No, UVULA, and it has nothing to do with female reproductive organs. The uvula is the danagly down thing in the back of your mouth hanging down over your throat that has no apparent function. Just like the uvula in your mouth, the clarinet part that I am referring to has no function that I can figure out. It is located on the inside of the lower end of the upper joint. It is associated with a lever that is on the bottom side of the upper joint. I can't tell for sure, but it appears to be a very small piece of leather atached to a plastic(?) plug that fills a hole that the aforementioned lever covers. When pressed the lever lifts off of the plug. I am surmising that the tiny piece of leather is used to remove and/or replace the plug in the hole, but that is pure speculation. Now, what is this little uvula really called and what purpose does it serve?
My clarinet has a uvula
- Thread starter wanabe
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I *think* you're talking about the register pip. It is a bit of metal that sticks into the upper joint. If I'm right, this would be the vent under the hole that opens when you press the register key, what I'd call the top of the upper joint, not the bottom. I'd post a pic, but for some reason I can't find a pic of the inside of the clarinet upper joint with Google -- and I don't know where my wife has her clarinets, ATM, so I can't take a pic. SteveSklar's got a pic of what the pip looks like on the outside of a Selmer Soloist Bb clarinet HERE.
The function with this is to make it easier for you overblow the 12th, so you can hit
and above (well, most commonly the C and above). Otherwise, I'm not quite sure what you're looking at. Pics and make/model of your clarinet would be helpful.
The function with this is to make it easier for you overblow the 12th, so you can hit
and above (well, most commonly the C and above). Otherwise, I'm not quite sure what you're looking at. Pics and make/model of your clarinet would be helpful.
Another idea is that some clarinets have a "grunt" on an upper register note, usually A or G that is improved by putting a "splitter" in the register key pad. Some techs use a round toothpick and others make one out of plastic much like the tooth of a comb. It is attached in the center of the register key pad, usually cork, and extends into the register tube about 5mm. Some call this a "Hasty pad" after the gentleman who first came up with the idea, but I have never heard it called a "uvula" before. 
When I've seen this done, it is with a heavy gauge pin, larger in diameter than a typical sewing pin, but thinner than a needle.
Another reason for the tube is to keep the condensation (it's mostly that, not saliva) from flowing into the register hole. There's also a tube for the thumb hole, again mostly for that reason.
Another reason for the tube is to keep the condensation (it's mostly that, not saliva) from flowing into the register hole. There's also a tube for the thumb hole, again mostly for that reason.
Firstly, I thank all of you for being so patient with me and anwering my newbie questions. I promise that they will become less frequent when I can find a teacher. They are rare commodities in this small section of Texas. It is a 45 minute drive to the nearest private teacher aqnd those at the local high school are booked far in advance.
My further research into the wilds of the internet brought me to a page that identified the lever as a "speaker key", and yes you are quite correct. It is at the top of the upper joint and what I thought was a plugged hole is in fact a metal tube with a very small inside diameter. Aditional resarch into the speaker key brought me to the register key and far too much information about overblowing twelfths and the geneology of fixes for clarinet "sore throat". It appears that this particular subject is a little too advanced for a rank beginner such as myself, so I'll leave it for another time. I have other things that are more pressing than that, like assembling/disasempling the horn without ripping the tenon corks off and other such trivial matters.
As to the makes and models of my two clarinets, they are a Noblet Paris with a King mouthpiece in desperate ned of cleaning and a Penzel Mueler Bel Canto with a Penzel Muler Artist mouthpiece that has just bee re-paded. They are both wooden clarinets in very fine condition withthe exception of the traces of mold growing on the Noblet.
My further research into the wilds of the internet brought me to a page that identified the lever as a "speaker key", and yes you are quite correct. It is at the top of the upper joint and what I thought was a plugged hole is in fact a metal tube with a very small inside diameter. Aditional resarch into the speaker key brought me to the register key and far too much information about overblowing twelfths and the geneology of fixes for clarinet "sore throat". It appears that this particular subject is a little too advanced for a rank beginner such as myself, so I'll leave it for another time. I have other things that are more pressing than that, like assembling/disasempling the horn without ripping the tenon corks off and other such trivial matters.
As to the makes and models of my two clarinets, they are a Noblet Paris with a King mouthpiece in desperate ned of cleaning and a Penzel Mueler Bel Canto with a Penzel Muler Artist mouthpiece that has just bee re-paded. They are both wooden clarinets in very fine condition withthe exception of the traces of mold growing on the Noblet.