John Howell wrote: [snip]
People make too much of fingering difficulties, like the outdated notion that flutes and piccolos are more at home in sharp keys than in flat keys. Never true with Boehm system, and not true of simple system either. After all, the third sharp is also the third flat!
What, you're going to let logic enter the discussion of which sorts of keys different instruments are at home in? What next, that brass players can actually play in sharp keys without drawing blood or having brain seizures? ;-)
I've always found that for woodwind and brass instruments, the way the instrument is taught is the most important factor as to which sorts of keys a person feels most at home in on that instrument. So people who learn on alto sax feel more at home in sharp keys while people who begin on soprano or tenor sax feel more at home in flat keys, assuming they have learned in a band class and not private lessons.
And some flute methods which have been created without band involvement in mind, often introduce sharps first so those flute players feel most at home in sharp keys, while band-class flute players feel most at home in flat keys, and get very upset when confronted even with the key of C!
So in this situation it's definitely nurture over nature, for woodwind and brass instruments.
And the reason the Boehm system was such a huge success when applied to the clarinet was the very issue John was speaking about, where it became possible to play with equal clarity in any key, leaving only the throat tones (G, G#/Ab, A, A#/Bb) to be muddy. But a gentleman named McIntyre solved that problem perfectly, with his McIntyre System. The only problem with the McIntyre System clarinet is that he couldn't convince any big name clarinet player/teachers to endorse it, so it never caught on. I've played one, and the incredible clarity of the tone through the entire chromatic scale, with absolutely NO break in tone over the traditional break. I feel sorry for the man who devised it, since it would really have marked a breakthrough, eliminating the problem area for most clarinetists.
-- David H. Bailey [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
