I teach a beginner band program. I'm a brass player myself, although I can play most of the band instruments with a fair degree of success. When beginner clarinet players start to learn B/C/C#, or the lower end equivalents E/F/F#, they have a hard time remembering which keys are for which notes. Do any clarinet experts have any clever mnemonics to share that might aid young players?
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The same question could apply to any woodwind - even more so to oboe and especially bassoon. I don’t know any mnemonics for any instrument, but I did learn keys on all four major winds incrementally based on scales. For example, on clarinet I learned only the E/B and F/C keys first to play C major scales. As I added other keys, I didn’t need mnemonics because I learned them more or less one at a time. I feel like E/B and C/F are the biggest and easiest to reach keys. If they practice their C scales with a fingering chart for 1-2 weeks they should get it, IMHO– Todd WilcoxMay 20 at 5:31
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Huh, I recall those clarinet keys actually being quite intuitive to learn. If my memory hasn't failed me, the lower the key, the lower the note.– DekkadeciMay 20 at 6:10
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1 Answer
Not a mnemonic, but it helps to think of the two upper RH keys and the two inside LH keys as the main ones:
Then they go L-R-L-R for (lower octave) E-F-F#-G#.
Once pupils have learned that, then you can add the alternative keys (with the optional LH G# key if they have it):
and play the same notes E-F-F#(-G#) as R-L-R(-L)
