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Re: Pinky Tuscadero

Author: SecondTry
Date: 2021-03-04 20:28

Thanks for your time and thoughts Karl.

> I think you're talking about C#5 (3rd space from the bottom of a treble staff)?

Yes sir I am. C#5 [C#5]

. I should have used the "notes" capability provided by the forum in my OP, sorry. I thought referring to the note as a "full fingered C#" might have been adequate, but in reflection that terminology is of my own authorship, not common clarinet parlance.

> Though you start out saying that LH C# is causing a problem, it seems to
> develop that it's actually moving from D# to C# that's the real issue

I should have been clearer. It is more accurate to say that arriving at C#5 from several notes slightly higher in the scale, not just merely D#5, can manifest my voicing problem with C#5. One such note, as the "original note" before moving to C#5, can also be D5--just as you refer to.

> a far more likely culprit than "voicing" is just bad coordination between the
> pinkies, such that when LH pinky is late, it's close enough to covering that it
> interferes with the response (causing a squeak).

Understood. Thanks. That would make sense. Maybe I incur similar problem moving from say, D5 to C#5 (played with the left pink) because, as you reference, my left pinky lags relative to my other left hand fingers. As a test of this, I can tell you that my problems are less likely to manifest when playing C#5 with the right pinky---further evidence Karl that your theories about that
lagging left pinky may be spot on. Sigh: old age.

> It could of course be that one of your fingers - probably either the ring finger
> or the index finger of your LH - is moving slightly off its hole when you press
> the LH C# lever to change notes because of unwanted extra movement in
> your left hand as you press the C# key.

That is a perfectly logical theory Karl for you to articulate, but one I've ruled out. That left ring finger, fearing the very thing you describe immediately above, is all but "crazy glued" to the clarinet in my effort to overcompensate for this tendency. In fact that's what I thought it was too, never considering the pinky timing you raise, precisely because a right pinky played C#5, where the left ring finger is not motivated to move off its hole, is an easier note for me to play.

Again, thank you for breaking this down with me. It would also explain why this issue is less likely to manifest at slower tempos where pinky coordination is less of a challenge.