Alternate fingerings

A few of you asked for alternate fingers, so here you go.

• These fingers are those that I use from time to time and that work on most of my clarinets. Your results may vary, depending on your setup and your skill level.

• I haven't included alternate fingerings for the  chalumeau registers (C below the staff through the A-key, register key Bb, because most of those would be better thought of as "resonance" fingering, primarily helpful in improving the sound of a note, but unlikely to be used as alternates to make passages easier to play. (There's one exception, and that is the alternate fingering for B natural below the staff, which can be played wit the RH third finger instead of the forked fingering or middle-finger.)

• I haven't included any fingerings that are considered "standard" and that show up in most basic fingering charts.

• I haven't included the extremely useful fingerings that I covered in the article Love your keys... .

If these are inadequate or you want to see more, get a copy of the book that I consider the most useful of its type, "Clarinet fingerings: A comprehensive guide for the performer and educator" by Thomas Ridenour.  But be prepared to be amazed, confused, and overwhelmed; the book shows 21 alternate fingerings for the altissimo F# alone and around 15 for most of the others in that register.

I'll cover resonant fingering in the futuer in another article.

If you want a PDF copy of what's below, e-mail me.

Here we go! (Keys in blue are "optional".) 

If 22 alternates aren't enough for you, get the book!