 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bill
Date: 2025-05-20 01:08
Got my c. 1920s Czechoslovakian full Oehler system back from overhaul today. I'm a neophyte on German clarinets (I suck) but still keenly interested. My two other German clarinets are both Uebels. One from the GDR era but the other from what I understand to be the era when Uebel was involved in the production himself (before 1963, serial #10610).
This Oehler was made by Johann Michl. It's fairly heavy. The overhaul has made it look new. It's a step or two higher in pitch than the (older) Uebel. I was very excited about all the extra keywork, but in a side-by-side play with the Uebel, I didn't sense any really extra facility. Chalumeau A/clarion E doesn't seem to be entirely vented. There's a tendency for the clarion to sound when I'm attempting to play the fundamental (I fault my fingering). I play it with the original accompanying mouthpiece.
I'm as happy as a 7-year-old on Christmas morning. I always wanted one of those German clarinets with all those extra keys! Yet, for whatever reason, I think I'll still be playing my Uebels just as often. Both are such excellent clarinets.
Bill Fogle
Ellsworth, Maine
(formerly Washington, DC)
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Author: ghoulcaster
Date: 2025-05-20 04:41
I have never played a full German setup, but I often wish I had the left pinky F/Bb key when playing French (Selmer, Buffet) and American (Penzel Muller, Conn) Albert systems.
I imagine that key is a lot more useful than the left pinky Eb/Ab key on those clarinets…
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Author: dorjepismo ★2017
Date: 2025-05-23 01:25
Most of the extra keys are for tuning and to make the tone color more consistent across the range. The better you get on the instrument, the more you will probably be able to hear a difference.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2025-05-23 02:21
Like on 6 key flutes and most oboes with the LH F key, the LH F/Bb key is by far one of the most important keys on instruments where it duplicates the RH3 cross F/Bb key as that makes playing passages like upper register ||:D-E-F-:|| or lower register ||:G-A-Bb-:|| much smoother than flipping to the forked fingering (xxx|xox) when going from A/E to Bb/F or sliding from the keyed fingering (xxx|xx/o) when going from Bb/F to G/D.
Same with having both the side and LH3 Eb/Bb keys as that offers the same thing in the LH fingerings where ||:C/G-D/A-Eb/Bb:|| are concerned. Besides clarinets, contrabassoons, French bassoons and some German bassoons have that LH3 cross Eb key (some contrabassoons have an alternative RH1 Eb key or a RH thumb Eb key).
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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