Klarinet Archive - Posting 000560.txt from 1997/09

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Well, here we go again AGAIN!
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 1997 21:18:48 -0400

At 11:32 PM 9/8/97 -0000, you wrote:
...Now that leads me to a question - if composers
>expected to hear certain sounds, and we are obligated to try to provide
>those sounds, how do we deal with this issue? Do we get period
>instruments too? German system? Where does the issue of authenticity end?
>This whole topic raises more questions for me than answers.
>
I think these questions cut right to the heart of the matter. If it is so
absolutely critical to the composer's intent to play a particular key of
clarinet, it is outrageous the way we use modern pianos, steel violin
strings, Boehm system instruments, metal (or even cloth/vinyl) ligatures,
polyester-blend tuxedo shirts, electric lights, etc.! The tonal balance of
the universe is being threatened by anachronism pollution!

Even conceding that they sound somewhat different, a clarinet still sounds
unmistakeably like a clarinet. IMHO, the difference between a given Bb and
an A may be less that the difference between two Bb's by different
manufacturers, or even two by the same manufacturer, or even the SAME
clarinet with two different different mouthpiece setups. In all fairness,
I will admit that this may NOT have been true in 1795, but as manufacturers
improved their designs, I am quite certain that consistency of tone (making
all keys of clarinet sound like their BEST one) would have been a very high
priority, and that they would have had considerable success in this area
over the last 200 years.

Disclaimer: The above paragraph contains considerable speculation on my
part (although I stand by the first paragraph). Any authoritative data
available to support/refute?

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.