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Re: Another Fork in the Road

Author: Chris P
Date: 2023-12-19 17:08

Just a thing on correct terminology here as what you're describing is commonly called 'long Bb' which is a cross fingering as opposed to the true sense of a forked fingering. Long Bb is xoo|xoo as opposed to forked Bb which is xox|ooo or xxx|xox depending on the system.

Forked Bb in the true sense is only used on Boehm system clarinets with the LH forked Eb/Bb mechanism fitted with the extra ring key for LH3, so Eb/Bb can be played as a true forked fingering (xox|ooo) and is in tune in both registers with it fitted.

Non Boehm system clarinets like Classical 5 key clarinets, Albert/simple systems and also German and Oehler systems can also use the forked fingering (xox|ooo) for upper register Bb but not as a lower register Eb as it's far too sharp. They also employ a lower register forked Bb fingering (xxx|xox) which is also in tune as the upper register F as well as the keyed fingering (xxx|xx/o) depending on the situation and some have a LH Bb/F key to make passages like upper register ||:D-E-F-:|| easy without having to slide or flip any fingers.

In essence, a forked fingering is a closed tonehole, then an open tonehole and then another closed tonehole immediately below the open one which creates resistance. While xox|ooo and xxx|xox forked fingerings aren't normally used on regular Boehm system clarinets, there are several notes which are effectively forked notes, such as (lower register) F# with just the LH index finger, D/A (xxo|ooo), C#/G#, B/F# (xxx|oxo), A/E (xxx|xxo) and G/D (xxx|xxx) as there's a closed tonehole immediately below the one the note issues directly from.

As for the Bb fingerings, long Bb (xoo|xoo) as a cross fingering is a more resistant note compared to the keyed fingerings (xxo|side Eb/Bb ooo or xx\o|ooo) as they're fully vented

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.

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