Klarinet Archive - Posting 000779.txt from 1999/11

From: "Leslie Schultz" <mewsic@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Playing on trees?
Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 01:25:31 -0500

> >"all of a sudden it went dead"

This sounds very familiar to problems I've been having with my clarinet
over the past few months. It does this very rarely, though, and not at all
consistently (in regard to the length of time the instrument was played on
before it "died"). It never affects the lower register, but when I go over
the break, it will be very resistant. After about 3-4 minutes of this (the
tone still sounds fine, though, no stuffiness), it will start to squeak.
Once it squeaked all the way from the third line B to the C above the staff.
It usually affects only a few notes, though. When I check the pads, they
all seem to be sealing fine, and none of the screws are too tight. I've had
several people try playing on my clarinet with their setup just to be sure
that it wasn't me, and they had the same problems. Like I said, this
happens very rarely, so I didn't think much of it until the 4th line D
started squeaking on me _in the audition room during the first round of
All-State auditions_. If I slurred to the D, it would be just fine, but if
I articulated it, it would squeak, and there weren't any embouchure
adjustments I could make to correct it. I took it to the shop last week,
and the technician noticed that the bridge key and the left hand rings were
slightly bent, so he replaced them, but I have my doubts that that would
cause that problem, since when I played a C, C#, D#, or E, the notes would
come out perfectly fine. My teacher suggested that I loosen the adjustment
screw on the throat Ab key (there was very little play between the A and the
Ab keys), but everyone's pretty stumped. By the grace of God I passed on to
2nd round, but I'm having nightmares about the same disaster happening in
the audition room. My clarinet hasn't done it since 1st round, but it only
did it once every month or so, so I'm not convinced the problem has been
solved. If anyone has any ideas to what went wrong, they would be VERY
appreciated, I can't afford a new instrument right now. Sorry this has been
so long, I just wanted to be thorough...
Thanks,
Leslie

Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

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