Klarinet Archive - Posting 000210.txt from 1995/06

From: Marian Rutty <mrutty@-----.US>
Subj: Re: Old vs. New Clarinets
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 13:13:49 -0400

I JUST BOUGHT A 42 YEAR OLD BUFFET CLARINET THAT HAS BEEN SITTING IN A
CLOSET FOR YEARS. I HAD AN EXPERT WORK ON IT, AND IT PLAYES BEAUTIFULLY,
BETTER THAN MY RECENT HORN OF 5 YEARS. CLARINETS ARE A VERY DELICATE
INSTRUMENT AND WHEN CUSTOMIZED PROPERLY THEY CAN BECOME SUCCESSFUL
DISPITE THA AGE....JUST LIKE PLAYERS!!!!! A NICE OBSERVATION BY EDWIN
LACY AND CHILDERN PLAYING THE CLARINET...ONE CAN ONLY DO THE BEST THEY
CAN WITH TUNING WITH KIDS WITHOUT MAKING IT A FEDREAL CASE!

Marian Rutty
Notre Dame High School
1400 Maple Avenue
Elmira NY 14904

On Sun, 11 Jun 1995, Edwin V. Lacy wrote:

> On Sun, 11 Jun 1995, John Baetens wrote:
>
> > I have an interesting story about old clarinets. When my
> > daughter played in a clarinet quartet at the Solo and Ensemble
> > festival in Junior High school, believe it or not, one of the
> > members showed up without her clarinet! She had left it at
> > school and the school was locked. I ran home and got my
> > 30 year old Noblet to let her use. About ten measures into
> > their piece, the judge stopped them and had them tune up!
> > After a short time of tuning he asked the group if one of them
> > had an older clarinet. He then gave a lecture about how the
> > drilling patterns of clarinets seem to change about every
> > 20 years or so and it is difficult for someone with an older
> > clarinet to play in tune with newer ones.
>
> I suggested a few days ago that it might be interesting to start a thread
> on judging/contest experiences. As one who has been judging solo and
> ensemble contests for about 30 years, I would make the following comments
> about your experience:
>
> 1.) A judge is doing something very dangerous when he/she makes verbal
> comments on the intonation of a performer or group, or attempts to assist
> them in tuning. Undoubtedly, they will still be something less than
> perfectly in tune, and if the comment sheet reflects this, the judge will
> almost without fail be visited by an irate teacher, or even worse, an
> irate "stage mother" (or father) who will say, "But you tuned them
> yourself. How could they be out of tune?"
>
> 2.) The differences in intonation between old and new clarinets could
> not possibly be as great as those which a judge encounters in almost
> every event, and which can be traced to not-yet-mature ears, nervous
> tension, questionable teaching, underdeveloped embouchures, etc., etc.
>
> I don't doubt that your experience occurred as you recounted it, but
> there must be something else going on here. Perhaps the judge noticed
> tarnished keys on your older clarinet and the shiny nickel-silver keys of
> the plastic Bundys of the other three players? He may have been trying
> to impress the students with his acute perception of pitch. Or, is that
> just my barely-suppressed cynicism coming through?
>
> Ed Lacy
> el2@-----.edu
>