Klarinet Archive - Posting 000827.txt from 2000/07

From: "Kevin Callahan" <kionon@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Carbonare's Selmer
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2000 01:58:52 -0400

----- Original Message -----
From: Richard Bush <rbushidioglot@-----.com>
Subject: Re: [kl] Carbonare's Selmer

> Bill,
>
> Well stated. Over the years, what clarinet players have wanted (or gotten
> use to because of selling spiel or conforming to "tradition") has changed.
> Big bored clarinets are out. Smaller bored instruments are in. Instruments
> with modified upper joints (poli-cylindrical bores, aka Buffet R-13) are
the
> present state of affairs.
>
> What is most mystifying to me is that no great maker of clarinets, whether
> it be Buffet, Selmer or Leblanc, has ever been able to put together a
TOTAL
> package, having a great instrument, a great barrel and a mouthpiece that
all
> would kill for.
>
> And, if you think about it, how does anyone at the factory test a
prototype
> without doing so with a certain mouthpiece, a certain reed, a certain
> embouchure, a certain playing style and concept. The final product comes
> after all the above. What qualifies and quantifies any decision made for
the
> instrument itself?
>
> Since everyone (the buyer) seems to be looking for this magical
combination
> of things that all happen in the top four inches of a clarinet, and many
> have made a living walking through this bed of coals, why can't someone at
> the manufacturing level do it? Are individual tastes and styles of playing
> so diverse as to make this an impossible quest?

As a matter of fact, Richard, I tend to believe it is an impossible quest.
Just as no individual is the same, no clarinet can truely be universal.
There is no universal man (or woman for that matter). There's no magic
combination for the perfect human, and clarinets are made by humans, and so
an imperfect object will be made by an imperfect being. The search for this
Holy Grail of clarinets is bound to lead one on a wild goose chase after
something as substantial as a mirage.

Kevin Callahan

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