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Re: Are my tone holes undercut?

Author: gsurosey
Date: 2010-12-13 00:05

Both barrels I have are the ones that came with the clarinets when I bought them. One of them used to be 66mm but it was shortened by the previous owner. The reason I use the same barrel on both is because of switches. I can't pull just the mouthpiece off without getting the ligature and reed all discombobulated. My teacher said part of why that happens to me is how I take the mouthpiece off. He showed me a different way to grip it, but it involves switching hands from what I'm used to (I use my left hand to twist the barrel off; he showed me how to twist the mouthpiece putting the ligature screw into the palm of my right hand). That seems to be one of the things I can't swap hands with. I can't buy a longer barrel, so I contend with what I have.

Our orchestra tunes to A440. I wasn't sure if the undercutting had something to do with the disparity in pitch before warming my horns up. The Bb is generally sharp (20 cents give or take). The A is always flat (about 20 cents) unless it's really warm in the room. I remember a concert last year we played in a hot room (one of our nursing home concerts I think). The A clarinet was at 440 when I took it out of the case. I actually checked my tuner to see if it was still at 440.

I thought it was interesting that my Bb was undercut and my A wasn't. The A is slightly older (394,xxx vs 406,xxx or 409,xxx (can't remember which, but it's one of those)).

Rachel

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