Klarinet Archive - Posting 000095.txt from 1994/10

From: Lorne G Buick - Music TA <lgbuick@-----.CA>
Subj: mutant topic
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 1994 16:30:12 -0400

My question/ comment arises partly from the long message quoted (in part)
below, and partly from a discussion I got into via private email, and has
to do with the idea that all the clarinetists in a section should be
playing the same brand of clarinets. I had mentioned that I am playing
Rossi large-bore rosewood clarinets, and that I will be playing in the
Thunder Bay Symphony for a couple of weeks, to which his response was "do
you have any intonation problems, playing different horns than the rest of
the section?"

Pardon me if this subject has already been flogged by this group, but
where did this idea come from anyway? All clarinets have notes that tend
to be out of tune if not corrected by the player- so if the whole section
plays the same clarinets, they'll just have the same out of tune notes! It
doesn't even help us to play in octaves- there are several notes on most
clarinets that tend to be flat in one octave, sharp in another.

Anyway, whatever clarinet one plays one must learn to compensate for its
defects of intonation (and if anyone out there thinks they have one with
no defects, I'd love to know!)- One of the main reasons I chose Rossi
clarinets is that I find them much easier to play in tune than others I've
played (that includes R-13's and Yamahas...)

On Sat, 8 Oct 1994, Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu wrote:

> One member of KLARINET suggested several
> month ago that he could not possibly continue to play on his LeBlanc
> because all the other players had Buffets. In effect, he was the victim
> of social pressure, not musical values. Was his LeBlanc out of tune?
> Was it a poor quality instrument? None of these things. It just was
> not the right brand name. There is a decided similarity in clarinet
> usage with women's clothing. (I don't mean to be sexist. Men's
> clothing is not such a social phenomenon as women's where the year's
> fashions are a big business.) There is the "in" clarinet and the
> others. And clarinet players act like sheep in some respects being
> led to the perfect sound and ease of blowing and beautiful tone, by
> advertisements that could be either for clarinets or for women's
> hem lengths.
>