 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: d0ublemur
Date: 2014-03-17 07:25
Throat B flat on my clarinet sounds horrible. I've heard people talk about resonant fingerings but do not know where to find a diagram to show me these fingerings. Any advice on how to make this note sound better is appreciated.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: qualitycontrol
Date: 2014-03-17 03:32
If you google "Resonance Fingerings Clarinet" the first page that comes up is pretty informative. There's also a lot of information you can find by searching on this website with its search feature.
The fingerings on that first google result page are the ones I use, I find they work very well, but I think it varies clarinet to clarinet.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2014-03-17 07:54
The best fingering is with the throat A key and the next to top side key. If you're playing too fast to use that, you're playing too fast for the audience to hear the difference.
There are various key mechanisms to improve the throat Bb, but you need to learn to do without them for the time being.
When you use the standard fingering with the register key, put down your two ring fingers and the low F key with your right little finger. Then blow harder. That's what we all learn to do.
Ken Shaw
Post Edited (2014-03-17 13:10)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: pewd
Date: 2014-03-17 04:05
try the A key, plus the 2nd from top trill key, plus: oox | 0xx , plus lower right F/C key
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: fskelley
Date: 2014-03-17 08:10
One of the more impressive things about my Arioso is that the throat tones A and Bb are so good- that the resonance fingerings I'd learned on my Leblanc Dynamic 2 (which helped immensely) hardly change the sound. But I still use them when convenient, kind of like pressing the elevator button multiple times even though you know that doesn't do anything.
Stan in Orlando
EWI 4000S with modifications
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: muppie
Date: 2014-03-17 08:13
My teacher always does that extra fingerings, I think it's what Paul (pewd) said above. Me - I'm just lazy and use the register key. Surprisingly when I recorded myself it doesn't sound too bad even though to my ear as the player, it sounds really stuffy like you said. It also differs from one clarinet to another. On the Ridenour, it is stuffier than on the E12F.
The second key on the trill keys sounds so much nicer, and it's actually shown on the fingering chart that came with my buffet clarinet.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Wes
Date: 2014-03-17 09:29
After playing for a long while, some players find that they can support the sound with high air pressure and certain mouth voicing so that there is no need for alternate fingerings for that throat Bb. New players often find that the throat Bb is stuffy, however.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2014-03-17 12:53
Stating the obvious - make sure no swab lint etc has accumulated in the register pipe.
Then, for long (sustained) Bbs I too take A+Side Trill, for fast passages I use the traditional "pinched" Bb (no one's gonna notice a difference at a certain tempo)
--
Ben
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bruno
Date: 2014-03-17 13:06
Ken Shaw brings up an interesting point.
How many use the A-plus-side-key as our every-day Bb (instead of pinching the A and the register key)?
About the resonance keys; I use two or three fingers of my right hand. It's probably not as good as other combinations but I need the help in crossing the break so I put those fingers down to get a leg up. There's no "best" combination of resonance fingers. Uase whatever works best for your clarinet.
bruno>
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-03-17 17:17
I pretty much NEVER use the side key unless it's for a trill. The side key fingering is too far out of character with the surrounding notes to be useful for me.
My preferred resonance fingering (for more speed AND use with arpeggios) is to just add the second and third finger of both hands.
But with any resonance fingering, be sure you compensate for a slight lowering of pitch.
.............Paul Aviles
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2014-03-17 13:52
Bruno -
I use the side key Bb whenever possible. I've read that some finger-jocks at the French Conservatory use only the side key, but everything depends on the length and flexibility of your right index finger.
In passages that require your right index finger to be down, you can sometimes rest the bell on your knee and rotate your wrist up to open the key with your knuckle, or even use your right thumb.
Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, at rehearsal number 3, calls for the a long-held Bb. I don't know where I read this - probably in the original run of the Clarinet Magazine - that a player had rehearsed the piece with Debussy conducting and had used the side key. Debussy stopped the orchestra and said that he had the stuffy quality in mind and that they player should use the "pinch" fingering.
I may have mis-remembered the story, which may have been by a flutist who had installed a special C# key to avoid the stuffy C# on the standard Boehm flute. Debussy told him that he had the stuffy note in mind for the opening solo to the Prelude. At any rate, you should think about the sound the composer wanted.
You must also be aware of the harmony. For passing tones, tones on weak beats and anticipation or suspension resolutions, I always use the pinch fingering.
Sidney Forrest taught that you should work hard on producing full resonance on the pinch Bb and use that as a focus for the surrounding notes http://unitus.org/FULL/clarinet.2. As Anthony Gigliotti said, BTSOOI (Blow The S**t Out Of It).
Ken Shaw
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ursa
Date: 2014-03-17 17:33
Myself, I usually use the throat A with side B-flat key whenever playing a sustained B-flat. Problem solved.
Two of my clarinets have cork pads installed on the register key--both have nice, clear "pinch" B-flats. Coincidence? I think not...
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bruno
Date: 2014-03-17 23:10
Leon Russianoff prepared my R13 and he installed cork pads on all the side keys and the reg. key. That was 30+ years ago! I can't believe it!
In those days, Buffet had a service center - on Long Island, I think, and Mr. R. used to select out the best clarinets from the shipments he received, and he would send them out there to be tweaked and properly set up, never mind whether they were silver plated or nickel plated, what he was after was sound, response and depth.
Mine was one of them. He gave me two and sent me off to a practice room at his upstairs store at 48th and Broadway (if I am remembering correctly). I was pretty raw in those days but luckily, a young player from Italy happened to be in the store and we went in together to choose the better horn. It turned out that I had already chosen the best clarinet in the batch, which had nickel-plating, but the Italian suggested I switch barrels, which I did.
I've never been sorry. It cost me $400 plus my old R13. To this day that clarinet is a reminder of how wonderful a good instrument can be. Looking at it, you might mistake it for a plastic horn - the grain is so fine as to be nearly invisible. That was a time when the very best wood was still available.
Bruno>
Post Edited (2014-03-17 19:24)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
