Klarinet Archive - Posting 000071.txt from 1998/07

From: Alexis <jisa@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Beginners and Reeds, K. 622
Date: Sun, 5 Jul 1998 01:05:48 -0400

Jay Webler wrote:
>Back in my young ignorant years as a hight school clarinetist, I only used
standard Rico Reeds....I didn't know
>anything about reed care other than...At one time, during a tuning session in
an All State Band, the conductor stopped
>when I played my tuning note and said, "That's what a Clarinet should sound
like". I was also using a stock
>mouthpiece. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.
I would also like to thank you, and add my own comments. When I started
playing
clarinet, I didn't know much about reeds or anything, because I just picked it
up as a second instrument, on my own. I used the mouthpieces that came with
the
clarinets I owned--first a Yamaha plastic one, and then a Buffet E11--and
bought Ricos from a local store. I didn't adjust them at all--no clipping, not
even sanding when they warped (since I didn't know what warping was, anyway).
I don't believe I've ever been told I need to improve my tone (except as a
style adjustment), and I've been complimented many times, by fellow
clarinettists, my band director, and my teacher. I did eventually switch to
regular Vandorens and a Pyne mouthpiece borrowed from my teacher, and I
know it
helped, but I don't think it helped as much as people sometimes claim it does.

Ken Shaw mentioned his young nephew having problems with a setup and suggested
that minimal adjustments to the reed are useful. Perhaps they are. I wouldn't
know, since I don't use them. But there is going to be a huge difference
between an old dead Rico with a dirty mouthpiece and a new or slightly used
Vandoren on a clean mouthpiece, regardless of adjustment...

Tristan wrote:
<<Also; dare I speak the evil, try a little bit of vibrato on the dolce
sections, see if you like the
sound there... >>
Not evil precisely, but is vibrato in a Mozart clarinet concerto really
appropriate? It seems a bit anachronistic to me.

Alexis

------------ :-) --------------- :-) --------------- :-) ------------ :-)
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"After silence, that which comes closest to expressing the
inexpressible is music."
--Aldous Huxley

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