Klarinet Archive - Posting 000346.txt from 1995/06
From: Rien Stein <rien@-----.NL>
Subj: selmer tooters
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 1995 11:04:06 -0400
Hi all
The note on my experience with Selmer clarinets I mailed yesterday
gave rise to some very emotional reactions, most of them via
direct email. So let me be a bit more precise: I am aware that it
was rather blunt and negative about the Selmers. Let me thus try to
be a bit more specific.
When I bought my first clarinet, it was a brand new one, a Selmer
from the "9" series, if I remember right a P9. I never could try
it because in the city where I lived at the time, Apeldoorn, no
dealer of musical instruments lived, nor any one close enough to
go there. My teacher advised me on Selmer, but he played Wullitzer
himself and (it may sound strange to all these professionals on
this list) was not able to play Boehm system instruments! I ordered
it straight from the dutch agent for Selmer, and received it
within a few days. Only a month afterwards the agent had to agree
it was out of tune, and for the bet he lost on a Selmer being out
of tune changed it for a P10, that, as I mentioned, was even more
out of tune, and had a horrible mechanism. At that point I lost my
confidence in Selmer, and had a Boosey & Hawkes instrument instead,
that was a really good instrument until a bus decided to ride over
the case in which I used to wear it, but that is another story.
What I did NOT want to say in this mail is, that Selmer is consistently
making bad or unreliable instruments, only, that my belief in
Selmer was lost. To me it doesn't really matter what instrument
someone is playing. I have been playing incidently on several other
instruments from other companies and they all were good instruments.
Yet I feel very happy with the instrument I use now since 12 years,
a Buffet-Crampon BC20 (I said yesterday it was a BC10, but checked it
when I was back home). My present teacher plays a Prestige, a very fine
instrument, I think, but for an amateur who has to share the little time
he has between a bass clarinet and a soprano, I think it is not worth
while to buy such a very expensive instrument, even though one might
wish to have the money for it.
For professional players of course that is another point. In my opinion
they must always have the best instrument available. But what is a
"good", or even "the best" instrument is, I think, a matter of taste,
of the person playing on it, and what you play. And most of all, of
course of the mental image you have of how a clarinet should sound.
I think that last point is important. Although I too think the most
mentioned clarinettist on this list, Eddie Daniels is a very good
player, and one of the best of this moment, I am not very fond of
his sound. Being rather romantic in nature I prefer the sound of some
German and Dutch clarinettists like Stalder, Karl Leister, George
Pietersen or Herman Braune (despite his German name a Dutchman) much
more. Should it then be, that these all should play the "same"
instruments? In the end where one person may think the best car for
him is a Ferrari or a Rolls Royce, another one may prefer Renault or
Volkswagen or Mazda323, and no one will say this or that one is better.
And to return to the topic that started all this: if you are happy with
your instrument: play it, and have fun and enjoyment from it. That is,
I think, equally valid for an amateur as for a professional
Rien
PS for those asking where I live: I am born and raised a Dutchman. When
I bought my Selmers, I lived in Apeldoorn. Now I live near Utrecht, and
are computer programmer with the Catolic University of Nijmegen, but
will stop working there in august. Because my home computer is not
connected with internet I will miss this list very much, be sure. But
I'll enjoy my three horns finally to the utmost - till I find some new
job
Rien
_/_/_/ _/_/_/_/_/ _/_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/ _/
_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/
_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/
_/_/_/ _/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/
_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/
_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _//
_/_/_/ _/ _/_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/ _/
Rien Stein
email: <rien@-----.nl>
tel (080-6)53289
