Klarinet Archive - Posting 000537.txt from 1998/08

From: <SDSCHWAEG@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: Nasty question
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1998 12:38:44 -0400

Did anybody else see a PBS program called "The Music Tree"? -- It was about
African mpingo wood (which is apparently the same as grenadilla) and how it is
used to make musical instruments -- clarinets, oboes, and the finger boards on
string instruments. The program suggested that the trees today are subjected
to greater stresses from fires, which occur more frequently because many are
deliberately set to clear land for agriculture or whatever, whereas previously
there were only naturally occurring fires from lightning. The mpingo tree can
survive a fire because the wood is so dense, but the intense heat causes
changes in the wood that make it more vulnerable to cracking. There was a
truly startling shot of a clarinet bell that just suddenly exploded into
splinters as it was being shaped on a lathe. I'd love to get a copy of that
program -- I ran across it by accident, and didn't have my VCR set up to
record it.

Susan Schwaegler

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