What the data covers
The current public dataset covers standard Boehm-system B♭ soprano clarinet from written E3 through C6 inclusive. Those endpoints produce 33 chromatic pitch positions. A pitch position can have more than one written spelling—for example F♯ and G♭—so spelling is stored separately from the underlying pitch rather than treated as a second fingering record. The chart can therefore match the accidental spelling in a player’s music while keeping one consistent set of physical finger states.
Written pitch and concert pitch are also separate facts. B♭ soprano clarinet sounds a whole step lower than written, so written C4 corresponds to concert B♭3. The chart uses the written note for lookup and the staff label because that is what appears in a clarinet part. The synthetic Hear note control uses the corresponding concert frequency. Tests cover that conversion rather than deriving it ad hoc inside the button.
This release contains basic fingerings only. It deliberately excludes passage-specific trill fingerings, resonance fingerings, intonation adjustments, model-dependent optional mechanisms, extended altissimo, bass clarinet and other key systems. Excluding those areas is not a claim that they are unimportant; it is a boundary that prevents an incomplete specialist dataset from being presented as comprehensive.
How sources are compared
Each published basic fingering is compared with the relevant standard Boehm material in two independent references used by this release: Yamaha’s clarinet fingering guide and the Woodwind Fingering Guide. The data record keeps the source URL and the relevant source location so a later audit can return to the material that supported the decision. Two pages from one publisher do not count as two independent sources simply because they have different URLs.
The public release label SOURCE_CROSS_CHECKED means that a basic option has recorded multi-source agreement, complete required finger/key states for the V1 model, and no dependency on an optional mechanism that the standard profile does not guarantee. It also means the record has passed the project’s data checks before it is projected into the public chart. If the sources disagree on a basic fact, the correct outcome is to investigate or withhold that option rather than silently choose the prettier diagram.
Source cross-checking is narrower than expert review. Happy Clarinet does not currently claim that a named professional player or teacher has independently approved the complete public dataset. That distinction is intentional: source evidence, automated tests, visual QA and expert judgement are different forms of evidence and should not be collapsed into one marketing label.
What a review checks
The data checks preserve distinctions that are easy to lose in a compact diagram. The thumb hole and the register key are separate fields. The six main left/right finger holes are separate from named side, throat and little-finger touchpieces. A register teaching label is not inferred from whether the register key happens to be pressed. Written pitch, concert pitch, enharmonic spelling and the audio frequency are also checked as related but distinct values.
Six notes in the current range—E3, F3, F♯3, B4, C5 and C♯5—publish two co-equal basic little-finger choices. Those options are retained separately instead of inventing a universal “primary” choice. The screen and print views tell the player to use one according to the surrounding passage, not to press both. Model-dependent alternatives that require an extra mechanism are not projected into the V1 standard profile.
Automated tests verify range completeness, pitch mapping, key-state completeness and the public projection. Browser tests verify that changing a selected note changes the note label, staff, diagram and concert-pitch output together; that mobile layouts do not overflow; and that print output contains the intended records. These checks can catch implementation errors, but they are not represented as a professional performance assessment.
How diagrams and PDFs stay aligned
Happy Clarinet renders original schematic fingering diagrams from structured key-state data. The project does not download a publisher’s chart image and republish it. The schematic intentionally emphasizes states that matter to the lookup task—covered/open main holes, thumb hole, register key and additional named keys—rather than pretending to reproduce the exact physical geometry of every clarinet model.
The selected-note screen and the full printable chart read from the same SOURCE_CROSS_CHECKED records. That design is important for corrections: when an approved data record changes, both outputs use the same change instead of relying on someone to remember to redraw a separate PDF. The print layout groups the 33 notes across four pages and includes both basic little-finger choices where applicable. Staff notes use a consistent spelling policy while text labels preserve the available sharp/flat names.
There is no hidden server-side PDF-generation service in V1. The user chooses US Letter or A4 and then opens the browser’s Print / Save PDF dialog. The browser or operating system performs the actual print or file save. QA checks both paper sizes for pagination, clipping and readability. Because that mechanism is real, the public copy says “Print / Save PDF” rather than promising a separate downloadable file that does not exist.
Versions and corrections
The chart exposes a dataset version and source-check date so that a report can identify which release was being viewed. Those dates are records of the data process; they are not rewritten on every website build and they do not imply that Yamaha or the Woodwind Fingering Guide was rechecked on the day a visitor opens the page. Website content dates are similarly intended to describe substantive changes rather than deployment noise.
A proposed correction begins with a concrete observation: the written note and octave, displayed spelling, instrument system, affected hole/key or pitch label, and supporting evidence when available. The project then compares the report with the stored source record and checks whether the issue is a basic-fingering error, a rendering error, a spelling/pitch error or a legitimate context-specific alternative outside V1. A confirmed change goes back through data checks and screen/print regression checks before replacing the public record.
If an issue cannot be resolved confidently, the safe action is to withhold or narrow the affected claim rather than fill the gap by analogy. That principle also applies to future ranges and instruments. A B♭ soprano fingering is not automatically copied into a bass-clarinet profile just because the interface could render it.
- Release label
SOURCE_CROSS_CHECKED- Dataset version
v1-source-crosscheck-001- Source-check date
- Scope
- 33 pitches · written E3–C6 · basic Boehm fingerings
Report a possible error
The Contact page provides a copyable report outline. Include the written note exactly as you saw it, such as B♭4 rather than only “B flat,” and keep the octave number. State whether the issue is the staff notation, the main fingering circles, a named additional key, one of the little-finger choices, the concert-pitch label, reference audio or print output. If you are using a different clarinet system or a model with optional mechanisms, mention that too.
A source link, book citation or clear screenshot helps distinguish a data problem from an instrument- or passage-specific alternative. Avoid sending large amounts of unrelated personal information. Happy Clarinet’s public email is for reports and questions, but the website itself does not upload files or submit a form behind the scenes.
Corrections should improve the reference without expanding its claims beyond the evidence. If a report identifies a useful trill, resonance or intonation fingering, that may be valuable future material, but it should not be inserted into the current “basic fingering” release until its scope, source and presentation rules are defined. The same evidence-first approach is used when deciding whether to expand the site to scales, bass clarinet or other learning tools.