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Re: Short squeak on staccato

Author: Dan Shusta
Date: 2023-11-23 09:57

Dobby,

I think I know what is going on...

I used to have a home business wherein I made mag air leakage testers for clarinet. I was always surprised at the leakage introduced by my fingers whenever the rubber plugs were pulled out and replaced by my fingers. I could actually vary the leakage by how much finger pressure I put on the keys.

You mentioned the problem exists only on soft staccato and that with loud dynamic staccato, there is no "very" short squeak before the tone. Also, you mentioned that the problem remains with different clarinets, mouthpieces and reeds.

I saw a video on YouTube today about squeals. When the player was ever so slightly not covering a key properly, the squeal produced was constant...it did not go to the tone of the fingering.

I'm going to make the presumption that you are right handed. If so, this might possibly mean that your dominant right hand is pressing just a little bit harder against the keys than your left hand. This, of course, could possibly mean that your left hand, by not pressing as hard, might possibly be introducing an incremental amount of leakage that could possibly cause the beginning of a squeak or squeal.

Allow me to explain further in better detail. When you do loud dynamic staccato, I believe you are unconsciously pressing harder on the keys with both hands. This would seem (to me) to be a normal consequential muscle response for a louder tone. I'm also assuming that with a soft staccato, you may be pressing ever so slightly lighter with your left, non-dominant hand thus introducing a small amount of leakage which could possibly cause the beginning of a squeak and then unconsciously pressing just a little bit harder with your left hand when the squeak begins. This is the only way that I can account for a "very" short squeak appearing before the tone.

The above explanation, however, doesn't reveal the "why" it only happens on C4 and C5.

Allow me to inject a short story about Pete Fountain. He gave a friend of his a neck massage and his friend said something like: "Good grief! Your fingers are so strong!" Pete did not press lightly on his keys.

So...a possible solution...press as hard with both hands as you would with loud staccato when doing soft staccato.

This is just my theory and I hope that I've made some sense.

Post Edited (2023-11-23 10:40)

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