Klarinet Archive - Posting 000519.txt from 1996/02

From: Jeff Carwile <carwile@-----.ORG>
Subj: Re: Sound, Equipment, Concept
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 1996 20:51:41 -0500

Brad -- A delayed response, but I agree.

Often I find my students looking for the magical mouthpiece or barrel, and
most commonly, it is for sound, seldom for facilitating the creation of
music in general.

I spent four years of my life on a mouthpiece that had a beautiful sound but
wouldn't allow me control or articulation. Sure the sound was nice, but I
always felt horrible about my overall musicianship.

I changed to a mouthpiece that I originally didn't think was as beautiful
sounding in order to have more stability with my intonation, control and
articulation. But after a couple of months, I found that those areas had
improved greatly and you guessed it, my sound was back too. And as you
stated, I finally have the time and energy to think about creating music.

A humble theory...

[Do we tend to look at successful clarinetists and wonder what equipment he
(or she) uses because one isn't really sure what equipment is best for
oneself? I venture to say that it is no coincidence that there are
thousands of good musicians who would never agree on what a "good"
mouthpiece or barrel might be. Also, I have noticed that some of the more
effective teachers tend to leave a lot of freedom for the student to seek
out his/her own "best equipment". This is not to say that there isn't a
great deal of guidance as to "what to look for".]

Sincerely,
Jeff

Jeff Carwile
San Francisco, CA
carwile@-----.org

At 10:38 AM 2/15/96 -0500, you wrote:
>Indeed Sound is a function of the individual...not the instrument...or
>equipment for that matter.
>
>I would like to suggest that all musicians with a SOUND CONCEPT will end up
>sounding like themselves on whatever equipment they choose to use.
>
>Equipment, whether it be a Selmer, Buffet, Leblanc, Vandoren mouthpiece or 3
>1/2 or 4 strength reeds, etc. is nothing more than equipment! The musician
>that plays the equipment is what makes the sound.
>
>Indeed equipment can Help the musician to sound a certain way: Dark, Brigt,
>etc. ( I hate those words by the way...I think they have become so over used
>that they have lost their meaning!) I am not saying that equipment does not
>have tonal charactoristics. If that were the case, everything would sound
>the same way. We all know that not to be true.
>
>What I am saying is: When selecting equipment, don't go so much by sound...go
>by feel. (intonation is also very important, and I think a function of
>feel...when it is in tune, it feels good, when it is out of tune you must
>work harder to play in tune therefore it feels bad)
>
>Assuming you will end up sounding the same on whatever equipment you play,
>isn't it a good idea to select equipment that makes it the easiest for you to
>create your concept.
>
>If half of your energy goes into simply producing a sound, you only have half
>of your energy to make music...and that is what it is all about! If you can
>find a setup that only requires five percent of your energy to play, you now
>have ninety five percent of your energy to produce music....just imagine the
>improvement!
>
>Why not select equipment that is easy to play and use that new freedom (now,
>you are not working as hard) to create music!
>
>Good luck,
>Brad Behn
>