Klarinet Archive - Posting 000039.txt from 1995/10

From: Laura R Bornhoeft <lbornhoe@-----.EDU>
Subj: Clarinet in Germany
Date: Tue, 3 Oct 1995 20:56:51 -0400

This topic was discussed at some length last year regarding professional
clarinetists, but it may be of some interest now.

I play in a German band (Bavarian-style Blaskapelle), and we're quite
active in the D.C. area this time of year. Last weekend we helped host a
Blaskappelle from Germany (the Munich area) visiting the U.S. We played
at an Oktoberfest that one of the nearby Army bases put on for the
public, both as discrete groups and as a combined band. I had a little chance
to talk to some of them, although none of us were totally fluent in the other
language. The band consists of amateurs having an average age of 25-30.
There were six clarinetists in the band. The two third players played Oehler
clarinets, while the other four played Boehm models. The E-flat clarinet was
an Oehler too. All had lyre attachments at the bottom of the clarinet (at
the bell joint), in contrast to my American lyre in the middle. The post
attachments seemed to be permanent, since they were on the clarinets
although we did not use lyres.

This seems to contradict the wisdom presented here last year that Boehm
clarinets were practically illegal (with tongue in cheek) in
German-speaking countries, at least among professionals.

So that's my observation, for what it's worth.

Laura Bornhoeft

P.S. The hosts were very generous and had two kinds of beer set up
behind the stage for the bands. The American band did a pretty good job
of snarfing up the good imported German Spaten. The German band was
aiming for the Bud Light. Go figure!!