Klarinet Archive - Posting 000399.txt from 1995/04

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Older clarinets
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 1995 09:22:21 -0400

Jim Sclater of Mississippi college asks about clarinets being blown out.
Scott Hirsch of the woodwind quarterly suggests that the question posed
by Jim might be of some interest to his readership. A number of very
thoughtful responses have already come in including several from very
experienced clarinetists such as Fred Jacobowitz at Peabody. That's
not chopper liver, you know!!

I have personally been responsible for the airing of this question on
this board on at least two occasions and all the messages that were
generated both times are on the board and Scott would be remiss if
he did not examine what was said in the past on this subject. I think
it to be OK if he asks his readership anything he wants to ask them, but
he should be aware that a number of very thoughtful and technically
qualified people have said some very important things on the subject
and on this very board. Scott, it is time you learned how to search
the archives of KLARINET and find notes a year and more old on this
and other subjects. Perhaps you could make a precis of what was said.

I would like to recapitulate the general arguments that have been made
and remade by the multiple views on this extremely important subject.

The first view of "blown out clarinets" is that there is no such thing.
I am of this opinion, though that certainly does not mean that the
position is correct. Others join me in this belief which is driven
mostly by the view that there is simply no valid scientific evidence
to support the existence of the phenomenon and that a single person
describing his or her experience with what they said was a blown out
clarinet is insufficient reason to accept what is happening as some
natural law of clarinets or even wood.

Those who hold the opinion of "no such thing" point out several
phenomena such as possession of clarinets that are 100 or more years
old that continue to play at very professional standards. In my case
I have a 100 year old C clarinet, and two Buffets that I use in standard
performance both of which are almost 50 years old and have been used
HARD during that time. I think they still play great even though I may
not any longer.

Furthermore, we assert that the phonemonon is partly derived from smoke
and old wives tales that have arisen and, like a virus, have swept
though the clarinet playing community as if there were some scientific
evidence to support such an outlandish notion of instrument wear out
through use. That is an argument that pleases manufacturers, of course,
because they sell more instruments that way. Buffet, Selmer, LeBlanc,
and Yamaha are not behind the blow-out theories but I suggest that they
are very content if a number of important clarinet players believe them.

On the other hand, there is a very strong and vocal position that,
by whatever name it is called, something happens to clarinets that
get older. Either the act of getting older is itself responsible
for the problem, or else the cause is external, such as swabbing,
vibrating, moisturizing, etc. But even this group is unable to
conclude which of the variety of possible causes is the culprit.
These people include such distinguished repairpersons as Clark Fobes,
and clarinetists such as Fred Jacobowitz. (But I point out that
Fred's entire position was given in his first sentence: "I have had
a clarinet get blown out so I feel I am qualified to answer your
question." That's not enough to make one qualified Fred, no flame
intended.) Clark has suggested that the swabbing of an instrument
causes the tone holes to become rounded and blames the problem on
this. But what he expresses is an opinion, not any first, evidence-
supported theory. He and I both guess on this matter. I guess no,
he guesses yes.

Those who believe in blow out suggest that it manifests itself in
several ways: pitch, character of sound, a widening of the 12ths,
a reaction to being played that is, somehow, different from the time
the instrument was new.

There was even a repairperson in NY, Bennett by name and now deceased,
who believed that the atoms or electrons or something of the wood became
all mixed up over time and needed to be straightened out by a process
that he called homogonization. Please do not ask me to explain that which
I do not understand, but that was his theory. He differed from the
run of the mill blower-outers because he maintained that the problem
could be reversed through his homogonization process.

So, James Sclater, when your colleagues in the orchestra start
telling you about the blow out phenomenon, I think you ought to be
much more agressive in demanding that they be very precise in what
the hell they are talking about, rather than miming what their teachers
told them, or what they heard over the grapevine.

Among the unanswered questions, one can ask: on what other wooden
instruments does this phenomenon occur (how many wooden piccolos
are blown out, oboes, bassoons?). If this thing occurs, what are
its exact consequences and how can they be measured to be sure that
it is the clarinet and not the loss of 5 teeth over 20 years? What
scientific evidence supports this whole speculative theory? How come
so many people believe to be true something for which there is only
folk lore to support its existence. Why doesn't my low C bass clarinet
blow out? Let me suggest that the answer to that question is, "It
would cost too much to replace, so that phenomenon does not happen
to bass clarinets, only to clarinets that can be replaced without
becoming bankrupt." I think that if clarinets cost as much as a
bassoon, we would never hear about blow out.

That pretty much summarizes the issue with probably a little too much
of my view, but it is hard for me to give equal time to a theory
that depends on consultation with an astrologer to confirm.

The whole business sounds just like the musical argument of "Don't tell
me about the Mozart concerto. I played it twice so I know how it goes."
Playing the Mozart concerto twice or even 30 times doesn't mean that
one knows how it goes. It means only that one knows the tunes.

Having a clarinet or two go south on you does not qualify a person to make
statements of a scientific nature about a phenomenon of which almost
nothing is known for certain. The variables in clarinet playing are
in such a state of interaction that age of the player may be more responsible
than age of the instrument. Do our sinus cavities change over the years?
If so, I would expect both our sound to change and our perception of the
sound to change.

It's a very complicated issue and shooting from the hip about blow out is
not a very productive way to understand the heart and soul of the problem.
Nor is simply buying a new clarinet.

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