Klarinet Archive - Posting 000064.txt from 2000/03

From: alevin@-----. Levin)
Subj: Re: [kl] Ligatures in general
Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2000 12:54:12 -0500

When I was in school, I attended a master class at which the lecturer had a
variety of mouthpieces which had been abused - chipped tips and rails,
cracks, warps and distortion from tight ligatures. I remember that the
distortion occured in hard rubber mouthpieces - not crystal or plastic. It
became very easy to see with gauges. The lesson caused me to switch to a
Bonade ligature, then to a nylon ligature, and, finally, to string.

Allen
At 09:55 PM 3/1/00 -0500, you wrote:
>on 2/29/00 6:14 PM, Tony Pay wrote:
>
>>Excuse me, David, because I have great respect for your contributions.
>>
>>I really don't believe this.
>
>DAMN!! I *knew* the BS police were gonna get me... ;-)
>
>Seriously, in thinking about where I came by this information, I can't
>remember, and I certainly have no concrete evidence for its proof. I
>think it was presented to me (compulsive screw tightener extraordinaire)
>as a rationale for not constantly and compulsively tightening the screws
>on my ligatures. The medication has worked wonders, and I no longer
>behave in this way! Who first gave me this "information" I can't recall.
>
>>If you experiment by putting cylinders of
>>cardboard inside your mouthpieces, you get to understand the sorts of
>>changes that such gross alterations make. That is, they are rather
>>surprisingly small.
>>
>I'll have to experiment with this a bit. I find it hard to imagine that
>rather noticeable changes in response and pitch would not be the result.
>But, I'll have to fool with it for myself before I comment any more.
>
>>I doubt that the sorts of changes that an 'overtightened' (what does
>>this really mean?) ligature might make, on an ebonite mouthpiece, are of
>>anything like that order of magnitude.
>
>As I recall it, the theory presented was that as a mouthpiece aged, the
>process that hardened the rubber would begin to "wear off", making the
>pressure of the metal ligature capable of constricting the bore at that
>point where the ligature was tightened. I have to admit I don't have a
>shred of evidence to prove whether any of this is true. In playing with
>the relative tightness of my ligature screws today (I really need to get
>a life!!!) I couldn't hear or feel any difference in the feel or sound of
>a particular reed if the ligature was tighter or looser, for what that is
>worth. Given my current credibility on this subject...
>
>David
>
>David Niethamer
>Principal Clarinet, Richmond Symphony
>dnietham@-----.edu
>http://members.aol.com/dbnclar1/
>
>
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