Klarinet Archive - Posting 001098.txt from 2000/02
From: Shouryu Nohe <jnohe@-----.edu>
Subj: [kl] My Experience with Ligs
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 03:34:30 -0500
Hey, I'm just throwing my hat into the ring. No gloves here.
Yeah yeah - I've only been playing seriously for four years, what the heck
do I know, right? Probably not much, but maybe someone will find my
experience useful.
So I get to NMSU, with a crappy...ag, let's say...uh, not-cool...yeah...
So I get to NMSU, toting this not-cool Vito clarinet, along with a
not-cool Vito mpc, and a not-cool Vito lig. I was playing Marca 3's,
after trying to beef up my chops for serious clarinet work. I had played
bass my entire high school career, and boy was I gonna need help.
First off, embouchure development, yeah, that was a big help. Got that
chin down and flat, corners in, and played everything LOUD (for some
reason, I just couldn't support on Bb as I could on bass when I first
arrived). Then came the cheap equipment changes - switch to V12s and a
Bonade Inverted, and WOW, what a difference! I was almost getting a
really good sound with this set up. And the ligature was a BIG help;
until then, I had no clue a lig could have that much effect.
Shortly after, I switched to a Genussa, and later purchased an R13, still
using the V12s and the Bonade.
By this point, I had also tried two Rovners, a dark and the first ED
Model. I'd also tried a Luyben. The Bonade still sounded best, and gave
me smoother articulation. So, I stuck with what I had, all while
utilizing a patch on the mpc back to keep the lig from digging in.
I had inquired of our principal clarinettist's lig - she was using a Bay,
as our prof, and the community band's principal. All highly reccommend
them, as did our fourth chair player, who had just purchased one.
However, due to their fragility, none allowed me to try them. So I
trusted their word, and purchased one, and was rather pleased. It was not
fantastically better than the Bonade inverted, but it rang a little
better, giving a bit more projection, while making for slightly easier
articulation (but not much). However, it was very fragile, and because of
this, I decide to stick with the Bonade while in the pit for Tosca, which
required several quick clarinet switches. I certainly wasn't about to
damage this wonderful lig whilst yanking my mouthpiece from the barrel.
However, using the Bonade presented a new problem: it wouldn't stay on
during the switch. Sure, it held the reed fine, but when grasping the mpc
and pulling up, it would come off without the mpc, and my reed would fall
off. Tightening it would cause it to ride higher on the mpc, rather than
gripping it. I brought the dillema to the attention of my prof, who
laughed at me lightly. He used the Bay in pit situations, and stated it
had NEVER slipped off. As it turns out, the Bay is fragile when it's NOT
holding a reed on your mpc. If you just tighten till the screws begin to
get snug, it doesn't budge regardless.
One note however, if you tighten too much, the lig can snap or the reed
contour that is molded into it can be lost, which is not cool. But if you
take care of it, the Bay is a fine lig for all situations, in my
experience.
(I'll also point out a neat tidbit to those of you using Model I ED's...I
have a Model I ED for alto sax, and I tried it on my clarinet...I actually
like the sound of the sax lig better than the clarinet ED. The alto sax's
metal fins are larger...which means that when you yank up for a mpc
switch, it slips off easier, but the sound is still good - as good as the
Bonade Inverted. Heck, it might as well just be a fabric Bonade, since it
sounds the same and has that one slippery setback...)
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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