The register key is a key on the clarinet that is used to play in the second register; that is, it raises the pitch of most first-register notes by a twelfth (19 semitones) when pressed. It is positioned above the left thumb hole and is operated by the left thumb. The same key used in combination with the left first finger key which produces the written note A4 (in scientific pitch notation) is used to play B♭4. Some clarinets, particularly bass clarinets and lower, have separate keys, or a more complex key mechanism, to control two or three separate holes for playing B♭, for playing the lower notes of the second register, and for playing the upper notes of the second register.
The octave key is a key on the saxophone or oboe that raises the pitch of most notes by an octave when pressed, so that similar fingerings can be used for two different octaves.
Famous quotes containing the words register and/or key:
“Our fear that Communism might some day take over most of the world blinds us to the fact that anti-communism already has.”
—Anonymous U.S. Analyst In 1967. Quoted in “The Uses of Anticommunism,” vol. 21, published in The Socialist Register (1985)
“It so happened that, a few weeks later, “Old Ernie” [Ernest Hemingway] himself was using my room in New York as a hide-out from literary columnists and reporters during one of his rare stopover visits between Africa and Key West. On such all-too-rare occasions he lends an air of virility to my dainty apartment which I miss sorely after he has gone and all the furniture has been repaired.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)