Klarinet Archive - Posting 000807.txt from 1999/02

From: "Fernando Silveira" <fernando1@-----.br>
Subj: Re: [kl] Clarification/was Bay cost
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1999 04:39:30 -0500

Hi Mr. Pine and Roger.
I have been reading all that stuff about mouthpieces and some questions came
to my mind.
We, clarinet players, have a lot of information about the new improvments
made on clarinets accustics, ligatures, reeds, keywork design, etc.
I have been thinking, and I am sorry about my ignorance, why coustons
mouthpieces still are made at the same manner of 20 years ago?? I mean, why
computers and all that eletronic stuff don't help us to get better
mouthpieces.
Several of us could had the expirience to try a lot of "same model"
mouthpieces that sounds completely diferent. I realy don't believe, whith
the process we have today, that any clarinetmaker can "label" one mouthpiece
with a model name - because you can try 10 of that "same model" and each one
will be diferent.
Today I play with a Morgan mouthpiece that, for me, works terrific. I dream
with the day that I could find one mouthpiece that I like so much and could
make 10 copies - for the day its break.

All the best

Fernando
Fernando Silveira
Principal Clarinet - National Symphony - Brazil
Clarinet Professor - Rio de Janeiro University
fersilv@-----.br
Phone (55)(21) 613-4229
Fax (55)(21)716-2248
-----Mensagem original-----
De: James Pyne <jpyne@-----.edu>
Para: klarinet@-----.org>
Data: Sábado, 20 de Fevereiro de 1999 00:53
Assunto: [kl] Clarification/was Bay cost

>I was under the impression that this forum was not for the purpose of
>promotion or advertising. However I must respond to statements made by
>Roger Garrett, in support of his own work, about the mouthpieces I design
>and produce in our family business, Pyne/Clarion Inc.
>
>>The Bb's I make cost $35 - and they are hard rubber -
>>same blanks Jim Pyne uses - and his sell for $170.
>
>Pyne/Clarion Signature mouthpieces are not re-faced blanks as Mr. Garrett
>implies. The bores (~M, Pk, Jx, Bn, Bc) of the Signature mouthpieces I
>produce are cut/reamed at my studio workshop here in Columbus. Additionally
>the tone chamber, windway and baffle are hand-filed and finished to work
>optimally with each given bore shape. The specially shaped reamers I use
>for the different bores are of my own design and, to the best of my
>knowledge, unique. Also unique are hand-finishing processes (and tools)
>used to complete the dimensions of the tone chambers. It is very difficult
>to imitate all of this. So unless Mr. Garrett has completed successful
>measurements (a daunting task in itself), duplicated my tooling and taught
>himself how to use it, he cannot, as he implies, provide equivalent
>products. If someone tells a clarinetist, like Mr. Garrett, that Pyne has
>gotten his raw blanks from "so and so" (and I have gotten them from many
>sources) it doesn't say much about Pyne mouthpieces --- except that they
>are produced from hard rubber.
>
>>Granted, he skews the rails and the feel is different,
>
>I believes that by "skews" Mr. Garrett means producing an asymmetrical
>facing. While it is fairly easy to put on a conventional facing the
>asymmetrical type is quite difficult to apply. For many years I have
>explored and documented asymmetrical facings. It is not commonly known, but
>true, that both Harold Wright and Robert Marcellus played asymmetrical
>facings.(I personally measured the mouthpieces of these players many years
>ago, Marcellus in his first years at Northwestern and Wright at the
>Marlboro Festival).
>
>>but the bottom line? It takes 20 minutes to make a great mouthpiece from a
>>finished blank.
>>Scott Wright told me that Pyne made 5 mouthpieces for him to try during a
>>one hour
>>lesson when he was at Michigan!
>
>Yes, I can face at least 10 mouthpieces in an hour. I've been at this for
>so many years that I can do it quickly... even with asymmetrical facings.
>However the preparation of the bore, chamber etc. takes a great deal of
>time. When I work in the studio with a performer (or my own students) the
>bulk of the work has already been done. For example, the last time Ricardo
>Morales was here we adjusted 15 or so mouthpieces in about three hours. (It
>is out of those sessions that the Bel Canto model has come). All of those
>mouthpieces were completed (bored, chambered, playable facing etc.,
>requiring many, many hours of work), BEFORE Ricardo arrived and we began
>making delicate adjustments.
>
>Almost all mouthpiece "makers" really re-face blanks. Facing mouthpieces
>and making baffle adjustments are straightforward tasks that can be done
>quickly, as by the Zinner (and other) blank enthusiasts. This should not be
>confused with a more comprehensive approach that requires machining and
>hand-finishing of the critical internal dimensions of the mouthpiece (bore,
>tone-chamber, windway, ramp etc.) as well as the facing and baffle. I do
>not use Zinner blanks. Scribed on each of my Signature mouthpieces is a
>letter set that describes its unique bore/chamber shape (~M, Pk, Jx, Bn,
>Bc). All of these internal-shape models are in use by very prominent
>clarinetists and have thereby "proven" their ability to support a high
>level of artistry. The variety of bore/chamber configurations, along with a
>broad range of both asymmetrical and symmetrical facings, has provided
>exceptional versatility in meeting the individual physical and artistic
>needs of a large number of clarinetists.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>---Jim Pyne
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>James Pyne
>Clarinet Studio/Research Group
>School of Music
>The Ohio State University
>1866 College Road
>Columbus, Ohio 43210
>pyne.1@-----.edu
>Tel: 614 292 8969
>Fax: 614 292 1102
>http://www.arts.ohio-state.edu/Music/Clarfest
>
>
>
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