Klarinet Archive - Posting 000283.txt from 2000/06

From: Nicholas Yip <nyip@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] New Student; was Re: [kl] mold
Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2000 03:39:47 -0400

I know that most of my professors of clarinet have been playing on molded
reeds for many years and have not gottne sick yet. I presume they are safe.

At 08:29 AM 6/9/00 EDT, you wrote:
>Patricia Smith wrote,
>>I wasn't going to weigh in on this thread, but I got a new student
>>today, and the mold on the reed and the slime in the mouthpiece
>>was so disgusting I thought I would hurl. He said he is sick a lot
>>and that his mother kept telling him the mold would make him sick.
>>I was so livid that I actually cleaned the mouthpiece myself.
>>Thank G-d for antibacterial soap.
>
>Humor aside, even if there's any truth to the idea that a moldy reed might
>play better, I think it really is unsafe, because many molds (and mildews,
>bacterial slimes and other growths) are toxic. There's no way of knowing,
>without lab tests, exactly what's growing on that reed. Aside from not
>wanting to find out the hard way, I'm with you on the "thought I would hurl"
>reaction. *Yuck!* Anyhow, even if it's penicillin mold, licking it every
>day and leaving it in the reed could build up a population of
>penicillin-resistant pathogenic bacteria.
>
>It sounds as though that kid and his mother let the clarinet reed turn
into a
>discipline (control vs. independence) issue between them. Maybe now you, as
>an independent outsider, can help him approach taking good care of the
>clarinet as a matter of personal pride, instead of a question of whether or
>not to obey his mommy. IMHO it would help encourage him to internalize the
>need to care for the clarinet if you didn't take his mother's side overtly
>(even though she's right!).
>
>You wrote,
>>And this is only the start. Poor tone production, no support,
>>I don't think this kid even knows where his diaphragm IS!!!!!
>>And his ligature was screwed on so tight I almost couldn't get
>>it off, and it was on the mouthpiece touching the barrel. And
>>tonguing was slab at best....He couldn't keep a consistent rhythm
>> - said he couldn't play along with other people [snip].... Oh,
>>and he has been playing for almost two years. Be afraid. Be
>>very afraid.
>
>Yipes, he does sound promising... ;-) Interesting that he's willing to take
>the lessons! Did that idea come from him or did his mother force him into
>the lessons? I'm curious to hear how he's doing after a few weeks or months
>-- whether he can learn to take care of his instrument and to practice
>regularly because *he wants to*, because it satisfies him to hear his
playing
>improve, or whether practice time will become another "You can't make me!"
>issue with his mother. Good luck with the kid.
>
>Lelia
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>"I have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk."
> -- Robert Bloch, _Once Around the Bloch_
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
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