Klarinet Archive - Posting 000443.txt from 2000/02

From: Shouryu Nohe <jnohe@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Break in Period
Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2000 00:05:41 -0500

On Wed, 9 Feb 2000 SoulClarinetAdam@-----.com wrote:

> The top player in my Windensemble plays a greenline, and I've listen to my
> R-13, and others, and i think the tone, and articulation is a little better,
> i'm not saying that i'm better than her, she awesome, but my tone just sounds
> better, i don't know why. I'm not ditching the Greenline either, i would have
> prefered that one, because the R-13 put a large hole in my wallet so-to
> speak, and well now that i think about it, i don't think there is a large
> difference....of course i could be wrong, a majority of the time a I am.

I think it could be either or. It could very well be the players in this
case, or simply preference in tone. I play a '97 Greenline, my
roommate, who is a year behind me, plays a 25+ year old R13. When I first
got my Greenie, he and I sat down and did the comparison. This is what we
found back then.

Except for one particular twelfth (a/e2: sharp), my horn was better tuned.

There was no notable weight difference that we could detect.

Resistance was equal until the altissimo, where his resistance lessened.

The tone quality of my instrument was better.

Now, several factors have to be taken into account here. His altissimo
was better, but primarily because he had his register tube adjusted. He
said my altissimo was exactly as his had been before having his R13
refurbished and adjusted. As for tone - that's tough. I was a sophomore,
and he was a freshman. But conversely, he had taken lessons from a student
of our prof in high school, where I had no private instruction until my
arrival at NMSU. We were both using the same strength reeds, same
ligatures, and both using Gennusa GE's.

Perhaps I simply have a better horn. That doesn't mean the Greenline is
better than the standard. It means that MY GL is better than HIS
standard. Or perhaps his horn had weakened with age, despite its recent
refurbishing. Then perhaps we had perfectly equal horns, or his horn had
at one time been better than my GL.

It's now a little over two years later.

He usually has better tone than I do, throughout the horn. He sounds far
better in the altissimo than I, but other than that, our sounds are
just about identical (even though he has changed mpcs; he plays an LC1
now). When we play in unison, the only time it doesn't sound like a
clarinet is when I play a low A or clarion E and forget to compensate.
(He knows his horn better than I know mine, he's had his far long than I
mine.)

But wait, aren't I the older student? Why do I sit second to him? Didn't
I have better tone quality at one point?

Yes - I did, but probably not because of the horn. I had been
clarinetting my brain out for nearly three semester when we did the
comparison. Now he's been clarinetting his brains out for just over 5
semesters. After my fourth semester, I've been allowed to lessen my
clarinet dose and add more bass clarinet and E flat clarinet and saxophone
and piano. Meanwhile, he's added clarinet, some clarinet, and a little
clarinet. (He's been picking up the harmony sticks on his own, but hasn't
studied them; same with sax.)

Does my spreading myself out constitute an excuse? Nah. Perhaps I'm
slacking, too. But then again, he turned in seven labs four days AFTER
the semester ended. So I think we're even. *grin*

Once again I say - it's probably more the player than the horn!
(But hey, I could be wrong.)

J. Shouryu Nohe
http://web.nmsu.edu/~jnohe
Professor of SCSM102, New Mexico State Univ.
"If I wanted a 'job,' I'd have gone music ED, thank you very much!"

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