Klarinet Archive - Posting 000497.txt from 1998/01

From: "Loh Tzu Liang" <tlloh@-----.sg>
Subj: Re: moisture in pads
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 12:10:52 -0500

Hello Rgoren
>In between each piece, two of the musicians kept blowing out moisture from
>keys. They spent so much effort doing this that one of them finally said
to
>the audience (This is not a direct quote but very close to what was said):
We
>are not frustrated flutists. Moisture builds up in the holes when the
>temperature inside the clarinet is much different than that outside the
>clarinet. We do not want to produce the ugly gurgling sound.
>I have experienced this build up on certain padded keys. I usually use a
thin
>piece of paper (from the tobacco shop) and blow it out too.
Well, in Singapore, the humidity is abv 90% practically all the time so we
always hv this problem, even in an air-conditioned room. It is quite
irratating sometimes, esp when I play the Bass and water just drips or
splutters out of the A 0r G# keys at the top ;-)
We also use tabacco paper for clarinets as they are absorbant and do not
break off and stick to the pads easily. The local music stores do sell
powder paper or cleaning paper (if I remember the name correctly) by Yamaha
but its too expensive.
As for the bass, I usually hv to resort to using my polishing cloth to dry
it out :-)
Yours sincerely,
Loh
tlloh@-----.com