Crossing the Break on Clarinet: Notes, Fingers and Drills

What the break is

Every clarinet has a seam in the middle of its range. Below it are the throat tones, the handful of notes in the middle of the treble staff that use almost no fingers: open G4, G♯4, A4 and B♭4 (all written pitch) ^[2]. Directly above the seam is clarion B4, which is played with every hole covered plus the register key. On the B♭ clarinet those written notes sound a whole step lower, so written B4 comes out as concert A ^[4].

Physicists place the break between A♯4 (the same key as B♭4) and B4. They point to two separate problems at that spot: the tone color changes, and the player has to move several fingers and the thumb at the same moment ^[3]. The clarion register itself runs from written B4 up to C6 ^[4].

So the move from throat B♭ to clarion B covers about as much ground as a clarinet move can. You go from a fingering that leaves nearly the whole tube open to one that closes every hole. One clarinet clinician puts it this way: the vibrating length of air roughly triples in that single step ^[1].

Why it happens

The clarinet's bore is close to a cylinder, and the reed nearly closes the mouthpiece end. A pipe like that, closed at one end, mostly sounds the odd members of the harmonic series (the 1st, 3rd, 5th and so on) ^[3]. Wikipedia describes the behavior as close to that of a "cylindrical stopped pipe" ^[4].

That missing second harmonic is the reason the register key doesn't give you an octave. Opening the register key upsets the fundamental while leaving the higher resonances mostly alone. The reed then locks onto the third harmonic, which sounds a twelfth higher ^[3]^[4]. A recorder or saxophone, with a tapered bore, overblows at the octave instead ^[4].

A twelfth is 19 half steps. Low E3 with the register key gives you B4. Low F3 gives C5. Measured spectra of written B4 show it built much like E3, with the twelfth jump visible in the data ^[2]. To fill every note between the top of the low register and B4 using one register key, designers would need about 18 tone holes before the fingerings could repeat ^[3]. The throat notes sit in that gap. They come from the A key and the register key near the top of the instrument, and they tend to be the weakest notes on the clarinet and usually sharp ^[6]^[7].

A tone color change happens at the same spot. In the low register the odd harmonics dominate and give the hollow chalumeau sound. Above the break the even harmonics fill in and the tone brightens ^[2]. Students often hear clarion B as "a different instrument," and that difference is real.

Right-hand-down

Right-hand-down means keeping some or all right-hand fingers on their holes and keys while you play the throat tones ^[7]. These holes sit below the open tone holes that make the throat notes, so covering them has little effect on pitch. Then, when you cross to B or C, the right hand is already there and only the left hand has to move.

Here is what that saves. Going from G to C normally takes eight fingers moving at once. With the right hand already down, only four left-hand fingers move ^[6]. Teachers also use it because it helps the sharp, thin throat tones a bit with pitch and resonance ^[7].

There is a downside. A student who learns to hold the clarinet up with the right-hand fingers on every open G ends up with a habit that is hard to break. It can also lock the right pinky in place when it needs to move freely among its keys ^[7]. Use right-hand-down in passages that actually cross the break. Keep plain open G as the normal fingering, and make sure you can cross without it too ^[7]. Whichever choice you make in a passage, use the same one going up and coming down ^[6].

Finger coverage

A leak anywhere below the note you're playing will stop clarion B from sounding. With B4 every hole is closed, so even one fingertip slightly off its ring breaks the seal. One Yamaha educator article calls the right-hand ring finger hole the largest tone hole on the clarinet. It says a poor seal there is the most common trouble for students with small fingers ^[9]. Flat, relaxed fingertips seal better than tense curled ones.

Check these before every attempt:

Fingers rest gently curved and close to the rings. Fingers that lift far off the keys add motion and cause squeaks ^[5].
Pinkies sit on top of their keys, not tucked under them ^[5].
The left thumb sits at roughly a 2 o'clock angle. It opens the register key by bending at its top joint without sliding off the tone hole ^[1]^[6].
The left index finger touches the A key with the side of the knuckle, so it can roll on and off without hopping ^[1]^[6].
The pads are sealing. A leaky pad on the lower joint can make the break almost impossible regardless of technique ^[5].

