Klarinet Archive - Posting 000242.txt from 1996/09

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Lisa Gartrell Yeo, you have done it now!!
Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 23:36:38 -0400

I enjoy reading your notes. They are literate, thoughtful and show
a good head at work.

And you invariably choose one argument after another without a genuine
realization that the new one may be in greater difficulty than the
older one.

About 18 months ago on this list, there was an extraordinarily interesting
discussion that dealt with the issue of French vs German clarinetists.
with many articulate people taking various sides of the issue.

I challenged one and all to a contest in which 20 or so works would
be put on a tape (all clarinet solos, some in an orchestra and some
in the role of a solo player) and the taker had to guess the nationality
of the player by any way possible, including the French/German clarinet's
alleged difference.

There was a good deal of concern that the test was not strictly
created, some said right off the bat that they would not accept its
results in any case, but one person did agree to take it.

That person got about 50% right which was roughly at the level of
a Mexican standoff. Neither view was sustained or defeated. The
world went on.

You really ought to read that entire range of correspondence, for I
advise you that I was in the camp of those who suggested that any
alleged distinction between the German and French clarinet was vastly
excaggerated. Maybe those who held that opinion, including myself,
were off the deep end, but you should be aware that you made a
statement that a number of very fine players reject as inaccurate.

So you have jumped from the proverbial you know what into the
proverbial you know where, and I found that argument of zero
value in attempting to prove what it was you were trying to prove.

So we are at square 1. You say that something is so because you
hear it. You also add that you are not affected by media hype
(including the prejudices of your colleagues), but may I ask what
brand of clarinet you own and what were you real reasons for buying
it?

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

   
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