Klarinet Archive - Posting 000609.txt from 1998/08

From: "MARY A. VINQUIST" <kenshaw@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Leblanc reps
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1998 21:15:56 -0400

In a recent posting, Mark Charette said:

>>This doesn't mean every Opus plays the same as every other Opus, every
>>Concerto the same as every other Concerto, or every Concerto the same a=
s
>>every Opus. There are a host of variables from clarinet to clarinet. Yo=
u
>>like your instrument - that's great. But it doesn't change the facts as=

>>presented by Leblanc (unless 3 of their reps are wrong).

Unfortunately, my experience is that Leblanc reps are almost always wrong=
=2E =

I've been to half a dozen clarinet congresses/fests/workshops, and at eve=
ry
one the Leblanc reps have been non-players who were uninformed,
uninterested and anxious for it to be over. Worse, they have brought an
incomplete range of instruments in poor condition. =

A few years ago at Virginia, they brought a paperclip contrabass that had=

an unplayably soft reed and keys so bent that the instrument wouldn't pla=
y
at all. I spent 10 minutes bending the keys back to the proper position
and another 10 minutes clipping the split reed back with a fingernail
clipper and carving it into a playable shape. I asked the reps how they
could bring an unplayable instrument to a convention of clarinet teachers=

who would be deciding whether to recommend them. They said they had take=
n
this same display to dozens of music conventions, that nobody had tried t=
he
contra, and that they just never thought of doing anything else for the
clarinet convention.

This year, they brought, I think, only one bass and no Eb or BBb contras,=

very few student level clarinets, no alto, one basset horn, one C, no D a=
nd
two or three Ebs. They were unfamiliar with the differences between the
Opus, the Concerto and the Infinit=E9, and had no idea what the differenc=
e in
playing qualities was, or which model a Selmer or Buffet player might lik=
e.
I didn't hear even one of them play a note. When the horns were played
and put down in various places, they had trouble rearranging them. They
had very little literature and didn't offer it or restock the supplies. =

They couldn't answer even the simplest questions that were not part of
their sales pitch.

This was simply pitiful compared to the complete Buffet setup, with very
knowledgeable people and Fran=E7ois Kloc doing magical repairs and dispen=
sing
esoteric wisdom, or the warmth and knowledge of Luis Rossi, Steve Fox and=

the Wurlitzer, Hammerschmidt, Howarth and Patricola people.

Did anybody else have the same experience?

Ken Shaw

-------------------------------------------------------------------------