Klarinet Archive - Posting 000100.txt from 1994/03

From: SCOTT MCCHESNEY <MCCHESS4641@-----.EDU>
Subj: More barrel stuff
Date: Mon, 7 Mar 1994 23:23:42 -0500

Well, let's see...

As for length of barrel, I'm not really sure. It's the standard barrel that
comes with the instrument. I'm told there was a SHORTER barrel that also came
with - one was the "summer" barrel and one was the "winter" barrel. Honest to
God, I'm not making this up. I don't have the shorter of the two (which I
believe was the "summer" barrel) and have no idea what happened to it, though
there is a space in my case for it. And it would be significantly
shorter...imagine the pitch problems there...

As for barrel rings, I actually tried those with my previous mouthpiece, and
they did help a little. The problem was that I couldn't find rings that fit
correctly in my barrel, and I could never get them trimmed up right. Guess I'm
just not good with my hands... :)

Mouthpiece pitch? I've heard of this. It was actually listed in my beginner's
book when I started playing in 6th grade - or else my dad wrote it in. Both
parents were music teachers...if I remember right, the mouthpiece pitch to aim
for on a clarinet was a high D-flat - two ledger lines above the staff. I
played a piece in Wind Emsemble - a really corny show piece - where as the
piece went along, we removed pieces of our clarinets and kept playing. If I
remember right, at the last line - which was just the mouthpiece - they wrote a
D-flat.

Of course, that doesn't mean that was the pitch we were supposed to hit, but I
think that's pretty close.

Now that that's all settled, what do the honorable list members suggest as a
replacement barrel? I'm going to have to do something, so I would like some
suggestions as to what to buy. Around home they suggest an AccuBore barrel
made by LeBlanc, because it's a pretty good barrel (so they say) and it's not
outrageously expensive. Any better ideas?

-- Scott