Klarinet Archive - Posting 000002.txt from 1994/12

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Moritz Willers questions about Gibson's book
Date: Thu, 1 Dec 1994 08:40:42 -0500

Moritz makes reference to a book by Lee Gibson which appears to deal
with the acoutical aspects of clarinet playing and he inquires about
the credibility of the the book.

O. Lee Gibson was, until about 15 years ago, the instructor of clarinet
at North Texas State University. He held the Ph. D. (from a Texas
University, I think) and his dissertation was on Mozart's wind music.
He is now retired.

Gibson was one of the very few people who was able to play both a
Boehm system clarinet and an Oehler system clarinet with equal facility.
I believe that he gave recitals where he would play the first half on
one instrument and the second half on the other. We had occasion to
play together at a convention of the clarinet society. It was the
Mozart Adagio for clarinets and basset horns and I have a picture of
the group (so rare was it) on my living room wall.

Gibson's specialty has always been objective examination of various
manufacturer's clarinets. He has been writing an article for The
Clarinet magazine for years in which he will speak of the physical
properties of various clarinets. So, if he were to write an article
about the Buffet R13, he makes no subjective claims about it being
free blowing, or producing a dark sound, etc. Instead, his article
would be only about the measurements that he has made of the
instrument and how these measurements contrast with other clarinets.
He might, for example, make a subjective contrast of two Buffets by
asserting that one does what it does because of this or that
measurement. And he might suggest that a particular subjective
characteristic of a certain clarinet is derived from an element that
he has been able to measure. As I said, he is VERY objective.

I do not know if Gibson has a degree in acoutics or has any specialized
training in acoustical physics. I know of him only in and through
musical circles. His successor at N. Texas State is now the editor of
The Clarinet magazine and he could be contacted for a much more
intimate knowledge of Gibson's acoustical background than I could. But
I also think that probably 5 more responses from people on this board
will clarify the credibility of his book better than I could. I have
never seen it, but knowing Lee's interests I am not in the least
surprised that he would have written it.

The world of clarinet playing needs a lot more Lee Gibson's because of
his insistance of objectivity in examining clarinets. My only diffi-
culty with Lee is that his writings on the subject are not lively.
That is not because of a poor style on his part, but rather the fact
that it is hard to be scintillating with sentences such as "The diameter
of the lower end of the tapered barrel is ..." But the net result of
such unlively writing is that he is not as read as much as he should be.

====================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
(leeson@-----.edu)
====================================

   
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