Klarinet Archive - Posting 000707.txt from 1999/05

From: "Gary L. Smith" <garysmith@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] re: Blow Out
Date: Sat, 15 May 1999 18:12:54 -0400

At 01:45 PM 5/14/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Here is what David Hite says about Blow out. He gave me permission to post
it.

>Blow out. Various "principal clarinetists, and oboists" over the years
>have referred to the "high pitched" wooden woodwinds as becoming
>"blown-out". I personally have experienced it also. I don't believe it has
>anything to do with "measurements".
>It seems that after 8 to 10 years, the instrument no longer produces a
>"weighty tone" or maintains the "resistance" that is necessary in ideal
>orchestral or solo performance.
>On the other end, it takes some 6 to 8 months to get a good new instrument
>to "settle in" to an "middle period" of performance.
>Certainly, this is highly "subjective" on the part of various players.
>Lesser skilled players are likely not to experience this problem.

So I guess if you don't experience it... :-) Smells like "emperor's new
clothes" syndrome to me. His points about mouthpiece wear are well taken. I
have to question why someone who makes their living playing clarinet in an
orchestra will play a mouthpiece into the ground, but I think I know the
answer to that one - laziness (he calls it "aging embouchure"). Maybe I'm
being catty, but sometimes I have to wonder if it's the clarinets that blow
out, or the clarinetists. It's a poor workman who blames his tools.

-------------------------------------------

Gary Smith

garysmith@-----.com

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