Klarinet Archive - Posting 001433.txt from 1999/03

From: TOM RIDENOUR <klarinet@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: Mouthpiece making is not a black art
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 12:43:31 -0500

>Clark Fobes wrote:
><I just don't agree with the "luck" part, Dave. You may find that if you
>begin to make careful measurements of what you are doing you will eliminate
>the happenstance which you perceive as luck.

ETC.
For all who read this post of Clarks, I will throw my two cents in and say
that Clark is absolutely right. The mouthpiece is a whole thing, and the
various aspects of it are highly interdependent; change one and it affects
the whole.
That is why it takes great skill and discernment as a player and the
wholistic view of both a player and technician to do predictable,
consistent work, and to make what an individual might need and calculate
the result to a high degree.
That extra whatever that makes a stunning mouthpiece is sometimes a mystery
and not totally calculable; but high quality mouthpieces, made with great
perfection and understanding are things one can determine.......if they
have the skills.
As an addendum to Clark's excellent post I just might say, that without
true mastery of reeds, even a high skilled mouthpiece maker will lose
something of the consistency and objectivity of his work. The testing,
after all, determines what is done to finely adjust the mouthpiece and work
the final voicing. If reeds are a mystery you will be victimized by the
variability of the reed of the day.
I have my system of reed and mouthpiece finishing, and in fifteen years the
day I have been without great reeds to play I can count on one hand and
have fingers left over.
At the clarinet festival in Ohio I watched a university professor test
mouthpieces for several days. On the last day he played a number of mine.
Finally, he came over to me and said, "Tom, I think I've played every
mouthpiece in this exhibit area this week. And your mouthpieces are the
most consistent of any."
It's not an accident, and objective mastery of reeds (the only ultimate
means of testing and evaluating our work on mouthpieces) play a large part
in it.....and that part of it is certain no black art. It is a system, and
..............the system works.
Becoming a mouthpiece maker don't happen over night, and just coming to put
on a facing that "works" (whatever that might mean) is just scratching the
surface.
My take.
tom

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