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Yes, but what do you call it?

Author: ThatPerfectReed
Date: 2014-03-13 03:33

Barring the few of us with left, in addition to right pinkied [G#3]

[G#3]

/

[D#5]

keys, no surprise, some musical pieces find us switching pinkies mid-note to set our right pinkies up for playing this note, often after we've just played it followed by a bunch of other notes that require a "pinky convention" (i.e. lots of notes requiring our pinkies, left and right.)

I've always called this "LORIing," after the name "Lori" which contains an "L" and an "R," no differently that we move between left (L) and right (R) pinkies.

I'm not sure if I learned this from someone else. Does anyone call this "LORIing," or have some other name for it--other, of course, than the usual "I call it hard," or a "pain," or "time to buy a Tosca or Backun clarinet?"

"Pinky convention," that's mine. [wink]

[wink]

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Re: Yes, but what do you call it?

Author: fskelley
Date: 2014-03-13 09:08

Same issue as LH pinky required on [C#4]

[C#4]

or

[G#5]

. Since I'm playing gospel/blues in easy keys G C F a lot, I'm constantly needing to hit the flatted minor 3rd notes Eb and Ab, back and forth with the unflatted major third. So both my pinkies get a workout, and the coordination is not always as smooth as I'd like. And that's even when I'm not trying to do something else with the same pinky immediately before or after.

For the LH pinky I think there might be some help from the "forked G#" mechanism, which Pete Fountain always had on his Leblanc horns. Since I've gone the Ridenour route and so far as I know such additions are unavailable, I've resigned myself to do without. Was there ever a similar mechanism for the RH pinky? I guess that would have to be a "forked D#".

Stan in Orlando

EWI 4000S with modifications

Post Edited (2014-03-13 09:10)

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Re: Yes, but what do you call it?

Author: Katrina
Date: 2014-03-13 17:24

I don't call it "LORIing" but I do call it a pain and a hassle...And I tell students that if they see this in a piece it means the composer knows nothing about clarinet playing!

EDIT: I frequently play music which requires pinky-finger sliding and I have learned to be ok with it myself...

Post Edited (2014-03-13 13:25)

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Re: Yes, but what do you call it?

Author: Dibbs
Date: 2014-03-14 15:05

I don't have a name for it but I was taught to do the switching mid note thing about 40 years ago and never to slide. Recently, after playing a classical clarinet for a few months, I've come to the conclusion that there's nothing wrong with sliding. You have to on old instruments and, even today, German system players have to learn to slide.

On the Boehm instrument RH D# to C# and C to B are particularly easy as are LH B to G# and C# to G#. The reverse of these is obviously not possible since they are "jumps" rather than slides. RH C to Eb and LH B to C# are doable. I find the reverse of these two more difficult but should be possible with practice.

Is this heresy? Are the Gods of Boehm system pedagogy going to sentence me to rot in Hell?

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Re: Yes, but what do you call it?

Author: fskelley
Date: 2014-03-14 15:28

RH C to Eb is second nature to me now. Obviously I'd prefer to prepare ahead with LH on C lever, but sometimes I'm improvising and realize I'm in a corner. So sliding is no longer a big deal.

I'm not a huge fan of rules anyway. If something works, I'm good. I made entire engineering, photography, and now possibly music careers out of doing things others said couldn't be done. And usually not all that brilliant or inventive, just a willingness to try things without regard to the conventions.

Stan in Orlando

EWI 4000S with modifications

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Re: Yes, but what do you call it?

Author: ThatPerfectReed
Date: 2014-03-14 23:48

I was never taught, despite being classically trained, that sliding is taboo. In fact more than one instructor told me that a quick dab of the finger against skin behind the ear could provide the grease to place on the 2 top keys of 4 played with the right pinky on standard Boehm clarinets, to facilitate just such a slide to the bottom 2 keys.

The fact is this still doesn't eliminate the need, under the right series of notes, to switch pinkies mid note on standard Boehm clarinets.

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