Klarinet Archive - Posting 000237.txt from 1999/05

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] C clarinet
Date: Sat, 8 May 1999 15:53:09 -0400

Dan Leeson wrote,
[snip]
>>Well, this fruitcake of a conductor called one of NY's most important
clarinetists and asked him why I needed a C clarinet and this SCHMUCK told
her to fire me because it was obvious I could not transpose. And I was fired
from the gig because of this mental midget (but wonderful
clarinet player) was using the same kind of logic that was reported on this
list just the other day.>>

...!! Just out of prurient curiosity, did you ever run into the mental
midget / wonderful clarinet player professionally after that? And if so,
what on earth did you say to him?

In your place, I'm afraid my thoughts might have dribbled down the gutters of
malice, through the cesspools of creativity, and into the toxic waste dump of
vengeance, where they would have started paddling around busily looking for
the sluice gate.

Jim Lande wrote,
>>OK, I am sold. I want one. Did anyone ever make a metal one. (Yeah, I am
a nut on metal clarinets.)>>

Yes, the 1932 Selmer catalogue offers the Master Model (Selmer's top pro
model at the time, not to be confused with the Buffet Master Model, which was
an intermediate model, or with several other companies' Master Models) in a
C-pitched metal version (along with Ab "high soprano," Eb soprano, Bb
soprano, A soprano, Eb alto, Bb bass, Eb contrabass and BBb contrabass). One
thing to beware of with Selmers, though, is that a "C" stamped on a metal
clarinet *might* refer to a finish option (silver-plated nickel silver), not
the pitch. My silver-plated soprano Selmer Barbier (the student model in the
1930s, when the Bundy was the intermediate model) is marked "C" just under
the serial number. (This is a 5-piece clarinet with the SN on the back, just
below the upper joint of the lower stack, above the thumb rest.) I assumed
when I bought it that I was getting a clarinet in C, but when I measured it
against my low pitch Bb H. Bettoney Silva-Bet, the Selmer Barbier is actually
a tiny bit longer, and therefore I'm pretty sure the Barbier is also a Bb. I
haven't play-tested it yet to be sure, though, because half the pads were off
when I bought it and I'm ashamed to say it's still sitting disassembled on
the workbench, exactly where it was when you saw it there, Jim! (And let's
not mention how long ago that was, shall we....) I've really got to get
organized....

Lelia
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Chaos often breeds life, where order breeds habit."
--Henry Adams, _The Education of Henry Adams_
(Makes a nice-sounding excuse, anyway....)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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