Clarinet Fingerings Guide for Performers

I don’t know why this is being sold for nearly $200. I ordered it direct from the author, Thomas Ridenour, for $22 + shipping (at […] The order process was straight forward and it arrived quickly.

The content is extremely useful for a somewhat advanced clarinet student. For each note, there is a diagram of the various fingerings that can produce that note – along with extensive commentary on what kind of sound you’d get in each case.

Here’s an example (for B2, where there are 3 fingering patterns illustrated): 1. The standard fingering for B2, this tends to be sharp on most clarinets. 2. This fingering tends to be sharp, but manageable in pitch. It is very useful when perfect upwards slurs to C# or D3 are required. … [Suggested uses: Brahms, Sonata #2, mvt. 1, ms.115] 3. This fingering is very useful in soft passages. Though a bit unstable, it can be played well in tune. Its blowing resistance is too great to make it useful at louder dynamic levels…. etc.

These facts and ideas could all have been worth 5 stars.

So what’s wrong with it?

Firstly, it’s a photocopy, and not a particularly clear one at that. Some of the text is unreadable (the font is very small, about Arial 9pt) and slightly pixelated because of it being a copy. Worse than this, the diagrams are sometimes confusing. It’s difficult to tell whether a hole needs to be covered or not because they’re not always filled in.

Secondly, it’s difficult to pick out the “standard” fingering for the clarinet. I eventually figured out that it’s usually the first diagram in each set. But I still need to refer to a “normal” fingering chart to check the fingerings for the regular notes.

It’s also important to note that – except for the the “throat” notes (Ab, A and Bb), the book ONLY covers the notes from altissimo register upwards – starting with B2. It’s relatively easy to get the standard fingerings for the lower notes, but I would have liked to have seen useful alternatives and notes on which fingerings are useful for which situations (e.g. whether playing from a note below or above or as a useful alternative for a trill, say).

All in all, I would have preferred a slightly different layout. It took me a while to find the notes written out in musical score notation because each page is very busy (but they are there in the inside margins, but not duplicated on each page).

Thomas also makes a selling point out of a weakness: it’s ring bound rather than bound like a regular music score. It looks and feels a bit sloppily thrown together. If he’s going to make a virtue of this then it should have been published as a pack of one-sided A4 cards perhaps.

The book consists of 36 pages of very densely-packed fingerings and notes – not something that one can easily read at a distance while playing the clarinet. There are a few additional blank templates at the back of the book to add in one’s own fingerings and notes – and that’s useful. And I suppose because it’s ring-bound, one can disassemble the book and add in one’s own fingering charts into the correct sequence.

It needs to be updated. It was produced in 1985 and then “reprinted” (whatever that means) in 2000. There’s no reason why it can’t be updated now. The author prints (sorry: *photopies*) each book and binds them himself. So he could also redesign the book, store it in a Word document, say, and then print them out on demand as necessary – ideally on 250gsm card paper. With a good inkjet printer, it would cost no more than $10 (factoring in good-quality paper, ink costs and depreciation on the printer).

And then he could add color. The fingerings would stand out far more clearly if they were in a nice, rich red color.

I’ve griped a lot about the design of the book. Nevertheless, what information is contained therein is invaluable and is probably worth 5 stars. But it loses one star for being a cheap and sloppy photocopy and another star for the rather confusing layout.

To be really useful to me as a practising tool, I’m going to have to redo it all myself: finding my own blank template, filling in the holes myself using editing software, then retyping all the explanatory notes… and then adding in the standard and alternative fingerings for the lower notes from another source.

The Ridenour book is fabulous. All his work is. You can
get a NEW one from him at […] $19.95 plus shipping and if in Texas, tax.
Just thought I would share this info.
Mal Davis

Very good book. Available from Ridenour Clarinet Products for $21.95 + shipping