Klarinet Archive - Posting 000599.txt from 1998/10

From: "Don Yungkurth" <clarinet@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Silver Plated Clarinets
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 10:12:00 -0400

To add a few more bits of information to the metal clarinet discussions, I
started playing in about 1945 on a used ($27) "Cavalier" metal clarinet
from some factory in Elkhart. The intonation wasn't too bad and I played
on this instrument for quite a few years. I played first chair in my
senior year with this clarinet and the band leader had a small army of
clarinetists to pick from. Memory fails as to when I got my first wooden
instrument, probably in the 1970s.

At Penn State, in 1953, I auditioned for the Blue Band on this horn and
passed the audition. Fortunately (as I realized only later), they didn't
need clarinets at the time. I couldn't have afforded all the practice time
they required while studying engineering.

During my high school years (graduated in 1951) there were many metal
clarinets in use, probably the majority in our high school band. I don't
know how representative this was for that time, but my area, Scranton,
Pennsylvania, was not well off economically and the metal clarinets were
probably being recycled out of necessity. I certainly realized that there
were better instruments, but felt no stigma by playing metal.

Don Yungkurth (clarinet@-----.net)

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