Klarinet Archive - Posting 000559.txt from 1995/04

From: Jim Freeman <collnjim@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Reasons, reasons, reasons
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 1995 21:04:55 -0400

On Fri, 28 Apr 1995, Fred Jacobowitz wrote:

> Dan,
> You've been an extremely vocal and persuasive opponent of the
> "Blown out" phenomenon. However, I think you ought to remember what was
> said about just about every natural phenomenon in history: "The earth is
> not flat", "The sun revolves about the earth", "E=MC2", "People with cow
> pos don't get small pox", "DDT is dangerous", "Chronic fatigue syndrome
> exists", "PMS is real", "Gulf war syndrome exists"....... Yes, every one of
> these
> statements was roundly ridiculed when it was proposed. It took a long
> time for some to be proved out. The last one, only last month after
> years of complaints by vets who were told they were crazy! (turns out
> that a combination of anti-mosquito stuff and anti nerve-gas medication
> causes it! Who'd have thunk it?). To paraphrase the words of the immortal
> Anon, "Don't knock it if you haven't experienced it". I can fully understand
> skepticism by those who have not had it happen to them but stop with the
> near-vilification, please. I may be wrong about the cause but I am not
> delusional. My instrument DID change, for whatever the reason.
>
> Fred Jacobowitz

I think Dan's point is that no proof is being cited other than an appeal
to some internal source ("gosh, this feels different") and, so far, no
reasonable standard for demonstrating that this feeling exists in a more
concrete way has been established. So, with all due respect, my saying
that the world actually is moved by a giant turtle visable only to me has
the same credibility as those who are claiming that clarinets blow out.
BUT, just because something isn't yet proved, doesn't mean it is false. I
happen to believe in a fairly low, intuitive sense, that clarinets change
over time (most things do). I'm not ready to equate vague, hazily
articulated perceptions with facts observable to anyone participating in
consensus reality (such as it is), but I am fairly certain that one of
these days someone will come up with an explaination for blow out that
most of us can swallow.

Jim Freeman (collnjim@-----.edu)

> On Wed, 26 Apr 1995, Dan Leeson:
LEESON@-----.edu wrote: > > > This discussion about saliva may be
fascinating and it may even be the > > cause of what is often called
blow-out. > > > > But, it may not be. > > > > It is very easy to derive
scenarios about what might be causing a phenomenon, > > but we have to be
at least 1,000 miles from agreeing that the phenomenon > > exists, much
less what causes it. > > > > This kind of thing happens in musicological
scholarship all the time. One is > > arguing about Beethoven's cause of
deafness, or Schubert's alleged > > homosexuality, or whatever and then,
suddenly, someone comes up with a > > scenario. It goes like this: > > >
> But suppose Beethoven's letters to his immortal beloved were > > not
mailed from Bonn but from Munich. That would explain why > > they took
longer to get to Freiburg and that would be the reason > > why she ditched
him. > > > > And suddenly, all the music journals announce the "letters
from Munich" > > theory, and in five years, it becomes the "letters from
Munich" hypothesis, > > and in five more years, it becomes accepted fact.
And then "letters from > > Munich" is offered as the way things actually
went. All this from, " > > suppose Beethoven's letters ..." > > > > It is
one thing to suggest that bacteria in saliva might cause some > > change
in the clarinet, and quite another to establish as fact that such > > a
change defines the thing called blow out. We must have heard a dozen > >
things that may or may not occur when blow out strikes a clarinet. The >
> least convincing statement was "It doesn't feel the same." The more > >
convincing statements dealt with objective assessments of pitch changes. >
> But there is no uniformity of opinion as to what the problem is, to say
> > nothing about what may or may not be causing it. > > > > We're not
there folks. In fact, on this subject, we're not anywhere except > >
smoke and mirrors. > > > > > > ==================================== > >
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California > > (leeson@-----.edu)
> > ====================================
> >
>