 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2026-09-26 17:41
Another thread inspired the following.
While resonance fingerings can improve throat Bb, they don't improve it as much as they do throat A, at least for me on either of my R13's. I work a little extra on that Bb in practice, trying to focus air support better, position tongue or jaw a little more effectively, find a better fingering, etc., but at best it still doesn't have the fullness or beauty of adjacent notes, and the timbre difference with the B-natural above it seems large. Note, the speaker hole is clean.
Yet I hear recordings of professionals where that note sounds gorgeous. How??
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2026-09-26 18:43
I know someone who plays B&H 1010s and she brought it into me as she's having trouble with the tone quality of the throat Bb. I had a 1010 years ago (a late one from 1983 with a 55xxxx serial number) and I and others who played B&H clarinets had any problem with the throat Bb. One player I had play it before I sold it didn't even bother with the side key fingering when he had a held Bb as he said the tone quality of the throat Bb was that good he didn't need to bother using the side key.
I tried her 1010 and the Bb was as good as I expected it to be, then I handed it back and she played it and it was weak and veiled. She just wasn't giving it any support as she breathes from her shoulders and every note she plays comes out at a different volume instead of being uniform. Some players don't realise different notes require different support - she said it only sounds good when I play it as I have the lung capacity. I'm working on around 60% lung capacity due to asthma, but even with that, using sufficient breath control makes all the difference instead of using none and breathing shallow.
Throat Bb with the standard fingering is always going to be a compromise and the speaker key is only acting to sharpen the pitch of the throat A instead of opening a designated and full size tonehole to yield a good quality note like the side key fingering offers. Hence the reason the various throat Bb mechanisms that came and went like the Stubbins-Kaspar, Mazzeo and even McIntyre systems.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
Independent Woodwind Repairer
Single and Double Reed Specialist
Oboes, Clarinets and Saxes
NOT A MEMBER OF N.A.M.I.R.
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: rmk54
Date: 2026-09-26 19:08
Yet I hear recordings of professionals where that note sounds gorgeous. How??
---------------------------------------
Voicing. (in conjunction with resonance fingerings)
Years ago, I was in a coaching session with Robert Bloom (principal oboe with NBC Symphony/Toscanini and professor at Yale). At one point he stopped us and asked me why one note in a phrase was a different tone color. I explained that throat B-flat did not focus as well as other notes.
His reply: FIX IT!
(And I did)
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2026-09-26 20:48
Philip Caron wrote:
...
> Yet I hear recordings of professionals where that note sounds
> gorgeous. How??
A couple of thoughts here. First, for sustaining throat B flats, perhaps those artists---and I'd suggest you give this a try--are fingering a throat "A" with the left hand and using the right hand side key one from the top.
(It's the 6th entry from this website's fingering guide for ![[Bb4]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/bb4.gif) https://www.wfg.woodwind.org/clarinet/cl_alt_1.html
*My* experience (YMMV) with this fingering proves a better sounding note if not also one a tad bit sharp, that by taking in slightly less mouthpiece while playing it, I'm able to get into key.
Second, I'm able to improve the sound of the conventional fingering by placing down the left middle and right fingers--again, for sustained notes. Perhaps professionals you hear are doing this with even greater success than me.
And last, consider that while professionals are getting this note to sound, to others listening, far better than I might get it to sound with the standard fingering, that they too, internally to their own play, find it more stuffy than most of their other notes.
Post Edited (2026-09-26 21:26)
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2026-09-27 01:23
I'm kinda in the Robert Bloom camp on this one. I pretty much ONLY use the "A" key and register adding 2 and 3 of both hands. Sometimes this is a bit "low" (which is also adaptable) but it is resonant enough so that you can make the other notes around it (or wherever you have been, or wherever you are going) sound the same. I've played some clarinets that make this more difficult. I don't keep those clarinets.
.............Paul Aviles
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