Klarinet Archive - Posting 001050.txt from 2000/02
From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Greg Smith is a Very Bad Man (was Eb Clarinets)
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2000 12:10:47 -0500
Erin Hart asked:
<<<I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about Eb Clarinets,(are there
many differences in playing them compared to Bb claris?) and which are the
best Eb clarinets to get, as I have heard people play ones that can be
really out of tune.>>>
Ah, the eefer (or eepher, if you prefer). This is a well-timed question, as
I have just acquired a bunch of eefer stuff; it's time I reported it to my
listmates. Before I get to that, though, some general thoughts (many of
which most of you have heard before -- sorry.)
The primary reason that most folks sound like dog doo on the little horn is
because they don't spend any time on it. No one would expect you to play
trumpet well just by picking it up a week before the concert -- but the
uninformed expect you to play a piccolo clarinet in tune without significant
practice? Stupid.
I play a *lot* of Eb. Much of my playing is in two wind ensembles, in which
I play Eb over half the time. After about ten years of this, I am almost at
the point where I feel my Eb playing is 70% of where I am at on the larger
horn. My point here is a simple one -- before you make any decisions on how
to spend a lot of money, you need to have enough playing time on the little
horn so that you can begin to make an intelligent decision.
There are a couple of wonderful resources for the emerging (and
accomplished) Eb player -- keyword here is "Peter Hadcock." Peter Hadcock
was the Eb player for the Boston Symphony for 25 years, and the Eastman Wind
Ensemble before that. He wrote an *excellent* excerpt book for the
instrument -- a must have for the fingering chart alone, which has about a
zillion special fingerings with instructions on where to use them. In
addition, he devotes a fair bit of his book "The Working Clarinetist" to the
instrument. Even if you *don't* play Eb, you should buy his book. It is a
wonderful book of excerpts with the answers in the margins. Run - don't
walk - to an online bookstore to get both as soon as you possibly can.
As far as equipment goes, I have a Buffet R13. While others have posted
success with other brands, the vast majority of professional Eb players use
this instrument -- even more so than the Bb. Mr. Hadcock's fingering chart
was written for this instrument; that alone should be a factor in your
purchase decision. With that said, however, I have head good things about
the Yamaha (basically that it is a very well-made Buffet clone, with some
tweaking) and the Patricola. As with everything else, you need to try the
instruments out critically (with a tuner and maybe a tape recorder) before
purchase -- but as I said before, get some proficiency first so that you
can begin to make an intelligent decision.
IMHO, the mouthpiece on an eefer is a more critical factor than for the Bb,
making it important indeed. A customer mouthpiece is almost a necessity.
I can't get a sound out of the Vandoren garbage that I tried. After an
extensive search, the only manufactured mouthpiece that I found was at all
acceptable was the Hite.
Now for the good stuff -- the real subject of this post. For the last ten
years, I have played a Dan Johnston mouthpiece (on the recommendation of
Peter Hadcock), and thought it mighty good. Based on the last Eb thread
that went 'round the list, Greg Smith emailed me with the suggestion that I
try his Eb mouthpiece. Since I am a *very* satisfied user of his 1* on my
Bb/A, I thought that I'd give it a try.
Holy Hand Grenade, Batman -- this thing costs 175 bucks!! For that price, a
mouthpiece should not only play well, but rip off Till Eulenspiegel without
any human assistance, and give your car a shine, too! I gotta tell you, I
tried it with a great deal of skepticism.
Well, what can I say. At least in this instance, you get what you pay for.
IT IS WORTH EVERY PENNY. Unlike other Eb mouthpieces that I have used, it
gets such a velvety, chocolate dark tone . . .
. . . but enough of goading Mr. Leeson. (Hey -- this is an eefer!) Let's
just say that it has a nice sound. According to the gal who sits next to me
in the wind ensemble, she has to actually look at me to tell if I'm playing
the Bb or the Eb (unless blasting the Maynard Ferguson parts, of course);
either my Bb playing brays like a donkey, or the tone of this newbie is
pretty OK.
. . . but that's not why I bought it. I didn't compare it to chopped
liver; the DJ I have been using has a really nice tone, too. What the GS
did for me was vastly enhance my ability to articulate, particularly while
playing softly in the altissimo register. There's a section in David
Maslanka's (sp?) "Morning Star" that I used as a test vehicle that requires
a lot of staccato tonguing above high C. While playing through it,
switching from mouthpiece to mouthpiece, I noted to our 1st oboe player (my
wife) that it sounded better on the GS.
"Well," she noted drolly, "you sure weren't cutting it last Monday night!"
Since I can now play the passage on the GS, but not on any of the other
mouthpieces in the drawer, let's say that I think it's a good investment.
If you want it back, you'll have to peel my cold, dead fingers from around
it . . .
Note -- Greg doesn't send you a mouthpiece when you order one. He sends you
THREE. Why I'm not entirely sure; they are very consistent with each other.
Nevertheless, he's very good about getting you the best mouthpiece that he
possibly can. He's very fussy about mouthpieces -- what you get for your
$175 is a pretty good Zinner blank, and renting a healthy dose of that
fussiness.
. . . but we're not done. Just in case you haven't spent enough money, GS
includes a Chadash barrel with the 3 mouthpieces. He insists that his
mouthpieces are designed to work with the Chadash as a unit, so you should
try them together.
Personally, I didn't find any difference in the tone from using the Chadash
barrel -- again, the skeptic in me thought this might be just another
attempt to relieve me of my hard-earned cash. I felt this way until (a) I
visited with my good friend Mr. Korg and (b) tried the combo in a rehearsal.
THIS BARREL IMPROVES THE INTONATION OF THE BUFFET R13 Eb BY ABOUT 200%. No
lie -- the upper clarion, typically quite sharp, now is quite within range;
the altissimo is much closer to an equally tempered scale as well. Even if
you don't spring for one of the mouthpieces, I strongly urge all Eb players
to give the Chadash barrel a spin on the old Stroboconn. The little beastie
is hard enough to play in tune -- why not get all the help you can?
. . . put another way; after one rehearsal, my orchestra's piccolo player
*insisted* that I buy the barrel. Since I'm married to her, I decided that
this is also a good investment . . .
Oh, and one more note. Mr. Smith is simply *terrific* to deal with on a
mail order basis. Given his day job and the quality of his work, he has
better things to do than run a mail-order rip-off.
Sorry to bore you all with this stuff. Please deem included all necessary
disclaimers about how stuff working for me is only a matter or personal
preference, and that everyone is different and just because it works for me
doesn't mean it's good for you blah blah blah. It really is all a matter of
opinion. My opinion is, if you're going to spend over two grand getting
yourself a shiny new piccolo clarinet, you'd be an idiot not to try and get
the most performance-enhancing mouthpiece/barrel combination that you can --
and I know which I I just picked.
Keep your reeds wet and your pants dry,
kjf
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