Klarinet Archive - Posting 000216.txt from 1993/12

From: 00smgeidel@-----.BITNET
Subj: Re: Harold Bennett and homogenization
Date: Mon, 13 Dec 1993 20:18:18 -0500

More notes on Bennett's "Homogenizing" of Wind Instruments:

>What I would figure to be a more reasonable speculative explanation is
>that the vibration treatment (if that's what it was) more resembled an
>ultrasonic cleaning

I can confirm that the "homogenizing" was in fact a vibration treatment.
Bennett was a flutist, and originally he only homogenized flutes. A very good
friend of mine--a flutist--went to Bennett to have his flute homogenized (this
was twenty years ago) and Bennett performed the process AS MY FRIEND WATCHED;
there was no "backroom secret" at this particular session.

My flutist friend described a machine in which the flute was clamped; the
machine, when turned on, vibrated extremely rapidly. Bennett then expounded on
the process. Unfortunately at this point I remember I began to scoff. I was so
suspicious of Bennett's antics that I never really gave my friend a chance to go
into all the details. However, he did end his description by saying that the
process made a very positive difference in how his flute played.

As I said in an earlier note, now that I am older, had I heard the same story
today I wouldn't be so quick to judge!

S Geidel

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Dr. Stanley M. Geidel
University Libraries
Ball State University
Muncie, IN 47306
(317) 285-5143
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