Klarinet Archive - Posting 000560.txt from 1998/09

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] swabs
Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 02:08:48 -0400

I think the wisdom of leaving the swab in the case, bunched up, spread out
over the clarinet, etc. depends on the climate. I'm still playing the wooden
Conn my father bought for me new in 1958. As a kid, in a dry part of Northern
California, I always left the swab in the case. I think the damp, slowly-
drying swab helped protect my clarinet, the same way a Dampit in the case
protects a violin. In 1975, I moved to the Washington, D. C. area, where the
climate is completely different. In the dry winters, I still leave the swab
in the case. (Those old Conn cases have generous open storage wells, so the
swab lies loose instead of bunching up.) In the swampy summers, I dry the
swab over the back of a chair overnight. Although I've got no scientific
evidence that these habits do any good, my old stick is still in excellent
condition after all these years.

One way to survive with less than top-quality equipment is to care for it as
if it were the best. I still oil the keys on the first of the month and the
wood (black and undyed) on a 4th of July and New Year's schedule. My grade
school band teacher frequently held clarinet mouthpiece inspections. If any
kid took off the reed to reveal a slimy cootie kennel, this teacher would make
a great drama of displaying the mouthpiece at arm's length overhead with one
hand while holding his nose with the other hand. Then he would double over and
pantomime barfing into the lap of the guilty party. Of course a grade school
band found this scene hilarious, so the tactic backfired to some extent when
certain boys began to compete for the filthiest mouthpiece; but for me, the
dread of ridicule inspired a permanent habit. I still brush my teeth before I
play, rinse the mouthpiece and reed(s) afterwards, and wash out the swab once
a week. Thanks to that teacher, my 40-year-old clarinet never has had a
buildup of gunk in the tone holes, and the case doesn't stink, in contrast to
the cases of the "vintage" saxes I've bought recently that required major
salvage because they smelled like something died in there.

Lelia
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If down his throat a man should choose,
In fun, to jump or slide,
He'd scrape his shoes against his teeth,
Nor dirt his own inside.
--Edmund Cannon
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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