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Eb Contra Fingerings

Author: Ed Lowry
Date: 2014-12-16 23:45

About a year ago I acquired an old but very nice Selmer Series 9 Eb Contra. I've read of the difficulties players have in the altissimo, especially since there's no hole in the left hand index finger pad as there is in the Selmer Bass. The primary draw for my getting this instrument was being able to play cello and bassoon parts without transposing (except for the key) to the bass. However, there were many pieces with notes above middle C that I found difficult to play, so I went back to learning bass clef in C to treble in Bb.

I recently discovered that altissimo notes up to F can be played by using the register key, but not the thumb key, with some good results. For example, C sharp is register key and index finger LH, D is register key only, D sharp is register key and side A flat key, etc.

Is there an available finger chart for this instrument that refines on my recent primitive efforts, and discusses tuning of these notes with these fingerings? I'll keep experimenting, but if someone has done some work that can be shared, I'd be grateful.

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