Klarinet Archive - Posting 000697.txt from 1998/10

From: James.P.Reed@-----.net (James P Reed)
Subj: Re: [kl] (no subject)
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 14:28:20 -0400

> James P Reed wrote, in part:
>
> > Anyways, the idea of a metal clarinet came to me from something I
> > can't find and may really have wrong in my memory. ... . Plus, I
> > like the idea of the social value tradeoffs between metal, wood,
> > and resonite that a kid would be faced with.
>
Jim O'Briant wrote:
> Environmental and social issues of that sort would have occurred to
> some elementary school age children in the late 1960's, but for
> such a consideration to matter to a child ten years earlier (unless
> a truly exceptional and very unusual child) would be an
> anachronism. The concept of chemistry and man-made materials having
> an impact on the world at large really came to the fore only with
> the publication of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring." I think that was
> published about 1960 -- I read it in high school in 1964.

I'm thinking more along the lines of social issues that have always
faced kids in one form or another: ridicule for having something not
popular (metal), shame over having to make do with something used, the
desire to have the latest and the newest (resonite or wood), etc. I may
be biased in thinking this but it seems such social issues are pertinent
and that I really didn't imply contemporary environmental issues. It's
the never-ending problem of knowing what I mean but never knowing how
it'll be interpretted when I put my thoughts into writing.

Thanks for helping me better focus and clarify what I intend to write
about this issue.

Jim Reed

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