Air and voicing

Above the break the clarinet pushes back harder. Clarion notes are among the most resistant on the instrument ^[5]. They need fast, narrow air, more like blowing out one candle across the room than fogging a window. One clinician suggests adding a small extra push of air right at the moment of crossing, with the air kept focused ^[1].

Inside the mouth, keep the tongue high, near an "ee" shape. West warns that the "ah" vowel works against good tongue position ^[8]. Weak response above the break usually calls for both faster air and a higher tongue ^[6].

Hold the embouchure still while you cross. Even a small shift of the lips or jaw causes squeaks ^[5]. Let the bell hang down too far and the mouthpiece angle pinches the reed, which can stop it from speaking ^[1].

Why notes squeak

A squeak is the clarinet jumping to a higher resonance than the one you meant to play. At the break, the usual causes are:

A finger or pad not sealing, so the tube is effectively shorter than your fingering ^[5]^[6].
The embouchure moving or biting as the fingers change ^[5].
A reed tip that is too thin. Clarinetist Charles West lists thin tips as a cause of high-pitched squeaks ^[8].
A worn mouthpiece. West also warns that a badly eroded mouthpiece can produce pressure squeaks ^[8].
Fingers flying off the keys and landing late or crooked ^[5].

Worked example: open G to clarion C

Use a metronome at quarter note = 60. Slur everything after the first note. Hold each note four beats unless marked. All pitches are written.

Open G4 to throat A4 and back, four times. Roll the left index finger to the A key without lifting the thumb. You should hear no click or hiccup between notes ^[1].
A4 to B♭4 and back, four times. Add the register key with the thumb while the index finger stays on A. Keep the thumb angle steady ^[6].
Right hand down. Play G4, A4 and B♭4 again with all three right-hand fingers on their holes and the right pinky on the low F/C key. Listen for whether the pitch drops slightly and the sound gets fuller ^[7].
Twelfth slurs, no break crossing. Play low E3, then add the register key to get B4. Do the same from F3 to C5. Nothing moves except the thumb. This lets you hear the twelfth and feel clarion air before you add any finger motion ^[3]^[6].
A4 to B4, right hand already down. Hold A4 with the right hand down. On beat 1 of the next bar, put down the left-hand fingers and keep the thumb on the register key: that is B4. Only the left hand moves. Do it four times, then come back down from B4 to A4 ^[6].
B♭4 to B4. Same idea from B♭. Add a small push of air on the change ^[1].
G4 to C5. Right hand down on G. Move to clarion C, which is the low F fingering plus the register key. Only four left-hand fingers move ^[6].
The full line: G4, A4, B♭4, B4, C5, then back down C5, B4, B♭4, A4, G4, two beats each, in one breath.
Take the right hand off. Play the same line with a plain open G. Your hand position should hold steady even though the right hand now has to land on the B ^[7].

If step 5 squeaks, go back to step 4 and check whether the low E3 sounds clean. A fuzzy low E means a leak or a coverage problem, not a break problem. The clarinet chart shows each fingering in this drill.

Common mistakes

Squeezing the reed when the fingers move. Biting changes the embouchure, and a moving embouchure squeaks ^[5].
Slow air on the upper note. Students blow B4 with the same air they used for throat A. B4 needs faster air from the first instant ^[5].
Fingers lifting high off the rings. Every extra millimeter is time when the hole is half covered ^[5].
Thumb sliding instead of rocking. Sliding off the thumb hole while reaching for the register key opens a leak ^[1].
Using right-hand-down as a crutch on every G. It locks the pinky and slows fast passages ^[7].
Blaming the player for a leaky pad. If the low E3 and F3 won't speak cleanly, have the instrument checked ^[5].
A reed that's too soft. A tired or soft reed can't support the clarion. See choosing reed strength ^[8].

Once B4 and C5 are steady, work through the middle octave of F major on the clarinet scales page. It crosses the break in both directions on every pass ^[6]. Bass clarinet players face the same twelfth and the same throat-tone gap, so the drill transfers directly. Use the bass clarinet chart for the matching fingerings.