Klarinet Archive - Posting 000370.txt from 1998/12

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] A question of Clarinet Preference
Date: Mon, 7 Dec 1998 10:13:46 -0500

On Sun, 6 Dec 1998, Carl Schexnayder wrote:

<cut text>

> Even aside from those listed, there are instruments like the Patricola,
> Rossi, Howarth, Peter Eaton, Bay, and I'm sure others that I'm not aware of
> that are fine instruments.

Does the "Bay" above refer to Charles Bay? I know he makes accessories,
but are you saying that he now designs whole instruments as well?

<further cut text>

> As a high school band director, I fully understand why band directors try to
> have everyone in the section play the same make and model instrument as well
> as the same mouthpiece, reed, ligature combination. It's because different
> brands have different idiosynchroncies, different pitch tendencies, tonal
> qualities, etc. and you want your section to be homogenous, to sound as one.

I would suspect that homogeneity of sound is not the primary reason
that many band directors are dogmatic about their students' instrument
of choice. The more likely explanation (to my mind) is that they wish
simply to recommend a brand and model which is preceeded by a reputation
for high quality with few major problems. If they recommend this same
brand and model to all of their students -- and then the students actually
follow his advice by obtaining one -- he can be reasonably certain that his
students are not afflicted with any serious mechanical or acoustical design
problems. I suspect that many high school band directors (and even into
college) are still ignorant of the new and varied alternatives which have
arisen to challenge the R-13. So they dutifully and dogmatically continue
to push the Buffet, paying no mind to whether or not that particular brand
is well suited to each of his individual students' unique preferences and
physical configurations. The teacher himself typically knows no better
than his students which clarinet is "best", so he talks to a local pro
in one of the orchestras (could be regional, could be the NY Phil) --
or perhaps the guy behind the counter at his local music shop -- and
adopts that person's recommendation as gospel, assuming that this
"authority" person has knowledge of such a sophistication as to be
interpreted as such.

<further cut text>

> But, if you know
> where you're going to college, you may want to find out what the clarinet
> teacher or band director considers acceptable.

This is not a suggestion I would offer anybody who is considering
majoring in music. If anything is coming 'round to full acceptance
these days in clarinet performance, it's the concept that the brand
of pro-model clarinet you play has very little to do with the quality
of your musicianship, or even your tone (despite the marketing hype).
A student should not base a purchase decision on what somebody else
thinks is "acceptable", but rather on the basis of what works best
for that particular student and based on knowledge of the properties
which are understood to be desirable in a clarinet. Without a sophist-
ication of knowledge about which properties are most desirable in a
clarinet, the private instructor is probably the next best resource,
and that instructor should not be prescriptive with his advice. Rather,
the teacher's role should be to educate the student about the intricacies
of instrument quality, guiding him/her based on professional experience.
There will be bias, and sometimes this is good and necessary, depend-
ing on how much or little the student already understands about what
makes a clarinet a "good" clarinet. My own college instructor, Don
Carroll of the San Francisco symphony, "saved me from myself" by
insisting that I buy one particular Buffet A clarinet over another
particular A clarinet (I was already settled on Buffet at the time),
because he knew that I was inexperienced and had the wrong idea about
what made one instrument better than the other. Years later, I real-
ized that I had acquired an incredible gem -- an A clarinet that I've
never seen matched by any other in my orchestral experience in terms
of ease of playing and evenness of tone. The point of this, however,
is that Don did not just say, "Buy this one. I'm telling you, so do
it because I say so." He explained in general terms, based on his
decades of professional experinece, which properties are most im-
portant in an A clarinet, and then asked, "Now, based on this infor-
mation, which instrument do you think is likely to serve you best
in the long run?" And I chose.

Neil

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