One Really Spiffy Alternate Fingering

I still haven't gotten around to writing the long articles for this blog that I've been promising for months. Well, folks,  I've been sick with one thing  or another from December until  mid-February, and I'm still dealing with  some residual problems from that period, but rather than drift off into  total  nothingness, I'm going to give you one of the most useful--and most used--and easiest--alternate fingering that you likely won't find on  the fingering chart in front of your method  book.T

Check out this passage, which is in four flats:

• The tempo is  Allegro Vivace.

• The six note figure repeats four times.

• The D in this figure is a Db. (The key signature is four flats.)

Are you really that good at flipping between the standard Bb and Db fingerings over and over again for the two-16ths/eighth combinations of Bb/Db/Eb cleanly, with no "bump" between notes?  (Don't forget the RH Eb key for the Eb!)

Is your clarinet so nicely fine-tuned that there is no difference in resistance between the Bb and the Db? (No, it isn't. There isn't any such clarinet.)

What to do?

SIMPLE!

Play the B flat with the usual LH two fingers and the first RH side key. Then, to go to the Db, all you do is take off the thumb, register key, and the two LH fingers!

That will give you the Db!

If the Db is too sharp and it sticks out or you're moving really fast through a run where nobody will notice,  take off the side key. 

And because you have been such attentive girls and boys, here's a BONUS:

You can play the D natural by taking all your fingers off! 

DISCLAIMER AFTER THE FACT (LIKE WHAT CAR DEALERS WILL TELL YOU WHEN IT'S TOO LATE)

Although these two fingerings are extremely useful and often are options, their tuning isn't great and their tone quality sucks. Use them in fast passages or fast arpeggios, but don't get lazy and expect them to work for you for sustained notes unless you don't mind being hissed at.