Right Hand Down Technique

A hugely important part of basic clarinet technique often gets overlooked by even the most of experienced teachers.  This is the technique of keeping the right hand down whilst going up and down over the ‘break’ on the clarinet.  The ‘break’ causes many students a great deal of worry and is easily solvable by the use of this cornerstone technique.  I was passed this knowledge by Peter Howes, Professor of Clarinet at Trinity College of Music, London where I was taught in the 1980s, who in turn was taught this technique by his teacher, the great Reginald Kell.

When a student is taught completely from scratch, it is vitally important that the student is taught to automatically put the right hand down as soon as they play the G above middle C.  This will help the student in three ways: (1) it will steady the instrument considerably whilst playing the note G which would otherwise involve supporting the instrument solely with the embouchure and balancing the instrument on the right hand thumb; (2) it will help tune the G to the correct pitch and also improve the tone acoustically; and (3) it will help in preparation for playing up and over the break.

There are three basic fingering patterns for playing up over the break.  Let’s take the easiest pattern of keeping the right hand down.  This for example can be used in the scale of F major.  Firstly the student plays thumb F (above middle C), then G with right hand down (little finger of right hand on the upper register C key), then ‘throat’ A with the third finger of the left hand down as well, then B flat (adding the speaker key at the back), and then flip over to the C above the break and then normal fingering up to the upper F in the scale.

In this way going over the break, the student will only have to put two fingers down to cross the break (1^st and 2^nd finger of the left hand, because all the other fingers are already in place).  If the student hadn’t used the right hand down technique, then crossing from ‘throat’ B flat to the C above the break would involve putting 7 fingers down all at once (and the A and B flat ‘throat’ notes are most likely to be hideously sharp and constricted in tone).  So 2 fingers against 7 fingers – which would you think is easier?  The other patterns are a variation on my explanation above, but you can find out more by registering for lessons with me, and I guarantee 100% that you will not have any issues with crossing the break, even at extremely high speed.  It will sound as smooth as anything and you intonation around the ‘throat’ notes will be impeccable.

I recommend the Reginald Kell method for students starting out on their clarinet journey as this technique is fully explained in these books.

Jonathan Walsh L.T.C.L.