Klarinet Archive - Posting 000099.txt from 1994/04

From: Claudia Zornow <claudia@-----.COM>
Subj: T-shirts and bass clarinets
Date: Wed, 13 Apr 1994 12:33:57 -0400

I've been meaning to pass this along to the list for a
long time. For Christmas, my father got me three comical
T-shirts featuring different instruments: clarinet, flute,
and saxophone. (Before anyone asks: he found them in a
catalog while visiting the U.K., although they were made
in America, so I have no idea how one would order them.)

The clarinet shirt has a cartoon of a duck-like bird with
a clarinet for a body--basically a clarinet with feet, a
head, and wings with finger-like extensions. Below it is
the following text:

Clarinet
Ventus pinki ambidextri

Inhabiting a wide variety of elevations and terrains,
this creature has adapted a unique ability of interchanging
its little fingers at will.

On the topic of bass clarinets, I believe that the instrument
does make a difference: two different instruments played by
the same person will sound and feel different. Perhaps the
differences are not easily perceived by listeners; perhaps
they are. At any rate, I have a LeBlanc VanMarle which is
nice in the lower register although it gives me fits up high
(that's probably my fault). I've played a Selmer, and I loved
it; the low notes have a resonance that's wonderful.

At the Bay Area Klarinet get-together last week we briefly
discussed this topic. Jordan said that Clark Fobes, though
he deals in Buffets, recommends that one order a Selmer from
the Woodwind in Indiana. Clark is getting more and more raves
lately, so I'd be inclined to listen to him if I were in the
market for a bass clarinet upgrade.

Claudia