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Re: Clarinet Symposium

Author: Liquorice
Date: 2005-04-22 16:25

alexi wrote:

"you can get it to work fast enough that the very slight interruption between the changing of fingers is undetectable with our ears "

and... "For that matter, even the two side trill keys wouldn't be 'perfect'. As there ARE a few nanoseconds from when you begin to open them until they're fully open where the airstream is interrupted"

I'm afraid you're wrong. If you play F and then press the side keys very slowly, you can get a glissando between F and F# with absolutely no interruption in the sound. So a perfect legato is easy with those keys. But no matter how well you do the "flip" there will never be a completely smooth legato, which I can hear clearly, even though my ears are also human!

The German system players have similar problems on other notes, which one can also hear. Even the best German players would get a smoother legato between B and C if they used the side key, instead of the fork fingering for C, but it's clearly audible that most of them hardly ever do.

We have the same problem for high C and the change to Db. It would be perfectly smooth if we use the 2 side keys for Db (for example in the opening melody of 'Der Hirt auf dem Felsen'). Yet most clarinet players insist on using the textbook fingering for Db, which they think sounds better. Play the passage both ways for somebody who plays any other instrument, and they will always prefer the side fingering.

msloss- you are confusing "impossible" with "very difficult". It's very, very difficult to play the clarinet in tune, but not impossible. It's impossible to play a perfect legato between F and F# using the "flip" method. I'm not saying that the "flip" option should not be learnt, or never be used (although I can't think of any examples where the side key option for F# is "not available", given enough practise).

There are many other combinations on the clarinet where it is impossible to play a perfect legato. Of course we have to practise and try to play as smooth a connection between these notes as possible. But when we have the option to take the fingering for a perfect legato in a context where it is required, choosing the "flip" fingering would be ludicrous.

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Clarinet Symposium new

Ken Shaw

2005-04-18 20:15