 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bsharp
Date: 2025-02-19 03:24
In midst of practicing (1 hour in).
Partner tried pressing on various pads/keys to no avail.
With effort can get a delayed awful sound.
Especially will not work at all going from f5 down to c5.
Low f (f3) sounds.
Any thoughts? (No cracks seen).
Stephen Schiffman
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2025-02-19 04:03
Are your reeds seating and sealing against your mouthpiece facing and not leaking along the rails or the table?
Is the speaker tube blocked with fluff or condensation?
Are your fingers covering all the toneholes without any leaks?
Are you accidentally touching or catching any of the 'sliver keys'?
Are the joints correctly aligned so the RH ring key pad isn't being held slightly open?
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2025-02-19 17:12
Maybe the pad on the lowest hole, the one closed for B4 but open for C5, is frayed, or there's some partial obstruction in that hole. Or for some mechanical reason the closing pad isn't going up as far as its normal raised position.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2025-02-19 17:51
Bsharp wrote:
> Especially will not work at all going from f5 down to c5.
> Low f (f3) sounds.
> Any thoughts? (No cracks seen).
>
Let's clarify the problem if you can. What doesn't work? All notes from F5 to C5 or only C5? What about B4? What about notes higher than F5?
What about chalumeau notes? F3 sounds easily? What about E3? Notes between Bb3 and F3?
Karl
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Author: Bsharp
Date: 2025-02-20 01:41
Thanks for all your suggestions.
I let the instrument dry for 24 hours, then cleaned out the speaker tube. A teeny bit (very little) of fluff/stuff came out.
Instrument then played fine today. No problems even at the 1 hour mark of pretty constant playing.
I wonder if - as Chris P - suggested, it might have been a problem of condensation (in the speaker tube?).
I live in Maine, keep my instruments humidified in their case, but it is very cold and dry right here now; I keep my apartment at around 68 degrees F.
BTW, for your reference:
the instrument is an 18-month-old R13, with no real issues until yesterday. (Well, I did have my tech adjust some sliver keys that I kept hitting - another point that Chris mentioned- but that was not the problem yesterday). I am a decent avocational player - 65 years of playing - and still performing chamber music in public.
Stephen Schiffman
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Author: David H. Kinder
Date: 2025-02-20 02:51
Completely off-topic question:
Stephan Schiffman,
Are you the same Stephan Schiffman, sales trainer and author?
Might be a very remote possibility, but my copy of a Stephan Schiffman book shows that the age would be about right and he live(d) in New York City.
Just thought I'd ask.
Ridenour AureA Bb clarinet
Ridenour Homage mouthpiece
Vandoren Optimum Silver ligature (plate 1)
Vandoren #3 reeds
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Author: Bsharp
Date: 2025-02-21 16:40
No, David, I am not that person.
Funny thing, I leaned about him because I used to get messages on my home telephone answering machine (remember those?) from random persons thinking I was he, thanking me for his ‘great sales advice’.
Stephen Schiffman
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Author: David H. Kinder
Date: 2025-02-21 22:58
👍
It is a great book that I have of his. Not a bad name to be associated with!
Funny enough, I'm often mistaken for a son of "The Kinder Brothers" who are legendary in the insurance industry, so I get it.
Ridenour AureA Bb clarinet
Ridenour Homage mouthpiece
Vandoren Optimum Silver ligature (plate 1)
Vandoren #3 reeds
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