Author: Ransome Fan
Date: 2022-04-18 01:39
I did an unusual thing today on my Buffet R-13 and on my Bundy plastic camping clarinet. I put tape over the tone hole for the alternate low Eb/high Bb key, the one that is operated by the 3rd finger on the left hand. I don’t use that fingering, but when I reach for my left hand F#/C# pinky key, I frequently rock the 2nd finger on my left hand and lift the alternate Eb/Bb key a little, causing a squeak or a “no note”. I didn’t use to have the problem, but I think that my left little finger has become less agile with age, so that the reach to the little finger keys is more of a stretch than it used to be. My little fingers curl inward in my hands, so that my extension toward the pinky keys is a lot less than most folks. I really like the improvement. Since I never used the other fingering, I don’t miss it, and I can live without the squeaks much more happily.
I wonder if this is the key that Artie Shaw used to remove on his horns? I ran across this: “Artie always used a 6-ring “symphony” model with the articulated G#; you can see that in the keys in many photos, whether a Selmer or a Buffet. He showed me one he’d used: he adjusted the horn itself, slightly, removing the tiny little key & pad in the upper joint on those models, & plugging that hole, because it “got in the way”!
Mine got in the way too. However I’m 71, and I’m thinking of what becomes of my horns when I die. If I remove keys, then they may never be re-united with the horns, and someone else will be bummed out. I think that the tape idea is better. What do you think?
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The Clarinet BBoard
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