Klarinet Archive - Posting 000721.txt from 1996/02

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re Fobes and metal clarinets
Date: Sat, 24 Feb 1996 11:45:56 -0500

Go reread the messages Clark. The arguments put forward were that metal
clarinets should be made into ash trays and lamps because they were made
out of metal and were, therefore, inferior. That is an argument that you
yourself rejected in your note of 2/24, so we are in agreement.

That is the argument with which I took issue and I think I said (in clear
and unambiguous prose) that the media used to make the instrument should not
be so attacked and that many metal clarinets were great treasures. Many
probably were junk. But many wooden clarinets are junk, too. So that
establishes nothing.

Bottom line: there was than, there is now nothing wrong with a clarinet
simply because it is made of metal. The best ones played magnificently
and could be used by a professional anywhere in the world with no shame.
The worst ones played terribly and not even a beginning child player should
have had one inflicted on him/her. The average ones probably contained
a mix of good and bad, but that would be true about resonite instruments, too.

Goodness knows you and I disagree on enough things about which our positions
are anti-polar. Let us not disagree on things about which we are in
agreement. That is oxymoronic!!

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Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
(leeson@-----.edu)
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