Klarinet Archive - Posting 000403.txt from 1995/04

From: Lee Callet <LCallet@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Older clarinets/faces on tv
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 1995 14:52:46 -0400

The "Bennett" Dan refers to was, I believe, Harold Bennett, a New York
woodwind repairman and maybe a teacher. This is the first I have ever heard
of him homogonizing clarinets. I knew he did it to silver flutes, and for a
while there had a number of the top flute players in NYC getting the process
done. It lined up the ions or something. I think Bennett studied with P.T.
Barnum. As for your face on tv, in Los Angeles that kind of work is called
"sideline"; any time you see groups of musicians on screen for a motion
picture or tv film, pretending to play. On rare occasions they actually do
play, but most of the time they "sideline" the parts, as the music has been
prerecorded. The real trick here is, if you play clarinet, to sideline
without a reed, or perhaps juxtapose left and right hands on the clarinet.
We clarinettists know how to be childish when we want to. Lee Callet