Klarinet Archive - Posting 000232.txt from 1998/02

From: Roger Garrett <rgarrett@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: Was it elitism...?
Date: Thu, 5 Feb 1998 04:42:08 -0500

On Wed, 4 Feb 1998, Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu wrote:
> There was a young person who came on the list only last week who
> said that she had to have a wooden clarinet, assuming that
> whatever problems she was having were due to the plastic nature
> of her instrument. Well, with that attitude, who knows if she would
> achieve anything if she got a wooden clarinet.
>
> This last case was not an example of elitism on her part because
> she did not know, but the party who suggested it to her could be
> so accused. How did he or she know what this young student needed?
> Was it simply a rejection of her equipment because of the material
> that was used to make it?
>
> That's worse than elitism. It borders on the same kind of thinking
> as racisim where only an external appearance is deemed to be
> important.

Unfortunately, this posting does not include some pertinent information
regarding that young person's request. She included some examples of
instruments that she was considering and those examples included prices,
thus, providing us with some idea of her price range. While some
assumptions were made, the suggested clarinets were an attempt by many to
help her answer her question - both the question about what wood clarinet
to purchase and if the ones she had considered were worth getting. Many
of us do not feel comfortable trying to convince a young person to change
their entire viewpoint of materials.....especially since we already know
that the current plastic clarinets manufactured, Greenline excepted, do
not play as well as the majority of good quality wood ones. This could be
for a variety of reasons that Dan and Jack already mentioned - such as
that the intensity of manufacturing quality is not as good....blah blah
blah. The bottom line is that this young lady was looking for a wooden
horn. We answered her question.

If a person walks into a car showroom and asks for a metal car, even if
the salesperson believes that the Corvette, the Lumina APV, or some other
plastic vehicle will serve her needs, he can suggest he consider those
particular brands (which Dan did not do in his post to the young lady), or
he could try to help the person find the car he wants in a metal.

That there is no difference in materials has been argued. That there is a
considerable difference in the current plastics vs. good intermediate and
pro-line woods is a fact. If one wants to attribute the difference to
workmanship.....so be it. But.....to accuse members of the list who tried
to help the young person find a horn that met HER criteria is not elitist,
nor is it the same kind of thinking as racism. It's a CLARINET - not a
person......there are not races involved here.....and to suggest that is
purely hogwash.....not to mention sensational style writing!!

Roger Garrett
IWU