B♭ Clarinet
Altissimo A on the B♭ Clarinet
Written A6 — sounds concert G6. Tap the diagram to hear it.
A6
Concert G6
Altissimo A is the practical ceiling of most school-band clarinet writing. It is an E6-shaped vent with a different little-finger key, and it answers to a fast, focused airstream far more than to jaw pressure.
About this note
Altissimo A is the practical ceiling of most school-band clarinet writing. It is an E6-shaped vent with a different little-finger key, and it answers to a fast, focused airstream far more than to jaw pressure.
- Primary fingering: Register key + Thumb hole + Left middle (hole 2) + Left ring (hole 3) + Right pinky F/C key
- Written pitch: A6 · Concert pitch: G6
- Sounding frequency: 1567.98 Hz
Alternate fingerings for Altissimo A
- Left little-finger F/C key: Register key + Thumb hole + Left middle (hole 2) + Left ring (hole 3) + Left pinky F/C key. Take it with the left little finger when the right one is already holding another key in the same phrase.
- F♯/C♯ key vent: Register key + Thumb hole + Left middle (hole 2) + Left ring (hole 3) + Right pinky F♯/C♯ key. A slightly different colour and pitch centre; try it when the standard fingering will not speak on your instrument.
B♭ Clarinet fingering data last updated . Every diagram here, in the printable PDF and in the chart image comes from one dataset, so the paper and the screen cannot disagree.