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Why does the D E G A B sequence (up to transposition, the actual pitches may be written differently or may sound differently) have the same fingerings on so many woodwinds from different families? Some of them, of course, are related or have been influenced by each other, but it still is weird if it's a coincidence.

Examples of what I mean:

Tin whistle and keyless flute:

tin whistle DEGAB

Soprano recorder, both Baroque and German:

recorder DEGAB

Saxophone:

saxophone DEGAB

Clarinet, same for Boehm and Oehler (written as G A C D E):

clarinet GACDE

Oboe:

oboe DEGAB

I've noticed it while practicing "500 miles" ("If you miss the train I'm on..."), a song that happens to consist exactly of these five notes, on recorder and whistle.

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    It seems worth noting to me that the clarinet fingering is only for D, E, G, A, B in the clarion register. In the altissimo register it’s… nothing? And the the chalemeau it’s G A C D E as you mentioned.
    – Todd Wilcox
    Commented Dec 2 at 22:22
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    The alto/treble and bass recorders, the chalumeau register of the clarinet, and the bassoon all use a similar fingering as above to play (written) G A - C D E.
    – Elements In Space ♦
    Commented Dec 3 at 2:20

3 Answers 3

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My take on this. I have no references (except personal experiences) so you might downvote this.

I assume that all western wind instruments has a history going back to "simpler" instruments without keys. The oboe has roots back to the Shawm, the clarinet has roots in the Chalumeau. Each has been "improved" over time with differing placement of holes and adding keys. Some of the other examples, like the saxophone are much later inventions.

If you look at these instruments, they use three fingers in top hand for major scales (all instruments today are played with left hand at top, historically some instruments could easily be played with right hand at top, example is the bassoon forerunner dulcian). Why you might ask? If you look at the tin whistle, the most "basic" instrument, it sort of becomes appearent - simple ergonomics. There is no good place for a hole for the left pinky. The smallest finger is also the shortest and in order to reach a hole for that you need to displace the hole towards one side. Easier to only use three fingers for the left hand. The right hand similarily uses only three fingers on the tin whistle, the fourth finger is sort of an added extension on many instruments (the dulcian has a key for bottom hand pinky that can be played either by left or right hand).

So now for the selection of intervals between fingers. The instrument should be able to play a western scale in order to be usable. This requires 7 major tones and as many as possible of the others up to 12 tones. The reasons for this goes back to at least Greeks well before start of our time reckoning. Using 6 fingers you can have all of the 7 major tones (6,5,4,3,2,1,0 fingers). The question remaining is how to divide the intervals between the fingers, half-tone intervals or hole-tone intervals. Again, a bit of ergonomics come inte play. A full tone interval is sort of easier, further away, than a half tone interval. So the ergonomical choice is hole tone intervals between the fingers in each hand. This leaves a bit of leeway for the change between hands - where to put the half tone interval.

So in order to answer your question: in my mind it is a combination of western tone scale having seven major tones using only six fingers, and the ergonomics of placing the holes in order to make a playable instrument.

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  • Would you (or someone) please add to this answer diagrams, similar to the ones the OP posted in the question, for ocarina and the racket bassoon, mentioned in this answer?
    – user1079505
    Commented Dec 3 at 12:44
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    The duduk has a hole that can be closed with the upper hand pinky, and the hole is centered like the other holes. Aside from that one counterexample, your explanation makes sense to me. Instruments have six holes because of ergonomics, they play seven-note western scales if you uncover their holes one by one (whistles and Oehler clarinets play the major scale, Boehm clarinets play the Dorian scale, saxophones the ascending melodic minor...), and the DEGAB scale just happens to be their intersection. But the baroque recorder doesn't fit it, it plays no useful scale this way but still has DEGAB.
    – zabolekar
    Commented Dec 3 at 22:12
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It's because the pitch of a woodwind instrument depends on the length of the tube, which determines the length of the resonating column of air. With all the tone holes closed -- all the fingers down -- the column is the entire length of the instrument.

As you open tone holes incrementally from one end of the instrument, you are effectively shortening the tube, creating progressively higher pitches -- in other words, a scale.

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  • While true, it only explains why there has to be some ascending scale on every instrument, not why there is this particular pattern on so many of them.
    – zabolekar
    Commented Dec 2 at 21:44
  • @zabolekar what do you mean? Why the scale comprises whole steps with one half step? That's because these instruments are all constructed to play a western European diatonic scale. There are probably two dozen questions here already about why the western European diatonic scale has the pattern of whole and half steps it has. The answer goes back to the early middle ages and beyond.
    – phoog
    Commented Dec 2 at 21:53
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    a diatonic scale would explain why the scale would appear somewhere on the instrument and why it would have the two-holes-jump for one and a half steps, but it doesn't explain why the scale is precisely in this position under precisely these fingers. Consider the duduk (where the scale appears twice, but in other positions) and the xaphoon (where it also appears twice and also in other positions), or even the German recorder (where you can additionally play the same scale as CDFGA and not only DEGAB – but you do it with other fingers).
    – zabolekar
    Commented Dec 2 at 22:16
  • @zabolekar looking at the xaphoon, its fundamental is written B flat, but if you pretend that it's a transposing instrument, it does have the same notes under the same fingering: the scale is precisely in the same position apart from transposition. But the choice of fundamental pitch and transposition is entirely arbitrary. The duduk fingering charts I was able to find have a mixolydian scale, which is not surprising since it isn't a western European instrument. Is the question then "why is the C major scale so important in WE music? There are plenty of questions here about that, too.
    – phoog
    Commented Dec 3 at 19:39
  • the xaphoon doesn't even have the same position: on the recorder and the whistle, you use the IMA IMA fingers for the six holes, but on the xaphoon, the nine holes are covered with IPMAC IMAC, and, because of the thumb and the pinky, you can't interpret any continuous subset of them as IMA IMA no matter where you start.
    – zabolekar
    Commented Dec 3 at 21:17
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It's a good question, and it has (at least) two answers. One- the intervals between D E G A B fit in a diatonic scale in two places (DEGAB and GACDE), and the diatonic scale is the most convenient for most Western music. And for the same reason, early on, wind instruments tended to have their basic scale tuned to a key with few accidentals. On those instruments, D E G A B would likely have been with the fingerings you cite. So it's a matter of fitting the most natural scale of simple wind instruments, and the early tendency towards C-centric keys.

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    This answers only the easier half of the question. The reason why it's based on a diatonic scale is simple: it's because it allows to play diatonic melodies easily. But why these particular steps of the diatonic scale are placed under the same fingers in the instruments listed by the OP?
    – user1079505
    Commented Dec 3 at 12:38
  • @user1079505 These particular steps are placed under the same fingers, because ;they're based upon a C major scale on a wind instrument tuned in C major. This became the standard conception very early on.
    – Scott Wallace
    Commented Dec 4 at 17:07

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