Klarinet Archive - Posting 000037.txt from 1994/02

From: Martin Brown <martinb@-----.AU>
Subj: Re: Harness for clarinet?
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 1994 16:07:03 -0500

There is a guy here (Tom Sparkes who also makes oboes) who invented a
clarinet support which I found excellent. I don't know if you can buy
them but it would be pretty simple to make one up yourself.

It consists of an extendable post about 15-20cm long with a rubber
boot on one end to slot the thumb support into and a flat rectangular
piece of sheet (about 10x2cm) on the other to rest against your
stomach. The post has a hook on the top side about half way along to
hook in a sax neck strap to hold the weight of the clarinet. Note that
there is a mechanical advantage so the force on your neck is less than
the weight of the clarinet (about half). You also don't have to exert
force to keep the clarinet out at an angle to your body - the post
does that for you. Since the strap hooks on about half way down the
post, the strap is kept clear of your left hand thumb.

The post extension is done by having one half of the post slide inside
the other with a thumb screw to tighten down on the inside half.

The flat rectangular end rests just below your wishbone. Your thumb
goes under the rubber boot which is slotted over the usual thumb rest.

The length of the post is variable so you can set the angle of the
clarinet to whatever suits you.

This is also excellent for young students as it keeps the clarinet at
the proper angle and doesn't strain their thumbs or shoulders.

If your interested, Tom Sparkes can be contacted on 61 2 487 1169,
6 Clyde Pl., Wahroonga, NSW, Australia. I believe he patented so it
wouldn't be a good idea to go into production.

I had one of these for a few years until it broke and now I don't use
one. Since I do all my playing sitting down, I usually rest my A
clarinet on my knee while I'm playing it. Girls can rest the bell
between both their knees - this is not a macho pose for boys so I only
use one knee. :-) If you use this method, remember not to jog your leg
in time with the beat or you'll end up with a bloody lip.

If it's any help here is a PostScript thumbnail sketch of the setup:

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^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~
Martin Brown, Telectronics Pacing Systems
Sydney, Australia
Ph: (612) 413 6973 Email: martinb@-----.au

   
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