Klarinet Archive - Posting 000292.txt from 1994/10

From: Tonya Trapp <TLT001@-----.EDU>
Subj: Leblanc Clarinets
Date: Sun, 23 Oct 1994 22:09:34 -0400

Hi! My name is Tonya Trapp. I've been lurking here for a couple of months,
but I've waited until now to announce my presence. Actually, I tried to send
out a message the other day, and it never apppeared on the discussion, so it
must've gotten lost. I'm a junior B.A. Music major (with a double-major in
History) at Drake University.

Last Thursday, I attended a master-class with
Tom Riddenour (I'm not sure about the spelling), the man who designed the new
line of Leblanc clarinets (the OPUS, the CONCERTO, etc.). He's also a
wonderfulclarinet player. He explained to us how he and Leblanc had redesigned
these
clarinets so that air-resistance was more equally distributed throughout the
clarinet. There is no change of air-resistance going from right-hand notes
to left-hand notes, as there is with other clarinets. We, as clarinet players,
learn to compensate for these differences in air-resistance from one note to
another, and we probably don't even know that we're doing it after we've
played for a number of years.

I thought that his presentation was all well and good and that he sounded great
on the clarinet that he was playing, but I bet that he would sound great on
any horn. I couldn't really believe that this line of clarinets was so
revolutionary that I would be able to feel a big difference from the Yamaha
72CS that I currently play on or from Buffet R-13's that I've played in the
past. However, when my professor, myself, and a couple of others in our
studio tried them out after the master-class, they were amazing. They seemed
so easy to play!

I know that many top performers have switched to the Opus and the Concerto
models from this line. Has anyone on this list switched? I guess that
my question is: What's the catch (besides the higher price)? Are these really
the "miracle" clarinets that they seem to be?!

I apologize if this has been discussed before, but I'm just incredibly curious!

Tonya Trapp
TLT001@-----.edu