Klarinet Archive - Posting 000877.txt from 1999/08

From: Gregory Smith <Gregory_Smith_Clarinet@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Re: WOOD MOUTHPIECES
Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 15:07:16 -0400

Thank you Cindy for you kind words.

In regard to your question, I do indeed use mouthpiece blanks mad=
e
by Hans Zinner of Bavaria in both hard rubber and hardwoods. I have sever=
al
sources for fine, aged exotic hardwoods. As mentioned on the first page o=
f
my website, after discovering the standard blank that he produces, I
continued further design and development with Zinner to produce a blank o=
f
my own design. I begin with it unfinished and then extensively hand work
each part (facing, bore, chamber, window, rails, beak, baffle, etc.) unti=
l
it evolves to the point that it is a finished mouthpiece.

My teacher, Robert Marcellus, along with other premiere
clarinetists of his day, played and championed Frank Kaspar mouthpieces o=
f
Chicago and Cicero. Once he related to me a conversation he had with Kasp=
ar
about the complexities of mouthpiece making. =

Kaspar told him that there are AT LEAST a dozen components to a
mouthpiece that are interdependent on one another in a most exquisite way=
.
Modifying just 1 of these components effects almost all of the others - t=
he
mouthpiece maker being similar to a juggler that is juggling a dozen ball=
s
in the air at once. =

Hand made mouthpieces require blending of both art (sculpting and=

playing) and science (acoustics) and is continually evolving. This is the=

formula that distinguishes them from machine made mouthpieces.

*********************
Gregory Smith

=

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

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org