The Clarinet BBoard

Problems with C#5

Author: ThatPerfectReed  Date:   2014-02-16 04:05 Buffet R13, Vandoren B45 Mouthpiece, Vandoren V12 3.5 reeds. The notes C#5/Db5 are giving me problems. Sometimes when playing passages these notes just doen't voice: I want to stay particularly when played with the left pinky--so maybe, just maybe I am moving the clarinet to my left ever so little when playing it, but I am not a finger slammer. This problem is more likely when going from a more distant note to C#5 / Db5 as opposed to getting to it from a nearby or . It happens more with synthetic reeds than cane. Sometimes I can literally take the clarinet out of my mouth, stick it immediately back in without moving my fingers, and still have a problem with this note, but not if I move either pinky off this key, and stick it on the C5 / F3 / or B4 / E3 / keys (left or right pinky). My fingers are clearly not opening things like chromatic levers that they shouldn't be. Visual inspection, not to mention the fact that I'd fail on the aforementioned notes that have to travel further down the barrel suggest this. Sticking the upper and lower joints, connected, with the bottom of the bottom joint against an uncovered thigh (so it makes a seal), fingering a / with either pinky, and sucking in or out from the top of the top joint assures me my clarinet seals correctly. It's not likely a pad problem. Where it, F#3/Gb3 would presumably given me problems too: it doesn't. The pad for the C5 / F3 / key sits properly covering the hole no more or less so than when the C5 / F3 / key is actuated, than when the C#5 / F#3 / key is actuated (either pinky). Still more, as mentioned one could assume that B3 / F4 / would have a problem where this aforementioned pad not closing off the hole correctly (as opposed to the prior scenario where finger placement is the culprit). Any ideas as to what might be causing this, or how to solve it? I use to consider C5 , C#5 , D#5 , and F5 some of my best notes. I really have to get my hands on another clarinet for a while to see if I reproduce this problem on somebody else's instrument, with my mouthpiece/reed/ligature. Thanks.

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Re: Problems with C#5

Author: Tony F  Date:   2014-02-16 11:35 "The notes C#5/Db5 are giving me problems. Sometimes when playing passages these notes just doen't voice: I want to stay particularly when played with the left pinky--so maybe, just maybe I am moving the clarinet to my left ever so little when playing it, but I am not a finger slammer." I get the same problem. If like me you have large spatulate fingers, you may find that when your left pinkie makes the stretch to the F#/C# then your left ring finger rolls enough to interfere with the D#/A# sliver key. All my clarinets have this key thinned and formed as close to the l/h 2nd finger ring as possible. I get the same problem with the A/F# sliver key as well. I also often have problems with the G# key, as the underside of the 2nd joint of the left index finger interferes with it. Improved finger technique works up to a point, but it can't entirely overcome big fingers. Tony F.

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Re: Problems with C#5

Author: kdk  Date:   2014-02-16 20:26 You've analyzed this to the point where I think you realize the cause has to be a finger somewhere moving out of position and either opening a sliver of a tonehole or catching the side of a key to open it slightly. That this is intermittent lets out a pad-related leak. Those lever keys (both left and right hands) are not equally well-designed for everyone's hands. You have to do some very careful detective work to find the actual spot where the unintended opening is happening. > Sometimes I can literally take the clarinet out of my mouth, > stick it immediately back in without moving my fingers, and > still have a problem with this note, but not if I move either > pinky off this key, and stick it on the C5 / F3 / or > B4 / E3 / keys (left or right pinky). > Moving your pinky to a different key changes the stretch involved and likely eliminates the problem. > > My fingers are clearly not opening things like chromatic levers > that they shouldn't be. Visual inspection, not to mention the > fact that I'd fail on the aforementioned notes that have to > travel further down the barrel suggest this. > I don't understand what you mean here. or which keys are "chromatic levers." Visual inspection, unless maybe it's someone else watching your fingers from directly in front of you, has limited usefulness in finding this kind of problem - you can't see from your vantage point without moving the clarinet - unless you use a mirror. Most of my clarinetist friends have had the two "sliver" keys filed much thinner to minimize the likelihood of accidentally bumping into them, something that's very easy to do otherwise. > Sticking the upper and lower joints, connected, with the bottom > of the bottom joint against an uncovered thigh (so it makes a > seal), fingering a / with either pinky, and sucking > in or out from the top of the top joint assures me my clarinet > seals correctly. Not surprising. If it were a mechanical leak, it probably wouldn't be so intermittent. > I really have to get my hands on another clarinet for a while > to see if I reproduce this problem on somebody else's > instrument, with my mouthpiece/reed/ligature. Ironically, this may well point you toward a solution. Not because the other clarinet is in better mechanical condition, but because those lever keys are designed differently from clarinet to clarinet. Some layouts are more comfortable than others for an individual player. Keys are angled differently, key spatulas are longer or shorter than others. I've had similar problems in the past. Like Tony I found that on my A clarinet, I was barely touching the bottom edge of the throat A spatula when I reached for LH C#5. Similarly, reaching for RH B4 on either by A or Bb clarinet sometimes pulls either RH 1 or RH 3 out of position just enough to cause the kind of problem you describe. The LH problem was solved by my repair guy, who slightly reshaped the key for me. The RH problem I have to solve by deliberately shifting my wrist downward slightly so my pinky is more inline with the E/B and F#/C# levers (or simnply avoiding RH B4 and sliding from LH B to whatever is next - usually C# - as though the B key had rollers on it). Just to illustrate the design differences meant to affect this kind of problem, it was pointed out to me by my repairman once, when we were talking about some of this, that the Selmer 10G right hand levers are angled upward, while R13 levers are straight. This was apparently a decision insisted on by Anthony Gigliotti when he and Selmer designed the original 10G clarinets. Apparently, he felt more comfortable with the angled layout - he had large hands and long fingers. Karl

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Re: Problems with C#5

Author: ThatPerfectReed  Date:   2014-02-16 22:49 Thanks Tony--I'll keep in mind where my fingers are...but I can't help but feel the situation you describe wouldn't happen if I were playing a C#5 / Db5 with the right pinky. I'll will look though at the possibility that I am hitting the chromatic F#5 / A#3 / key, and/or the A#5 / D#3 chromatic key. Thanks

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Re: Problems with C#5

Author: ThatPerfectReed  Date:   2014-02-17 06:00 I like your thoughts above particularly as it regards why double lip may be solving my issue: I may be at just the cusp of losing voicing in a note when the subtleness of slight finger and/or mouthpiece spin puts me over the edge and into failure-- failure that double lip more than can account for. rounding my fingers more probably woudn't hurt either and such finger intensive notes so as to best keep fingers away from where they should not be (sliver keys). Maybe this is a thought for another thread, but when playing difficult passages my fingers often, while not flat, don't look like what you see on the "clarinet tutorial video " or from an oboe player. Then again, neither do Drucker's (I should play so well). Then double again, I defy anyone to play the conclusion of the Mozart Clar Conc, where one moves from to to to to to to to to to to , at that octave, twice, with perfectly round fingers.

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