Klarinet Archive - Posting 000755.txt from 1999/05

From: Roger Garrett <rgarrett@-----.edu>
Subj: RE: [kl] re: blow out
Date: Sun, 16 May 1999 18:08:01 -0400

At 12:18 PM 5/16/99 -0400, you wrote:
>> It is as if you were a physician and examined a patient and found
>> a ruptured aorta that caused the patient's death. And, as you
>> take the deceased to the cemetery, you see thousands of other graves.
>> So you say to yourself, "You see. All of these people had their
>> aortas ruptured, and this must be true because, like my patient, they
>> are all dead."
>
> No, this is a flawed analogy. The proper inference would be that
>since all the people are dead, that PEOPLE DIE! Well, clarinets blow out.
>Not all of them. Not at the same time. Not necessarily for the same
>causes.

Now this is an interesting perspective. Fred is making a very good attempt
at defining blowout as something that is represented by an instrument that
has changed so much in the course of its life that it is no longer the
instrument it was when it was in its prime. Therefore, if an instrument is
"dead" in terms of its response, its ability to hold pitch, its qualities
of projection, and its tone quality, than it is said to be blown out.

Perhaps defining the term is the best place to start.

Dan, what do you feel the term "blown out" means or refers to - at least in
the way you are discussing it or the lack thereof?
Roger Garrett
Professor of Clarinet
Director, Concert Band/Symphonic Winds/Titan Band
Advisor, Recording Studio
Illinois Wesleyan University
Office: (309) 556-3268
Fax: (309) 556-3411

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