Klarinet Archive - Posting 000703.txt from 1999/01

From: TOM RIDENOUR <klarinet@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Ridenour's ratings
Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1999 10:53:15 -0500

>Tom Ridenour has offered some very thoughtful, authoritative, informed
>ideas on the design and performance of a number of professional model
>clarinets. However, one of particular interest has not yet been
>mentioned. OK, Tom, now that you can't be accused of [much] prejudice,
>as the unchallenged authority on it, what is your evaluation - good and
>bad - of the Leblanc Opus?
>
>Bill Edinger
>
>
Okay, Bill,
You've thrown down the gauntlett.....so here goes.
At Leblanc we knew we needed an instrument that would have similar
resonance and playing features to the R-13 in order to get a hearing on the
American market.
I had played the R-13 a long time and worked with it and had only recently
found that some other models, though not having certain of the R-13
virtues, did some things much better and with much greater security and
ease than the R-13.
What I hoped to do was not throw out the baby with the bathwater; that is,
I tried to retain the good parts of the R-13 style clarinet while
correcting or improving some things that seem to me chronic weaknesses in
the model.
I did nothing original except combine a few things that were already there,
and I am proud of the results. After all, Ricardo Morales won his Met job
with an Opus clarinet. And many other players have proven it to be a
worthy instrument.
The Opus has higher placement of the register tube like the Festival and
RC, and it really eliminate the left hand F-C, E-B spread found in the R-13
and other clarinets which locate the speaker tube lower on the bore.
Again, this is not news. For a decade and a half Lee Gibson periodically
wrote in The Clarinet that the speaker of the R-13 needed to be higher to
correct left hand ratio spread. He was right.
Next, I tried to get the instrument to play more instantly over the middle
break, eliminate the stuffy bell "B" as much as possible, and produce
rounder upper clarion tones which were more stable in tone shape and
tuning, have a softer, more gentle and purer tone color, and play with
more matched resistance and security in response over the high break.
Of course, each clarinet is unique, but generally, I think those things
were achieve pretty well, acoustically speaking.
The end result was not a copy of an R-13, but an instrument that had its'
own voice and some features that could be pointed to as clear improvements,
especially in the area of playability and eliminating harshness in the
upper register.
The Opus has a more direct sound than the Concerto, and over all, I prefer
the Concerto, but they are essentially identical acoustically; but the
cosmetic differences apparently have an acoustical affect.
Subjectively speaking, I ultimately judge an instrument on how much freedom
and security it gives me and how much fun it is to play. I just loved
playing the Concerto and Opus, and I was really pleased when others told me
that such was their own experience . Playing the R-13 for me was always
work.
I recall a player who had a very good R-13 called me and told me he had
bought a Concerto and traded in his R-13. Several weeks later he came to
Kenosha to work with me on some pedagogical issues. When I met him he told
me that when I traded his R-13 that he, honestly, could see little
difference in the clarinets; he thought they were close. But, he said, it
was only when he got home and played the Concerto for a week, going
through all the things he had worked on previously, that he really saw what
a great improvement the Concerto was over his previous clarinet; and I
played his previous clarinet....it was a good horn.
I could see how happy he was about how much more fun and less work the
clarinet was to play. That, and other experiences similar, were my big
rewards.
The weak parts of the Opus/ Concerto which remain are common to the R-13
style small bore, 17 key, 6 ring clarinet: the spread of the right hand
12th, E-B, F-C, to one degree or another, and a somewhat low high "F".
Otherwise, I thought and think it is a wonderful clarinet, and I am very
proud of the work we did.
The only correction I know of that is completely effective for correction
of the right hand 12ths is to add vent holes, a la some Selmer Recital
clarinets; The Signature has the best right hand 12ths of any 17 key, 6
ring clarinet I have ever seen. It's kind of amazing to me in that regard;
still there is a slight spread, but they have reduce a commonly 15 or 20
cent spread down to as little as 5 cents on some.
Regarding the Leblanc clarinets, I am most proud of the Sonata and Esprit.
Kids who play those will have instruments which will help them develop
rapidly, because they play so securely and tune so well. Professionals
will always tough it out, but kids really need stuff that works and is
unquirky.
If clarinets are fun and easy to play it will ensure that kids continue to
play the clarinet. Make them quirky and hard to play, I don't care how
good you might be able to "make" them sound, they will end up in the closet
after the kid's senior year in high school.
It has always been my goal to make things work well and securely, so
clarinetists can experience greater joy, and the freedom other
instrumentalist commonly possess as a consequence of mastery.
I was really grateful to Leblanc for the opportunity to share this view,
which is really part of a larger philosophy, on such a large scale. But
now I am glad to be doing the same thing one to one; working with people
one to one and understanding that I have in some way made their lives a
little easier and happier is a big part of the reward I experience; but I
think most all of us are like that.
I don't know if that answers your questions, but I hope it does, at least
in part. I guess I could say more, but its' late and my brain is in
meltdown.
tom

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