# Favoured keys for Bb Clarinet ?



## col (Feb 3, 2016)

Hi all,

My daughter learns Bb clarinet and plays whatever sheet music is lying around - often piano music or sometimes from like 100 classics for buskers type thing.
As the key sigs are probably not always optimum for clarinet fingerings my question is whether pieces in particular keys would be better of transposed to whatever key is more clarinet fingering friendly ?


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## Pete N (Feb 3, 2016)

Essentially, anything where she ends up with few sharps and flats - e.g. C, F or G for her (Bb, Eb or F at concert pitch).


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## Jurek (Feb 3, 2016)

When she´s ready to be playing in some formation with other wind instrument players (e.g. brass bands) the majority of keys will be on the flat side (F, Bb, Eb, Ab ...)


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## col (Feb 3, 2016)

Thanks for the replies .


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## jhunnius (Apr 27, 2016)

I played the clarinet in various orchestra and chamber music settings.

If she plays with other instruments tuned in C - like in a symphonic orchestra - she will get used to sharps very quickly. She'll always face two more sharps than everyone else up to the point where she has to play double sharps (as in B major or F# major).

On the other hand, flats will be quite rare beyond Eb major, because everyone else would play with two more flats, i.e. Db major.

Twenty years later, I'm still fluent in B major and F# major, but not Ab major. We can talk about Eb major.

In some settings we got scores for some instrument in C and had to transpose on the fly (we usually did transpose on paper in the evening) from C major to D major or similar...

So, in "classical music", sharps are your friend with clarinets, flats are your enemy


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## col (Apr 27, 2016)

Thanks jhunnius for your very helpful perspective !


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## BigImpactSound (Jul 25, 2016)

Keys on the flat side are the easiest to play..


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## Tommy-boy (Oct 2, 2016)

Another option is to get a C clarinet. I have an Amati 351 which is decent. Much easier when playing along with piano and other Key of C based instruments. I use a separate Bflat clarinet when playing with a band with music written. 

-Tom


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