Klarinet Archive - Posting 000301.txt from 1994/10

From: Michael J Doyle <md6q+@-----.EDU>
Subj: Intro, Equiptment Discussion and Opinion
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 1994 22:35:01 -0400

Hello everyone, I am a relatively new recipient of this newsletter.
I have been following discussions about reeds and mouthpieces, and would
like to make my contribution.
Let me begin with an introduction. My name is Michael (Mike) Doyle.
I am a freshman clarinet major at Carnegie Mellon University. I study
with Thomas Thompson, associate principal of the Pittsburgh Symphony. I
am a member of the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic and CMU Wind Ensemble. I
come from a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, and I worshipped Harold
Wright! In Boston I was a member of the Massachusetts Youth Wind
Ensemble with Daniel Riley at the New England Conservatory of Music, and
the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra with Benjamin Zander.
Alrighty then, enough stuffy resume/intro stuff. I like very much
the Morgan RM10 Mouthpiece, Vandoren Black Master Reeds, and Bonade
Inverted (chrome or silver sound very nice to me). I also use a DEG Dark
67mm Barrel. I am going for a Dark, rich German sound, but I try to
retain lively tonguing and ease of tone production.
The Morgan Mouthpiece I use has a tip opening similar to a Vandoren
5rv Lyre, my old mouthpiece, of 1.10 mm. The notes start very smoothly,
and its free blowing qualities enables attacks(I HATE that word,
"release" would be better!) that can sound like they come out of nowhere.
Last week, the clarinets here attended a master class with Anthony
Gigliotti, pricipal of Philadelphia. He left some of his mouthpieces, a
"P," a "3," and a few others in between(don't quote me on the exact
names of each mouthpiece.) I was not amazed. They play well in tune, a
bit on the flat side, which, for a clarinet player, is a bonus. They
articulate well, but the tone quality with V12's, which he recommends,
didn't produce the color I wanted. Tone and sound is very subjective,
many people adore a bright sound, but it was not the
Marcellus/Meyer/Prince sound I was looking for.
The Bonade ligature is just my favorite, it has a nice ring to the
sound, and it articulates well.
The DEG Barrel is a bit darker and smoother than stock or Moenig
Buffet barrels, I think. It is also a little more in tune than some
barrels, and it comes with tuning rings( a minor consideration).
I play on Buffet R13 clarinets, b-flat and A.
Well, there you have it, I welcome any responses, and I love to
discuss sound, recordings, technique, or anything else relating to this
marvellous instrument. And remember, one's equiptment is primarily to
allow one to make the music "sing." I have heard this exact phrase from
just about every musician I have ever met, I am starting to believe
it(just kidding, I live by it!)

-Michael J. Doyle

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Carnegie-Mellon University
Freshman-Music(and otherstuff)
(412)862-2297
EMAIL@-----.edu

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