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Re: Adult beginner help with register key

Author: Chris P
Date: 2017-02-27 09:31

Can you get low F easily? If you're having trouble with that note as well, then you're having to stretch your fingers more than your hands will allow and some of your RH fingers may be slightly uncovering the toneholes on the lower joint.

Not so long ago I did some fairly drastic touchpiece repositioning on a Yamaha 250 for an adult beginner who had a lot of trouble reaching the RH pinky keys. Her main problem was her RH finger 3 was uncovering the RH3 tonehole chimney when she went for a low F or upper register C due to the stretch causing her fingers to shift due to the stretch.

I angled them all towards the RH ring key pillar and even filed the lower side of the pillar down to get the F#/C# key in nice and tight as it is on my old Selmers which she had no problem reaching.

I also repositioned the thumbrest to allow her to hold the clarinet more comfortably - it's an adjustable thumbrest, but I repositioned it further over to the right of the lower joint (as you're looking at the back of the clarinet when held upright) and the baseplate in a better location north-south to allow for more adjustment.

So if it's a matter of stretching to reach the keys and then you're squeaking, then find a good woodwind specialist who can reposition the keywork to suit your hands to make things easy for you. Not all clarinets suit everyone, but they can always be tailored to suit anyone.

Keywork can be bent when cold as the metal is already soft from having the pieces all silver soldered together, so unless there's a dry joint (where the solder hasn't flowed through the entire joint but only around the surface edges) or the keys are made of a cheap alloy such as Mazak, then bending keys can be done with no risk of breakage.

Always leave this sort of thing to a specialist as they have the experience, knowledge and feel when it comes to keywork adjustments. You will need to be present so you can check the progress and the repairer will need to see how the keys fit your hands, so book a couple or so hours with them to do this.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.

Post Edited (2017-02-27 09:34)

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