Klarinet Archive - Posting 000266.txt from 1998/07

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Larry Combs (LC1) for beginners?
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 23:41:58 -0400

At 02:42 PM 7/11/98 EDT, Gary L. Smith wrote:
>I have a similar problem with a band director who just gets to a certain
>time of year and - *boom* - it's time for every clarinetist to be on a
>#3 reed. No consideration of progress with the embouchure, what
>mouthpiece they're using, or for that matter what brand of reed they're
>using. He's a sax player, so he should know better... I've gained a lot
>of experience with telling a student to follow my lead, not his/her band
>director's, but it's still a ticklish situation. You have to be
>diplomatic, but I find that if you don't, you'll be thrown off course on
>a regular basis.
>
This sort of ignorance appalls me, but unfortunately it does so on a
regular basis as I travel around to schools. The same sort of knuckleheads
insist upon huge brass mouthpieces that beginning students can't handle
with the same false expectations. I know of one who is specifying that we
provide beginners with rental trumpets equipped with Bach 1C mouthpieces,
more or less the equivalent of specifying Vandoren B45's and #4 reeds!
Frankly, I think if a student is taking private lessons, the matter should
be left in that teacher's hands. Everyone else should be started on
middle-of-the-road mouthpieces and conservatively chosen (fairly soft)
reeds and worked upwards, not at all quickly, in accordance with INDIVIDUAL
embouchure development. Of course, that's easy for ME to say. But the
general desire to push everyone to play on 2x4's under the misguided notion
that each 1/2 step up in reed strength will make them 1/2 step better
players has no doubt frustrated and discouraged many potential musicians.

For the record, I still generally play on Vandoren 2 1/2 or Mitchell
Lurie/Zonda 3, except on my O'Brien OB+, for which I have some ancient
Symmetricut 4's that seem to work best, proving that, even for one
individual, one strength is not the answer. It is just one component of
the whole setup.

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html
ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.

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