Klarinet Archive - Posting 000723.txt from 1999/05

From: avrahm galper <agalper@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Support but blow gently
Date: Sun, 16 May 1999 02:05:56 -0400

Blowing out!

If something is made out of wood of any sort, chances are that within a
given time there will be changes.
The player warming up the clarinet, moisture entering the instrument,
the warmth.
Changes are bound to happen.
Few instruments are lucky not to change. Nothing the manufacturer can
guarantee.
After all, it still is a piece of wood.
As far as "blowing out"- I have seen some instruments lose their
characteristics simply by the way they were played. Mediocre reeds,
loud blowing, reedy kind of playing.
That certainly affects an instrument.

On the other hand there are players who can make a instrument play
better simply by the way they blow and "break in" the instrument.
It is legend that Harold Wright had a few sets of instruments at a time.
The newer ones he would break in very slowly to allow the wood to get
used to the humidity and all that goes with it
I remember quite awhile ago reading about a NY flutist's theory (I just
forget who it was) that the molecules in the material gets "unsettled"
with playing.
He advocated putting the flute in an oven ( he had a process for
that) and "setting" the molecules for good.
That was of course a metal flute. You wouldn't want to do this with a
wooden clarinet, molecules or not.
On most clarinets the top of the upper joint widens a bit with playing,
the dimensions change and that gives a "blown out" feeling.

I recently had such a thing corrected by sending the top joint of my
clarinet down to Guy Chadash in NY. He bored out the top of the upper
joint and inserted a plug.
Then he was able to rebore the instrument back to what it was
originally.
The clarinet worked like a charm.
I had been thinking of getting a new top joint but that was risky in
case the two joints didn't match.

The latest fad of this or that horn is exaggerated.
If the player doesn't have in his or her head the kind of sound he or
she want to produce, no new instrument is going to make that much of a
real change.
My friend, the late Yona Ettlinger, told me that if someone is played a
certain clarinet and got used to and plays well on it, they doesn't
have to change to another brand.

Support but blow gently

Avrahm Galper
CLARINET TONE TECHNIQUE AND STACCATO
CLARINET UPBEAT SCALES AND ARPEGGIOS
http://www.sneezy.org/avrahm_galper/index.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org