What is Half-hole?
Half-hole is basically leaking on purpose. A few notes have the same fingering for the low octave and the middle octave. Half-hole allows the higher of these two octaves (middle octave) to speak clearly.
Which notes need half-hole?
How do you half-hole?
- Left index finger (top tone-hole on the front of the wing joint)
- Pivot or rock your finger downward.
- Avoid sliding or lifting your finger.
- Uncover top portion of the ‘e’ tone hole.
- Keep the whisper key engaged with your left thumb
Troubleshooting:
- If the note “growls” or is producing the lower octave, OPEN more of the hole.
- If the note “squeaks” or produces a partial that is too high, CLOSE more of the hole.
- Half-hole is not an exact specification of the amount of hole to be uncovered. The amount of exposed hole may be very slightly different for each of these pitches. For instance, the f-sharp may require slightly more of the hole to be open to speak clearly in the proper octave.
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