Klarinet Archive - Posting 000315.txt from 1997/10

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: klarinet-digest V1 #301
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 1997 21:09:38 -0400

> From: MX%"klarinet@-----.65
> Subj: Re: klarinet-digest V1 #301

>
> I can tell a difference both ways, and when others play I can tell
> difference to a much smaller degree. When John Yeh plays, I can never
> tell a difference. I think that is because he could play a garbage can
> with a twig tied to it and make it sound like a clarinet.

This is an extraordinarily revealing statement. If I understand you
correctly, you can tell when YOU are playing on a LeBlanc but are
much less successful in recognizing this when OTHERS are doing so.
But then, you run the danger of contradicting your fundament premise.

If the difference in sound is so noticeable (as you have asserted),
then that difference should be identifiable no matter who is playing
the instrument. If you cannot recognize the sound (or do so to a
lesser degree when you are not playing), you have to consider the
possibility that your "recognition" is not at all aural, but is
due to other factors such as brand name influence, physicality of
the instrument, the feel and placement of the keys, and other
psychological factors, etc.

This then reduces the accuracy of your assertion that you can tell
the difference between LeBlanc and other instruments. I have no
doubt that you believe you can, but, so far, the above scenario
gives rise to the possibility that you are truthful but fooling
your self; i.e., you really can't tell but are using things other
than sound to arrive at the conclusion that you are attributing to
sound.

And certainlyI accept completely that you are a truthful person
and would not make a statement that is knowingly false. But the
fact that you have less success when identifying others playing
a LeBlanc is very hard evidence that there is far less difference
than you assert.

>
> Seriously........the first sentence is accurate. Thanks for the question.
>
> Roger Garrett
>
> On Thu, 9 Oct 1997, Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu wrote:
> Roger Garrett originally wrote:
> > > The "who" is the person who tries the horn. Being the original poster of
> > > the "Leblanc Sound" thread currently being hotly debated (!!), I maintain
> > > that at least I (me, myself.....the person typing right now) notice a
> > > difference. I will say however, that the new Leblancs, that is, Leblancs
> > > made within the past four years or so.....do not retain the severity of
> > > what I consider to be the "Leblanc Sound"......for all I know, I expect to
> > > hear and feel such a sound/resistance in a Leblanc, I may even be
> > > imagining that I still hear/feel it in the new.....but...I doubt it.
> Dan Leeson asked:
> > A little clarification on this point: do you detect a difference
> > when you play the instrument or when you are listening to someone
> > else play the instrument (or perhaps even both conditions)?
>
=======================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
Rosanne Leeson, Los Altos, California
leeson@-----.edu
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