Klarinet Archive - Posting 000195.txt from 1998/02

From: ROBERT HOWE <arehow@-----.net>
Subj: Re: klarinet-digest V1 #639
Date: Thu, 5 Feb 1998 04:41:31 -0500

>
>Ryan Lowe wrote: I am interested in learning (hands-on, as I have read several >books) how to
>repair woodwinds.....They stated that it is bad to do professional level
>repair work and play at the same tim. This person says that when you start
>doing repair work, you pull musles, tendons, etc... and that is not good
>for one's playing. .....P.S. I can already repair just about _any_ instrument in >a fix (pads,leaks, springs, cracks, etc...), given enough bubble gum and duct >tape:) I am talking about repairs like: cutting tone holes, sealing cracks (well),
>adjusting tuning, etc...

What Horseshit! Repairing, tuning, voicing a fine woodwind, except at
the most elementary level (putting corks on a tenon, for ex.) is more
done with the mind and the fine processes of the hand and eye, than with
the muscles of the back. It isn't like shoveling coal on the Titanic.
Even were this not so, would your advisor tell you not to ski, or to
work-out at the Gym, for fear of hurting your playing?

THe best oboe "repairman" in the US right now is John Symer of suburban
Philly, who spends as much time playing as he can--professionally, and
very,very well.

Unless you play well, your repairs will always be just repairs, because
you will only understand the object at an elementary level. Fine tuning
and voicing require intimate familiarity with how the horn feels.
Become a fine player, and a fine repairman, and you will have your shop
full of work every week. People will flock to seek your services--as
they do to John.

Robert Howe

   
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