Klarinet Archive - Posting 000262.txt from 1999/05
From: "Ed Maurey" <edsshop@-----.ca>
Subj: Re: [kl] C clarinet
Date: Sun, 9 May 1999 00:16:53 -0400
Dan,
I adored your tale of the stupid conductor and, perhaps, even stupider
clarinetist. It reinforced my own predjudices...and that always feels
good.
I've played C clarinets for many years. I'm on my third specimen. I
started using a C out laziness. I was, perhaps, too dumb to realize that
it branded me as a dummie and was, blissfully unaware that my betters were
snickering at me behind my back. I use that little guy all the time and
have gradually got damned good at it. A C is quite different from a
"real" clarinet and at first can be baffling to its player. It demands
alot of practice but, eventually, it becomes a very satisfying instrument
to play.
The makers of C's can be VERY sloppy. It's almost as though the have their
apprentices make the as a "learning experience". I've always ended up
doing a lot of extensive modifications on them to get them to play in tune.
They've certainly been a "learning experience" for me.
Ed Maurey
----------
> From: Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: RE: [kl] C clarinet
> Date: Saturday, May 08, 1999 6:45 PM
>
> > From: MX%"klarinet@-----.92
> > Subj: [kl] C clarinet
>
> > 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.
>
> I would run into him from time to time but I never spoke to him about
> it mostly because he is not very intelligent. It broke my heart when
> I came to realize that clarinet players (who I had always thought were
> intellectually and musically superior to any other human beings on the
> planet) were, in fact, not much different from other people. They just
> had a peculiar talent that somehow combined their fingers, tongues,
> and musical intellect into a particular bundle of goods. But this guy
> was really stupid. So telling him that he was a class A putz would not
> have been useful. One has to be intelligent to benefit from being called
> an idiot. And this poverty stricken intellect is still one of America's
> best clarinet players (and in that arena - i.e., mechanical ability -)
> still demands and gets my respect.
>
>
> >
> > 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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> =======================================
> Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
> leeson@-----.edu
> =======================================
>
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