Are there any alternate fingering on clarinet for a Bb in the staff?

Question

My tone quality on my Slemer CL300 Clarinet sucks whenever I play a Bb in the Staff. I want to know if anyone out there knows any other fingerings or any other way to make my tone sound "not so airy".

Answer 1

For throat tones (F#-Bb), they are always airy- also, their pitch tendancy is to be a bit on the sharp side (at mf).  There isn't much resistance from the clarinet, and our tendancy is to overblow.  To counteract both airiness and pitch, you should put down more fingers... ring finger on both hands, and the pinky F/C key on the right hand.  For A and Bb, you can add more fingers of your right hand.

Make sure you try this with a tuner first, as it may make you too flat... also, volume will determine the pitch as well.  If you find that you are consistantly flat on these notes (Selmer doesn't usually need the left ring finger, for example), try lifting the left ring finger, but put down more fingers on the right hand.  

This technique is fantastic if you have to hold one of these notes (make sure you know the pitch tendancy!), but if you're doing it in the middle of a run, don't worry about it- just put some more air through it!

Otherwise, it's just practice- that's one of the hardest things to do on clarinet, is to get the tone even throughout the range of the horn... wait til you start playing in the altissimo (high "C" above the staff and up another ovctave)!  

Oh- and if you need to trill A to Bb, you can play "A" as normal, then use the second top sidekey on the right... but it is flat, so you'll have to lip it up.

Hope this helped, and happy playing! :)