Author: Chris P
Date: 2017-03-20 00:31
The main purpose of the B-C link is to free up the RH pinky so slurs and trills can be made easier - low Bb or B to Eb/D# is made a lot easier with the B-C link as you won't have to slide your RH pinky from the C to Eb key. There's a lower register Eb to low B slur in Karl Jenkins's 'The Armed Man' and this can be done on cors without the low B-C link (which most cors lack), but it's not always reliable. The B-C link makes this slur easy - lift off the RH Eb key when taking low B smartly with the left. As well as thumbplate and dual system oboes made for the UK market that usually have the low B-C link, some Italian and German oboes also have it fitted as standard.
The B-C link should close the low C pad with slightly more pressure than the low B pad to ensure you can get a low B cleanly (but the low B pad should also close under normal finger pressure). Similarly the bell key pad should close with less pressure than the low B key (which in turn closes with less pressure than the C key pad) so you can slur from D-Bb no problem.
Same applies to all woodwinds with linked keywork where two or more keys are linked together to be closed by a single touchpiece - the pads further down the instrument should close with progressively lighter pressure as you move towards the bell, so you can get the lowest note with the one key instead of having to hold more than one key down.
As well as low B on oboes, there's the low A on bari saxes, low E on clarinets, low Eb and low C on alto, basset horn and bass clarinets, low Bb on other saxes, low C on flutes, low B on bassoons, etc. - if one of the pads further up closes with lighter pressure than ones nearer the bell, then you cant guarantee the note you want is going to speak and you'll most likely have to hold more than the one touchpiece down to get it which is inconvenient. This is all down to the torsion in the keywork, something that's hardly covered in textbook diagrams, but is prevalent in all woodwind instruments - work with the torsion in the keywork rather than against it. Larger instruments will have more torsion in their much longer keywork compared to soprano woodwinds.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2017-03-20 01:50)
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