 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2014-04-02 20:03
Yes, that can happen in a passage like that. Take care that when you move your LH pinkie for the LH C no other fingers move off their finger holes and the same for the RH B on the 2nd note of the 1st triplet. Check your hand position on both hands that your pinkies are within easy reach of all the keys they operate. If not, you are having to reach for them and that can pull other fingers away from the holes. Some might tell you to finger this a different way to get around the problem, but this is a good opportunity to look for an improved hand position. Watching your fingers in a mirror can help.
John Gibson, Founder of JB Linear Music, www.music4woodwinds.com
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2014-04-02 20:21
I have seen where this difficulty was eliminated by repositioning the thumb-rest slightly up the instrument towards the centre joint. Depends on the size and shape of your hands.
Tony F.
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Author: ThatPerfectReed
Date: 2014-04-02 20:49
Keep those fingers, barring the right pinky, round, slow down the tempo and practice at slower speed with metronome until perfect.
Then speed up metronome slowly.
If it's the right pinky "B" that's killing you consider playing 1st triplet starting with right pinky "C," left pinky"B" and back to right pinky "C" and then when on this final "C, " mid note, swap pinkies to the left pinky "C" in anticipation for right pinky D#.
Or buy a clarinet with left pinky d# key.
Good luck
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2014-04-02 21:51
Indeed, this is where the LH Ab/Eb lever comes in handy.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: clarinetist04
Date: 2014-04-02 18:56
Make sure the pads readily seal the tone holes. My old instrument would go out of adjustment with time and not seal all the long B holes. Very frustrating. I'd have to press particularly hard and that was not conducive to smooth playing. If you haven't have your horn adjusted so all the pad heights are correct and enable smooth playing.
On the other hand, if it's just the awkwardness of using the RH pinky vs. LH pinky, see ThePerfectReed's post.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-04-02 20:11
Maybe I'm missing something, but can't you just slide up from the right "C" to the right "Eb," taking the "B" on the left?
..................Paul Aviles
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Author: Alexis
Date: 2014-04-03 00:56
When you play the LH C, make sure your left hand fingers don't uncover the keys. Other fingers tend to move when you use the little fingers - could also be a problem in the right hand.
That's not to say grip for dear life - you just need to find a way that the holes are covered and you can manipulate your little fingers without compromising that.
You could also have a leaking pad, but if it works sometimes, this is less likely
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2014-04-03 03:09
You should certainly practice this, using the suggestions that have already been made, with LH C and RH B, which is the "correct" way to do a figure like this (it's generally standard to use alternating sides whenever possible).
The LH C is there for a reason - mostly for passages just like this one. But if you're practicing this to play soon - maybe over Easter weekend or an upcoming wedding (I assume you're talking about the Schubert Ave Maria - it has a figure like this), you can also, as a fail-safe backup, practice using RH C, LH B and getting up as quickly as possible from the C key to the Eb key (RH to RH) as Paul suggests. It certainly isn't impossible to do. It's a little hard to *slur* cleanly from C to Eb, so you might make sure you're articulating the Eb to cover any slight roughness in the connection. This can solve your problem in the short run, but learning to use the LH C without opening other tone holes should be more reliable in the long run.
Karl
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Author: Funfly
Date: 2014-04-03 14:05
I'm practicing it for my exam in June so I have a little while to get it right.
This single phrase has been troubling me for months, the clarinet has been overhauled so I can't blame the pads - it's me.
When I play the C with my left pinkie (gosh I'm using Americanisms now) - my left little finger - the third finger of my right hand moves across the hole as I play the next note letting the air escape and it all goes wrong.
I know that practice will improve it and my lovely tutor is very supportive so I suppose that I am posting on here more for the sympathy vote than expecting a magic cure - getting it off my chest so to speak.
Another problem is that at my age my fingers do not have the flexibility they used to have.
It's such a pity because this piece is one that I can play really nicely - that is until I c*ck it up at this phrase.
I know most on here are professionals and may think this is all a bit puerile but at the moment it is very important to me.
Mart
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2014-04-03 14:35
So if I'm reading correctly, your entire right hand is shifting enough for your ring finger to slip off of the tone hole?
If that's the case, I think maybe some slow focus on hand position will help. When you place your hands on the clarinet, see if you can play a low E-minor scale (all fingers down) without any leaks. As you're coming VERY SLOWLY up the scale, when you lift your right and then left pinkies, lift it enough to let the lever up, but try to KEEP your pinky in contact with the lever. So throughout the entire scale, your pinky remains in contact, barely touching the lever.
Working on this may help your fingers to get used to the spread required to hit those levers without moving any other fingers. Do the same back down an E minor scale to low E, but taking care to pre-position your pinkies and keep them in contact with those levers.
