 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: BethGraham
Date: 2021-04-23 18:57
kdk, in replying to a comment I left in the "How is my progress" thread, wrote:
"BethGraham wrote:
> (P.S. I've got bigger issues than reed strength: my stupid
> fingers won't move smoothly from throat A to left-hand clarion
> C. Rose #2 is going to be the death of me.
Before you continue to beat yourself up over this, consider that it may be an ergonomic issue. The key may not be at a good height for you )or, maybe, anyone else) to leave smoothly, the spring tension may be slowing your finger action or making you press too hard, making the movement off the key sluggish. The ring on either the thumb or the LH index finger could be too low or too high, which can interfere with smooth movement.
And then, since you're talking about LH C4, there are possible problems with the position of that key, its travel and its spring tension.
What's actually happening when you move from A to C? And (BTW) which Rose #2 features ![[A4]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/a4.gif) to LH ![[C5]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/c5.gif) so prominently?"
In reply to Karl:
I suspect that the problem is that my left-hand pinkie doesn't want to remain close to the keys. (It likes to hover off to the side, as it does when I'm playing recorder) At any rate, I'm in Rose 32, #2, measures 11-12 and 17. I need to play the LH C because of the Eb/D# that follows.
After much practice, I can play it smoothly when I go slowly, but when I speed up it goes off the rails. For one thing, my LH pinkie doesn't locate the LH C key consistently (occasionally it misses and hits the side key just above).
I'll have to think more about what you said about ergonomics: that could very well be what's happening here; if so, that's something I can address with my technician. I can play this spot in Rose #2 more smoothly at a faster tempo on my Trusty Bundy than I can on my new Backun Protege. (Perhaps the short-term answer is to practice Rose #2 on the Bundy!)
It occurs to me that maybe I could slide from RH C to Eb/D# and avoid the problem altogether. I wonder if that would work -- and if that would be cheating? Hmm....
Beth
* with apologies the makers of the movie My Left Foot.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2021-04-23 19:37
I'll offer what I did to help the "left C issue." Since a right handed person can live with a majority of the "Cs" on the right I forced myself to do Cs on the left whenever possible such as.....the C major scale (or G, or F, or Bb). And I mean I do that ALL THE TIME (with my trusty Baermann book III of course). That way, the left "C" is more "the rule" rather than the exception.
.................Paul Aviles
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Author: kdk
Date: 2021-04-23 21:25
Paul Aviles wrote:
> I'll offer what I did to help the "left C issue." Since a
> right handed person can live with a majority of the "Cs" on the
> right I forced myself to do Cs on the left whenever possible
> such as.....the C major scale (or G, or F, or Bb).
FWIW, I've had students who, when they started in 4th grade, couldn't reach the RH F/C. They used the LH key exclusively, to the point where later, once their hands had grown after a year or so, they had a lot of trouble learning to use the RH key. One student never really did make the change. These were kids who happened to have been right-handed, so this isn't an issue of hand dominance. It's just which way you first learned to play F and C.
I would think the LH F/C touchpiece is probably one of the most moveable on the instrument. It should not be an uncomfortable stretch to reach it, because stretching will tend to pull either the LH ring finger (C/G) or the LH index finger
- or both - off their tone holes. You still have to learn not to press the LH G# key (above it) instead, but the C key should be in a spot that feels reasonably natural. See what your repair person thinks, especially since playing the passage on the Bundy is easier for you.
I'm not personally a fan of sliding up from RH C to Eb - it's hard to do smoothly and too easy for your pinkie to get stuck in between. It's much easier to slide *down* from Eb to RH C in a pinch, but that's not the direction m. 12 or m.17-18 in Rose 32/#2 go.
You don't need to stick to that one Rose study to practice the same note sequence. Any study based on diminished or diminished 7th arpeggios will give even more practice than those two bars. There's a short study of diminished 7ths in Klose (in the Daily Studies), and I'm sure there's at least one in Baermann III as well as many (most) standard method books with scale/arpeggio sections. The Kroepsch studies include diminished triads and 7ths. Once you're confident of what's in each chord (there are only 3 diminished 7th triads if you ignore the spelling changes, which don't affect the fingerings), you can easily make up your own exercises.
Karl
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2021-04-23 21:48
I studied with Wollwage back in the seventies and he said, "just take C on the right, it's easier."
That's how I came to be "dependent" on the right C. And a lot of my students tend that way too. When I suggest sometimes that it can even be smoother using the left, I get flack for that.
But I still like the idea of using left C (and low F as well) whenever possible to build up facility rather than letting the left go fallow. Sorta like mixing it up on a scooter so that one calf doesn't get ridiculously over developed (if anyone remembers scooters).
...............Paul Aviles
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Author: BethGraham
Date: 2021-04-24 04:53
It's weird that I should have problems with the left-hand keys, since I'm left handed! I think it's a problem of coordination and, perhaps, having solidified some bad habits over the past year when I was trying to learn on my own.
I'm really thankful to Karl for having suggested the studies in Klose and Baermann, which I'm going to start looking at tomorrow. Maybe putting my challenge into the context of other music will help me fix it.
You guys have been really helpful!
Beth
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2021-04-30 14:26
I also had trouble with a similar jump in Georgie by Emma Johnson. Doing the co-ordination to get to left C from a throat note is quite hard I think.
My teacher is teaching me to keep my fingers really close to the keys so that I only have to move them a tiny bit to lift them up and down. He says economy of movement is really important once I get to the harder music.
The knock-on effect of that is that I'm having to address ergonomic issues in the clarinet, where the position of the keys doesn't match the natural position of my fingers. I'm having little extensions put on here and there, and when I do that, the pressing of keys becomes a reflex rather than a difficult stretch, and feels amazing.
I have always used the left hand C and C# keys, because those were the ones that I learned first. I am only now getting to grips with which key is which, on the right hand pinkie keys, as I work up to my Grade 4 exam.
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Author: Burt
Date: 2021-05-02 23:56
I can't reach the E/B and F#/C# left hand keys on some bass clarinets. Some models are apparently designed without much thought.
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