The position and usage of the hands needs to feel natural and relaxed. To begin, shake your right hand out and allow it to fall to your side. Hold this natural position of your hand and bring it up to the lower section of the instrument placing your thumb below the thumb rest (roughly centered within the top joint of the thumb). Allow the remaining fingers to hover comfortably above the tone holes on top of the instrument. Notice that the hand is neither perfectly rounded as if to show the shape of a C
nor is it flattened and stiff. The resulting picture
when looking at your hand from the side will be a “U”
or “V” shape. Repeat the shaking step with the left hand and bring it up to the instrument placing the left thumb on the F key at a slight angle (facing 1:00 or 2:00 respectively). The thumb makes contact at a point that allows you to close the thumb hole and touch the register key at the same time. Allow the remaining fingers to hover above the keys on top of the instrument. Again, you will find that the hand is in a “U
” or “V” shape when viewed from the side.
As you begin to cover the open tone holes, be sure you are using the fleshiest part of the finger. Take a moment to examine the shape of the pads of your fingers. Center the point at which the finger dips down the most right over the tone hole. This will allow the easiest closure of the hole with minimal air leaks. If your fingers are too flat or reach beyond the tone holes and maybe even touch the rod on the other side, you may find it difficult to cover the holes completely and you may have some stiffness in your hands. If you are extremely curved with your hand and you make contact with the tone holes with the extreme fingertips, then you will find that making a complete seal is next to impossible. So, work to find a balance between a curved and natural shape so you can avoid being overly curved or overly flat. Generally, it should feel comfortable.
The way you lift the fingers and close the tone holes is very important. A common problem with developing players is that the energy used in lifting their fingers originates from the finger tips. This, in turn, straightens the fingers, causes the fingers to hover several inches above the tone holes, adds tension in the fingers, and generally slows down the accuracy and speed of the finger motion. It is ideal for the fingers to remain somewhat curved and relaxed while in use. Visualize the energy originating from the back knuckle (or biggest knuckle) as you lift the finger with a simple release that allows the finger to set back down. Imagine puppet strings lifting the fingers up from the back knuckle and when the string releases, the fingers are released and placed down gently.
For those just getting started, a wonderful exercise is what I call “walking down”
the clarinet. This exercise can be introduced the very first day that you begin with the clarinet. It helps you to acclimate to the instrument without worrying about reading music. The exercise is best done in front of a mirror so that you can monitor your finger movement and make adjustments if you tend to cover certain tone holes improperly. Begin with a simple tone such as first line E.
Once you have established a strong and steady sound, you can begin walking down the instrument closing one tone hole at a time until your reach the last open tone hole with your right hand ring finger (low G). As you close the holes one at a time, make sure the tone is clear and that each finger covers the tone hole completely. If just one finger misses covering all the way, then adding the next finger will result in an unclear sound or possibly a squeak–this is where playing in front of the mirror can help a lot! It is a very progressive and cumulative process. Once you become comfortable with covering all of the tone holes, you can push the range a bit more to play an entire scale–the F
scale. Begin with the left hand thumb covered only (commonly called thumb F
). Walk down the clarinet covering one tone hole at a time. After you close the final tone hole, add the low F. This note is played with the right hand pinky and it is the pinky key that is on the upper level and furthest away from your face. Finally, once you have perfected walking down to the low F, open the register key and walk up all the way to high C (thumb and register key only).
For developing players, simple finger drills are a wonderful way to develop and maintain facility. In Klose’s Celebrated Method or the Klose-Prescott condensed version, there are a few pages of finger drills that many players use for finger development. There are basic left and right hand drills as well as pinky specific drills. All are helpful in developing proper technique. An even more advanced player might enjoy the challenge of Jean-Jean’s Vade-Mecum finger exercises or Eric Mandat’s Finger Food. These are best played at a very slow tempo at first so that you can concentrate on the finger movement (as well as other fundamentals). A suggested approach would be to begin with the metronome set at 60 and play one note per beat. A natural next step would be to play the exercise once through where each note has one beat and then repeat the exercise and double the speed (two notes per beat). Otherwise, be creative by changing the rhythms or by using your metronome in other ways.
For additional finger drill work, check out my books, Finger Fitness Foundations (based on the Klosé drills) as well as Finger Fitness Études, BOOK 1 and BOOK 2. Each étude introduces finger drills that are folded neatly into fun and challenging music – like smothering your broccoli with cheese!
