerouted to being thumb keys? What fingers does she have?
If another instrument isn't out of the question, Violin would be a great choice. A modified bow grip might be needed depending on which finger is missing (usually the pinky sits on top of the bow, allowing it to counterbalance the thumb's push...most of the bow is held between the pinky and the thumb, with the other fingers being used to distribute weight into the strings). A creative teacher would be able to figure this out.
We also have a trombonist at our school that has one faulty hand (not sure if that's a good way to describe it). But has to play the trombone with his other hand. It seems to be working for him. I share an office with the low brass instructor (amongst others) and was doing paper work during one of their lessons, and it didn't affect his playing.
Ron Ford
Woodwind Specialist
Performer/Teacher/Arranger
http://www.RonFordMusic.com
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2010-12-09 20:41
kdk-
oops, my typo.
As it says on the website, though, they can make instruments that are either right-handed or left-handed, but for this girl it looks like a completely left-handed instrument would not be necessary. Perhaps only changing one or two keys would be enough.
It seems that this company might be the people to call about adjusting a clarinet, too. The mechanism looks very innovative.
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Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2010-12-10 00:06
If she's never played clarinet before, I wonder if it would be worth starting with a regular clarinet that has plateau keys. She could use a neckstrap or telescopic support as SteveG and Chris P suggest. She won't be using the right hand pinkie keys immediately, so I wouldn't make any modifications until she shows that she's really catching on and showing that she's enjoying it.
At that point, I wonder if it would be worth considering Ron Ford's advice. I have no experience with low C bass clarinets, but from what I know, the lowest notes can be played with levers operated by the right thumb (please correct me if I'm wrong). Does anyone with low C bass clarinet experience think that perhaps something could be set up so that she could play at least two of the right hand pinkie notes with right hand thumb levers?
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2010-12-10 00:37
clarinetguy: I would be able to devise a mechanism to play one or two of the r.h. pinky notes using r.h. thumb levers. I've made worse kluges than that.
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Author: xarkon
Date: 2010-12-10 14:47
I seem to recall Larry Naylor telling me that he does work like this.
http://www.naylors-woodwind-repair.com/
No affiliation other than he has worked on my instruments and done an excellent job, but not for the type of work being requested.
Dave
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