Klarinet Archive - Posting 000855.txt from 1998/12

From: Tony Pay <Tony@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] The Bb sounds different
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1998 08:20:23 -0500

In message <8203-36807609-2962@-----.net>
CB270@-----.net (D S) wrote:

> ...can the procedure of taking it off and using the spring to clean
> the vent be done by a novice or does it need to be done by a
> professional? How often do these get dirty?

You don't need to use the spring to clean the vent -- it's just that I
usually do, because it's conveniently *there*, and a bit better than the
screwdriver for hooking out the detritus.

You certainly don't need to be a professional, but you do usually need a
screwdriver to get the key off:-)

I think in general, people are a bit too worried by the idea of doing
things to their clarinet, in case they cause damage. In my experience,
it's very rare to do anything to a clarinet that can't be put right.

Even damage to the edge of a tone hole under a pad can be repaired. The
idea may make our toes curl, and it's *certainly* worth while avoiding
doing it, but it's not the end of the world if it happens. *Serious*
damage, of course, might need professional attention, but it's always
possible in principle.

People put up with things like dirty toneholes because they're scared to
fool around with the instrument. Courage, mes amis!

Apropos this, Roger Shilcock was saying that he couldn't use the
resonant fingerings for open G because that made the note unacceptably
flat on his instrument. Now, open G is sometimes OK in sound quality
anyway, and perhaps Roger doesn't miss the resonance fingerings.

But open G is a note that you can sharpen or flatten yourself without
affecting anything else on the instrument much, if at all. And the
other throat notes, G#, A and A#, can all be on the sharp side without
affecting much else. Moreover, if you oversharpen them, you can flatten
them again quite easily. I have a small, specially designed knife in my
toolkit that I use if I really need to undercut a hole, and wax to do
the reverse.

I once had to do a tour in Italy, alternating cold churches and sharp
pianos with ordinary heated concert halls, playing, among other things,
the Brahms op 120 no. 1. I carried around a short barrel, a little wax
candle and a cake of special thick wax, and spent a few minutes before
the rehearsal at each venue organising that the throat notes were within
acceptable reach, so I could be comfortable with the piano in the
evening. And *I'm* no great shakes as a technician.

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE GMN family artist: www.gmn.com
tel/fax 01865 553339

"'Tis with our judgments as our watches, none
Go just alike, yet each believes his own."

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