Author: DougR
Date: 2023-06-24 21:02
Sorry for your difficulty--and I absolutely hear ya about having to face this kind of challenge after relatively trouble-free playing for so many years.
I'm having my own version of your difficulty, the end joints of both forefingers have curved laterally toward the adjacent fingers, pulling the forefingers off the holes they're supposed to cover. So far it's not THAT big an issue with the left forefinger, but playing my A clarinet has gotten progressively problematic due to the increased spacing between the 2 top right-hand holes.
The only remedy I've been able to find for MY issue is only partially successful, and it's to shift my entire right hand position by pivoting the wrist down closer to the bell, which better aligns the R forefinger to the hole it's supposed to cover.
As you suggest, though, retraining musculature after many decades is a huge undertaking, and it's not clear at this point that I'll ever be able to play the A clarinet in a professional situation again. And to the best of my knowledge, nobody makes plateau A clarinets.
There was a thread recently that might be of use to you, though--BBoard member Chris Peryagh is also a master repair person, and made a unique insert for one of the RH holes for a customer. When I get done with this I'll see if I can find it & post back. In the thread he talks about adding plateau function to certain keys--what other alterations need to be done besides just sealing the key's ring.
As to something you could wear on your finger--I've thought about that too. I thought about those gummy non-slip fingertip things people use who page through a lot of loose paper, and also possibly hitting the hardware store to look for thick but pliable gloves to snip off a fingertip to cover the hole best. I may still resort to that, if the hand repositioning doesn't work. (To help retrain my hand I'm using a sling, an adjustable thumb rest, and a strategically placed "flute gel".)
I also thought about a partial plateau key for the R forefinger, but that would involve permanently altering the instrument with a couple of additional posts perhaps, and I'm loath to do that to a fine instrument that will definitely outlive ME.
Will report back!
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The Clarinet BBoard
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