The Clarinet BBoard

Re: LH Eb/Bb key - anyone ever needs it?

Author: SecondTry  Date:   2025-08-24 06:38 Erez, IMHO there are enough places in music where one may need to move quickly from to to such that the is taken chromatically, and as a result, the before it may best be taken chromatically as well, with the very key you look to part ways with. Sure, you could roll your right index finger up from a taken with the side key to then voice an in this scenario, or even effect an with a fork fingering, or play the with just the left pointer finger non-chromatically, but all this said I might consider practice that helps you get use to not hitting this key you wish to remove. It's funny you refer to the optional left pinky lever as it too was a key, when I first played a clarinet equipped with one that took about two weeks to not accidentally hit, but then when I got use to it I stopped accidentally hitting it and it does, like the key you wish to remove, come in handy at times. Here's another example. On page 14 of Bearman III, when tasked with playing interrupted scales in D b major you'll be tasked with playing , and quickly in a row. Playing the with that chromatic key is bound to be easier than sliding your right index finger down one key on the side from the chromatic (or playing a fork fingered ) or playing that with the left index finger only, so that you can take the with the side key, which seems prone to error to me. Of course you have to do though what you think is best and if the key has to go, see if you can find a repairman with a spare one of those keys so the actuating mechanism can be filed away. In my opinion that chromatic key is more important than the same sliver key for the right hand. Alternatively maybe the key can be removed and a rubber stopper of the right size placed (and maybe glued) in the tone hole not unlike such stoppers are used at ends of a clarinet section when testing for leaks with a magnehelic machine.

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Re: LH Eb/Bb key - anyone ever needs it?

Author: SecondTry  Date:   2025-08-24 21:30 Erez Katz wrote: > It never occurred to use it as an E# fingering... Will check > thr intonation. > > The suggestion of stopping it with a piece of rubber is an > excellent stop gap measure- thank you! Hi Erez: As I cannot find a reference above to someone using this key to sharpen an E i.e. ..... one way of interpreting your E# notation above, I am wondering if you are referring to using the key to play D# i.e. . If so, I hold the opinion that to be able to do the classic advanced etudes of the instrument at reasonable speed and accuracy--and some players may not need this on the Eb instrument--that the key you mention just isn't optional. It's needed to allow other chromatic fingerings, as I mentioned, that facilitate tricky passages, like trilling between (first) and , after playing a : all sharp notes here best done with chromatic fingerings IMHO. (That's probably not the best example as you could take the initial of the trill with the left index finger if it sounds close enough to the the chromatic on your Eb to continue the trill thereafter, but you get my point I hope.) That said, I am nothing but pragmatic, and appreciate that most etude work is done on the Bb clarinet (or your clarinet of regular use e.g. Bass) and that the particularly small size of the Eb instrument, coupled with it normally not being most player's regular instrument and particularly challenging for those with large fingers, could find reason to remove the key you mention. If it's just getting in the way due to you mis-fingering, not for anatomical reasons, I do recommend practice as the solution here.

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Re: LH Eb/Bb key - anyone ever needs it?

Author: SecondTry  Date:   2025-08-25 01:36 A Brady wrote: > I have occasionally used the LH E Flat/B Flat lever if the RH > option has water under the pad. Also in certain trills. > > The NYC repairman Jimmy Yan (RIP) told me that Stanley Drucker > had him remove the LH E Flat/low A Flat lever when he would buy > a new Buffet. I find this key useful, but to each his own, and > Drucker became a virtuoso without it obviously. > All true. More color commentary. Drucker played an R13 for most of his career, which is absent this key. Towards the end of this career, and with problems sourcing good Grenadilla, Buffet started using the wood quality of its Golden Era R13s on its Festivals (and up), using the less desirable stuff on the R13. So Francois Kloc of Buffet put Drucker in a Festival, which has this key, that served no purpose for Drucker, no doubt at that point in his career probably already knowing every place in the classical literature that required a mid-note pinky swap or slide to make sure he never, for example, found himself playing a left pinky immediately before a were the left pinky is not optional.... unless you have one of those dodads that attaches to the G#/C# lever that allows it to be actuated with the right index finger, like Cannonball has stock https://www.cannonballmusic.com/clarinets.php or Stephen Fox sells as an attachment http://www.sfoxclarinets.com/Accessories.html#clar%20acc (scroll down to see the "R1 C#/G# touchpiece") ...or just put the clarinet between your knees (lol) and do like Stephen Williamson does here https://youtu.be/r4teoC3OnEg?si=t_7EAar5m8FhctCP&t=30!

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Re: LH Eb/Bb key - anyone ever needs it?

Author: SecondTry  Date:   2025-08-25 20:54 Erez Katz wrote: > This certainly did the trick. (Erez is referring to a device placed between the clarinet and the chromatic key of this thread in question preventing the key from being actuated if touched. I think it's a piece of a flat pencil eraser.) Curious: would this not prevent the key from getting in the way, which is what I thought was the original concern in its presence? Clearly of course the fix prevents the key from being actuated, perhaps 1/2 the battle. Post Edited (2025-08-25 20:55)

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Re: LH Eb/Bb key - anyone ever needs it?

Author: SecondTry  Date:   2025-08-26 19:37 I completely get how the / sliver key could get in the way, particular for people with larger fingers, and particularly on a smaller Eb clarinet. But that said, and of course this is just my opinion stated in different form from above, I simply don't know how one develops classic technique using the advanced study books of our craft, playing at reasonable fast speeds without interjecting unwanted notes between two desired ones, without using this key instead of the side one to voice , when going to an that quickly proceeds an , or coming from an that quickly follows an such that the use of the chromatic fingering is warranted. I get that many players don't train this way or play music that requires this key, but for those trained in the classic etude books, and again this is just my opinion, I don't know how they do without it. This need is all more pronounced is the and are engaged in a trill using the chromatic , as alternatively vacillating between the left thumb and index finger to trill between these notes is awkward, and prone to unwanted notes, and use of chromatic prior to after an becomes a trickly right index finger slide on the side trill keys, or a forked (with the intonation issues Chris raised) if the chromatic isn't used. Cleary, YMMV depending upon what you play and who you train[ed]. Post Edited (2025-08-26 19:39)

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