Klarinet Archive - Posting 000078.txt from 1994/01

From: Jay Heiser <jayh@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Tom Ascher's comments (the Sky is the limit!)
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 13:11:10 -0500

-->When someone says that to me, I grab for my wallet, first thing. My
-->father once told me: "Son, you are going out into the world. And I
-->don't have much money to help you with, but I will give you some important
-->advice. Some day a man will come up to you with a pack of cards that
-->has an unbroken seal on it. He will be you $100 that the jack of spades
-->is going to leap out of the pack and squirt apple cider in your ear. Son,"
-->my father said, "don't take that bet because as God made little green apples,
-->you are going to get cider in your ear."

This is from the seen in "Guys & Dolls" wherein Nathan Detroit tries to talk Sky
Masterson into a sucker bet because he needs a grand. This is my all time
favorite musical and is a terrific show for doublers (all reed parts double).
Play the show if you get a chance.

one more comment below (on Vito)

-->
-->Tom, I am not sure that people hear a difference between wooden and non
-->wooden clarinets because they think they are supposed to or because such
-->a difference exists. I have no pipeline to the infinite and only give
-->my opinion on the matter. But a counter opinion of "but wood clarinets
-->sound better to me" is not much of an advance over my argument. How is
-->that betterness measured? Can you detect that difference of quality in
-->a blind test? I assert you cannot and suggest that such a test can
-->certainly be arranged considering the clarinet faculty on this list.

Not having read those articles from the acoustics journals, I still don't
really know where the sound comes out of a clarinet. I still can't believe
that material makes NO difference. Try to imagine a clarinet made out of
dough or lined with fur. ;-)

I'm willing to accept that plastic is as good as or better than wood, but
what I'm not willing to accept is that a Vito is the same quality as a
Selmer or Buffet. The quality of any particular instrument might not be
completely obvious to a listener, but certainly the player experiences less
pleasure on cheap instruments than good ones. Vitos are good serviceable
horns, but they are not professional quality -- it has nothing to do with
the material.

I've played Vito saxes too -- they are OK, but not as good as the Bundy.
Vito flutes are pretty uninspiring too. I personally have no problems
accepting disparaging remarks about Vitos -- they are second string student
instruments and are no fun to play.

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All the gardening catalogs have arrived.