Klarinet Archive - Posting 000619.txt from 1999/12

From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Baloney is not only a slice of meat of questionable composition
Date: Sun, 19 Dec 1999 12:45:20 -0500

It has been close to a year since I posted anything of substance to the
Klarinet list. In fact, for a portion of that time, I have been off
the list occupied with other things, no offense intended. The list will
sometimes get into a "which reed" discussion that goes on endlessly and,
having seen this discussion on and off over the past five years, I feel
that there isn't much there to hold my attention. Clearly there are
those who are vitally interested in that topic and I have no business
suggesting that the topic be dropped simply because I'm tired of it.

But it now appears that a lot of good work done by some solid and
thoughtful professionals in the past (many of whom are still on the
list) has, somehow, been swept under the rug of time. New people are
on board and they cannot be faulted for not knowing that some topics
have been beaten to death on multiple occasions with important and
valuable pieces of information communicated through those beatings.
Many of us have the lash marks as testiment to the severity of those
beatings.

Several of these issues came up in postings of the last few days alone
and it is worth a moment to look underneath the specifics to find the
general area of clarinet knowledge (or lack thereof) involved.

One point that came up was that a music store suggested that a barrel
had to be wood not composite. For a person in the music store
business, that's a reasonable position to take. He or she may never
have played a clarinet and is certainly unaware of the many
arguments posed on this list about whether or not the material out
of which the clarinet is made has ANYTHING to do with the quality,
character, pitch, nature, or "niceness" of the sound that is pro-
duced; i.e., Stanley Drucker would still sound great if he played
on a clarinet made of twice-baked Hostess Cupcake batter, though this
is probably a slight exaggeration.

Mind you, I'm not suggesting that these arguments are true or false,
only that they are the subject of intense analysis by some of the
best minds in clarinet playing and it behooves anyone who is very
serious to know the state of these arguments if for no other reason
than chewing out a music store owner who suggests a wooden barrel
out of ignorance. (The music store owner may be right, but his
comments are not necessarily either techincal truth or even good
sense. Sometimes his arguments are engineered by how much profit
s/he will make on a particular sale.)

The same things are true with respect to the repairperson who made
some fairly outrageous statements to a student sent there by a
responsible teacher. Except in the rare case of a repairperson who
is a qualified clarinetist, most such people are experts in repairing
something that is broken, not in the physics of sound production, nor
are they necessarily repositories of the most current thinking about
clarinets and clarinet playing. Being able to replace a pad with
consummate excellence and superb craftsmanship doesn't necessarily
mean that this person knows diddly squat about how to place middle C
or which mouthpiece should be used under what circumstances.

Among the ideas that are still perpetuated by non performers (and to
no small extent by performers, too) are the ideas of:

1. instrumental blow out as a technical truth
2. medium of manufacture of the clarinet must be wood
3. manufacturer must be French
4. manufacturer must be a specific French company
5. maker of the reed must be French
6. there are national sound characteristics
7. specific kinds of oils must be used on a clarinet
8. specific kinds of oils must not be used on a clarinet
9. there is something called "that nice dark sound"
10. it doesn't matter if you play something written for
C clarinet on an A clarinet, something written
for A clarinet on a B-flat clarinet, and something
written for D clarinet on a tenor sax or accordion.

and on and on and on.

The problems that I read about in only the last few days are those
that fall into these general areas. And those who are plagued by them
would be helped if they realize that, for all of them, there has not
yet been a technical truth that established for any of them. They
may be true, but if so, it's by accident.

If someone suggests that "blah-blah-blah is needed for a clarinet,"
the first reaction should be positive interest, and the second reaction
should be one of asking what technological theory supports the
suggestion.

For example, a student goes into a music store and says, "I want to
buy a clarinet." The clerk says, "I have this very nice wooden
clarinet from China." The student should then ask, "why wood?,"
"why China?," "why nice?," "why very nice?," "why do YOU have it?,"
"please give me the names of five people who have bought such an
instrument because I'd like to ask their opinions," "who imports
this instrument into the [name of country]", "is your profit
greater on this instrument than on a comparable one of plastic made
in Czechoslovakia?," "does it come with a free mouthpiece and why
should I use it?" and finally, "what if I decide that I don't
like it after 7 years -- can I get my money back?"

The student will probably be thrown out of the music store on his/her
head and that is the very best thing that could possibly have happened
to that student because his/her music teacher really suggested the
purchase of a metal Buescher.

Moral: be sceptical of EVERYTHING you hear about the clarinet and
clarinet playing. Some of it is probably true. Some of it is
certainly true. And a lot of it is based on unfounded beliefs
that have no validity but do have a lot of word-of-mouth
propogation, which most of us take to be technical truth.

I am now going back into sleep mode where only I know technical
truth. Anyone who states the contrary is in for big time
trouble. Remember that, for a short time, I was the best
basset horn player in Los Altos, CA. But then another guy
moved into town. Sigh.

--
Dan Leeson
leeson0@-----.net

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