Klarinet Archive - Posting 000135.txt from 1996/04

From: niethamer@-----.BITNET
Subj: Re: ligatures
Date: Fri, 5 Apr 1996 23:05:27 -0500

On Fri, 5 Apr 1996, eric nelson wrote:

> my main concern in choosing a ligature has always been: "does it pull out
> beard hairs?" such agony is second only to childbirth or taking a beginner
> clarinetist into the upper register for the first time.

Ah, yes, I know this consideration well. But having been present at the
birth of my daughter, I think I can say with some authority that any
woman who has gone through childbirth will disagree with your asessment of
relative pain. At least with the beginner clarinetist, at the end of the
hour (1/2 hour?) the student leaves, the noise (pain) stops. Labor didn't
seem quite that easy or brief.

> other than that, the differences between ligature materials (sonically)
> seem too subtle to matter much to me.

Lee Gibson wrote an insightful article (one of his "Claranalysis" series)
for an old issue of "The Clarinet" which seemed to indicate that the
weight of the ligature had some bearing on its sound. It was one of his
more readable efforts (I'm not a physicist), and at such great distance
I'd hesitate to sum it up in 25 words or less. Worth looking for, IMO.

I use a reverse Bonade (silver plated, from Muncy or Fred Weiner), and
find the silver plating makes a significant difference compared to the
standard issue nickle-chrome plating. I've tried lots of things, and keep
coming back to this one. One of its main virtues is that it rarely pulls
beard hair!

In Pamela Weston's "Clarinet Virtuosi of Today", Harold Wright is quoted
as having bought a new ligature each year. I thought this was crazy,
until I tried it. Now *I* buy a new one each year! I'm not superstitious,
but they *do* change (stretch) over time, and the new ones seem to have a
better "focus" (for a while, anyway).

Of course, as with all equipment, your mileage may vary.

David Niethamer