Author: SecondTry
Date: 2021-12-04 20:44
Hi Laurie:
I think I may be able to add some words of value here, rather than listen to myself talk (not that I am in any way implying such things of my fellow contributors here) because I took the opposite route and have a story to tell.
I added the key https://www.clarinetworks.com/product/bolt-on-alternate-e-flat-key/ to my 1970's R13. It may seem like a stupid reason, but after years of practice, I could only take the beginning of the Cadenza of Messager's Solo de Concurs at a speed slower than I wished given the need for a mid note pinky swap in one of the runs for those with only right pinky Ab/Eb functionality. In acquiring the key I hoped and was able to manage this run faster.
I know---silly reason to get the key especially from someone who believes in "practice over gear." In my defense, after tens of thousands of iterations, where you hit a wall increasing the metronome without losing accuracy, if a hardware solution exists, you consider it.
At first the key was getting in the way. I was confusing it with the E/B lever. I
spoke to a friend with a Buffet Festival, which as you report has a similar key in a similar place. This friend said, "give it a week of etude studies. That's how long it took me to not accidently hit it."
She was, at least for me, absolutely correct.
Now, we're all different, and yet in some ways we're all the same.
We're all different in that some of us will adapt to the key faster. But we're all the same in that the repetition of the proper music get us use to this key faster. And when I say proper music I mean hitting the etude books (e.g. Bearmann III).
Acclimation to the key isn't going to come, I think--at least with any degree of speed--in simple playing of performable music. You've got to work the study books that emphasize the patterns where slow repetition will break your conundrum.
That said, if the key isn't for you then it isn't for you. If the benefits of this key are not clear to you, either because you're not playing the difficulty of material where it comes in handy, or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, your talent over the years finds pinky swaps adequate (to wit: Stanley Drucker) then remove the key.
There are plenty of places where I continue to do mid note pinky swaps despite this key. I haven't become so familiar with it that my brain always fires my left pinky to make an Eb/Ab when sight reading. But since it no longer gets in my way and comes in handy now and then, I consider it a good addition.
Good luck.
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