Klarinet Archive - Posting 000005.txt from 1994/11

From: James M Norsworthy <norswort@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Barrels barrels barrels
Date: Tue, 1 Nov 1994 11:09:07 -0500

Chris,
I guess that I can be considered somewhat of a barrell buff, being that I've
tried just about everything out there and talked in great detail to some people
who custom make their own.
The barrell plays quite an important role overall, I find. You need to find
something that is suited to the bore size of your upper joint and to the size
of the opening of your mouthpiece. That's a job in itself. Once you find that
then the next thing to worry about is pitch, over the entire range of the horn.
Playing the twelths exercise (e-b, f-c, etc...) is usually a good way to
determine this. Then you have to worry about finding something that actually
sounds the way that you think it should sound with your given setup. These are
just the basics and there are a lot more details that I'd be happy to share if
you would like, but it's all technical stuff and may not be necessary for your
purposes.
As far as the accubore is concerned... I know a good deal of people who play
these and have not really been pleased with their sound or their pitch as a
result of this (I'm assuming it's the barrell because that is the one common
factor with all of them) It tends to put somewhat of a ping in the sound,
probably because of its metallic qualities. The resulting problems in pitch
are, strangely enough, not in the throat tone area where one would expect. The
problem seemed to present itself mostly in the clarion and altissimmo
registers. They also offer a little more resistance, I have found, and thus
make ppp attacks very difficult to do. (not that they aren't already)

That should be enough to get you started. I have a couple of people that you
can get a hold of if you'd like their names, addresses and numbers. As said, if
you want the technical stuff then write .

Michael

> > Are there any barrel buffs out there? I would
like to know how important
> is the barrel. I'm thinking about buying an Accubore barrel (because of
> its snazzy look) though I do not know any benefits from it. Also, do you
> need to buy the barrel that fits your specifications (sizewise), or can
> you just be random or is there a better size for tone quality?
>
> Regards.
>
> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> C H R I S C A S T I L L O
> chrisc@-----.com mercer island, wa
> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
>

   
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