You may not always have contact with those levers, however since you're not "reaching" for any levers as you work through it slowly or practice that scale, your hand wont need to shift at all. Simply let those fingers fall onto the tone holes.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2014-04-03 13:25
Funfly wrote:
> When I play the C with my left pinkie (gosh I'm using
> Americanisms now) - my left little finger - the third finger
> of my right hand moves across the hole as I play the next note
> letting the air escape and it all goes wrong.
So, the problem is in your right hand. And it sounds as though it's the motion of your "pinky" finger toward the E-flat that's causing the problem and pulling your RH ring finger off the hole. Think about loosening your grip a little (especially the RH) and experiment a little with different places to touch the RH B key that may cause less hand movement than the way you're now touching the key. If you play sitting, supporting the clarinet on your knee or between both knees for this passage may help free your hand a little by stabilizing the clarinet so you don't need to support it with your right thumb.
Karl
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Author: Funfly
Date: 2014-04-04 03:44
Karl,
your diagnosis is pretty spot on and I will work on what you have said. (as well as what the others have said - don't want to upset anyone!)
Interesting thought is that I remember that the problem is reduced when I have rested the barrel on my knee.
Also, of course, the more I get frustrated the more tense I get and the worse the problem. In the back of my mind maybe I should consider a G & T and then try again.
Thanks for all the help here by the way, it is nice for a struggling puffer like me to have this sort of support.
Someone should have warned me that this was not going to be easy, to think that I sold my banjo!
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Author: Steve L
Date: 2014-04-04 12:23
I had a similar problem when reaching for the RH little finger E/B key. I thought it was my ring finger uncovering the tone hole as well, until I started practising in front of a mirror and noticed that my middle finger was touching the RH sliver key very slightly causing it to crack open, so don't rule this out.
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Author: Dibbs
Date: 2014-04-04 13:39
I've been having some similar trouble but on a 5 key classical clarinet. Moving from B to C# (both in the left - there are no alternatives), my left hand ring finger tends to slide off the hole. Lots of slow practice is curing it - slowly.
|: B, C# D# C# :| is a real nightmare on these instruments.
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Author: Funfly
Date: 2014-04-04 15:56
"my middle finger was touching the RH sliver key very slightly causing it to crack open, so don't rule this out"
A problem that exasperated me until I realised that I was doing this.
I also find that I sometimes don't press down hard enough with my left little finger (pinkie to you across the ocean) which 'stops' the note playing.
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Author: Funfly
Date: 2014-04-05 14:53
Slight change of subject...
Has there ever been made a clarinet with hole covers (like a sax) whereby the finger pushes down a pad rather than seals the hole itself?
Mart
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Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2014-04-05 19:29
Sure. You can get key covers to make any clarinet, I think, a covered hole ("plateau") instrument. They're like flute touch pieces. They have disadvantages, though, in terms of the player's loss of tactile connection to the instrument and the introduction of more pads that can leak or go out of adjustment.
Karl
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2014-04-05 20:09
> Interesting thought is that I remember that the problem is reduced
> when I have rested the barrel on my knee.
I tried playing with the barrel on my knee. Yes, making trills is then the least of the problems I'd have in this position. ![[tongue]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie6.gif)
(yes I know you meant the bell. Still, can't get that picture out of my head...)
Merry practicing!
--
Ben
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Author: TomS
Date: 2014-04-06 02:01
I have the same problem on with my right hand rocking into the RH sliver key and it makes me CRAZY. It is a problem that developed after heavy physical work and lifting that I wasn't accustomed to ... (my clueless boss changed my job description from cerebral-technical to brainless-manual for a while, until I had a chat with "higher headquarters") ...
I've several plans of attack, each possibly adding to the cure. Item #6 might be all that's needed, if you have the time ...
1. Install a softer pad (leather) on the RH sliver key
2. Increase the spring tension on the sliver key
3. Adjusting the thumb rest, usually higher
4. Increasing the opening of the RH with some applied self-adhesive weather stripping (makes the horn "fatter") or maybe a Ridenour Thumb Saddle ...
5. Reducing the thickness of the RH sliver key and/or reducing it's length
6. Practice, practice, practice
7. Some instruments have a little more spacing between the last two RH ring holes and some have a skinnier sliver key as standard (old Selmers)
Performance stress also contribute to my affliction, as well.
Good luck on this.
Tom
Post Edited (2014-04-06 05:34)
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2014-04-06 03:33
Mart, very few if any plateau clarinets are made these days though many makers did offer them in the past. They do sometimes show up on ebay (one was sold just this week) and often they are Noblets, quite a decent instrument.
I bought one in past year just as insurance against the twinges of arthritis I am starting to get in my pinkies.
Thinning down the sliver keys is not too difficult, some of the B&H ones are particularly fat.
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The Clarinet Pages
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![[D5]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/d5.gif)
triplet ![[C5]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/c5.gif)
![[B4]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/b4.gif)
![[Eb5]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/eb5.gif)
