Klarinet Archive - Posting 000173.txt from 1998/08

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Clarinet dislikes hot summer?
Date: Wed, 5 Aug 1998 09:14:06 -0400

At 12:24 AM 8/5/98 -0400, Martin Pergler wrote:
>>>>This repeats itself year after year. I happily play my clarinet
>1-3 hrs a day all year. No trouble. Then I go to a music
>camp over the summer and play 6-8 hours a day for 2 weeks.
>A heat wave comes along (upper 90s, humid). My clarinet
>becomes very stuffy, hard to articulate in the clarion
>register, very sharp in the high B and C range, and the
>altissimo next to impossible to produce. No obvious leaks,
>pads appear reasonably well seated, the pinned crack does not
>appear to be opening up (all just layman's observations).
>Then a cold front goes through (with a doozy of a thunderstorm)
>and everything is marvelous again.
>
I suspect it is NOT you reed, given that you can play on other peoples'
clarinets OK. It is possible though, that in the heat, some difference in
expansion and contraction rates of metal and wood, and/or felt and bladder,
is causing one or more small leaks to develop. Check the trill keys and
ESPECIALLY check the A/Ab bridge on the throat. If the A pad swells, it
could lift the Ab key just enough to goof up the works if there is not any
slack in the adjustment screw.

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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