The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Roys_toys
Date: 2012-09-02 23:17
I am trying to improve my finger technique, and would appreciate advice on 2 things that I cant find mentioned in my methods books.
1/ when I practise fast trills or repeats between throat Ab and B natural , ( playing B the normal long tube way, not on the trill keys) it seems ok to leave my side finger pressing open the Ab key during the B. Even though its way up the tube, the clarinet doesn’t squeak or refuse to play the B, and the B tone seems pretty accurate .
2/I find fast trills using right hand little finger can be hazardous. Coming repeatedly off/on low clarion Eb, or right C# can upset other fingers by the time I have done several repeats, and rapid waggling of the right B key can give me a slow response. But I noticed that when I trill/repeat from any right l-f note to one where at least one right finger hole is open, the tone of the open-hole note is hardly affected if I leave whichever right l-f key pressed.
When I only move R1,R2, or R3 and trill with the right l-f continually pressing I don’t get problems. ( well, sometimes going to F# throws me)
3/ In both these questions I’d like to know whether the simplification is ok, or whether I should struggle on trying to play each tone to the finger chart for the sake of a general technique improvement which I will benefit from later.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-09-02 23:53
If you find a fingering that works for you, then use it. Fingering charts are academic and serve as a guide.
Here's a quote from Jack Brymer's book:
"Any fingering is good enough for any note, provided it produces the note. ... for to be a clarinettist is to be an inventor of clarinet fingerings."
I use the side Bb key when doing an upper register G-A trill and trill with LH1 when doing a high A-B trill - that works for me, even if some players around me don't like the idea of it as it's not in the fingering charts they're precious about.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2012-09-02 23:57)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2012-09-03 12:32
Work first on the standard fingerings. Use a metronome, starting dead slow and working the speed up gradually. Never play faster than perfect. If you do, you're just practicing how to make mistakes.
If something happens too quickly to play with standard fingerings, it's also too quick for the audience to hear. You use any fingering that works.
The lower note must be in tune.
If you can't find a fingering for the upper note that's exactly in tune, choose one that makes the interval too wide rather than too narrow.
Ken Shaw
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
|