Klarinet Archive - Posting 000958.txt from 2000/08

From: "Dee D. Hays" <deehays@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Which one? (Uh-oh...newby alert!)
Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2000 22:02:11 -0400

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Hausmann" <bhausmann1@-----.com>
Subject: Re: [kl] Which one? (Uh-oh...newby alert!)

> At 03:00 PM 8/28/2000 -0700, Mike Selvey wrote:
> > ... Their reasoning appears to be that in this school
> >district, most parents never seem to "upgrade" their children's
> >instruments as their school career continues, so they strive to ensure
> >that beginning students get a good one to carry them through high
> >school.
> >
> This is one very common line of reasoning, mostly used by people who
REALLY
> think that wood sounds better than plastic, period. In general, entry
> level/intermediate wood and plastic clarinets share identical
> specifications and will not sound all THAT much different from each other,
> particularly in the hands of a beginning student or out on the marching
> field. Plastic clarinets also require less maintenance and, obviously, a
> lower initial investment. In MY humble opinion (and this may or may not
> reflect the opinion of my BOSS) the best solution is to buy a plastic
> clarinet for the beginner to use until high school. At that time, if the
> student is at all serious, an upgrade to as good a wood horn as you can
> afford should be made, with the plastic one being demoted to marching band
> "beater." That being said, however, things will be easier for your child
> if you follow the wishes of the local director. In the opinion of many
> other people, he is not wrong, and even I see his point, since those
> upgrades frequently DO fail to materialize.

I'll play the devil's advocate tonight by stating that in many cases
upgrades simply aren't justified. A significant percentage of students put
away their clarinet forever the day they graduate high school (or even
sooner). For the majority of students, a good quality plastic will be more
than sufficient especially if paired with a truly decent mouthpiece and
quality reeds. These students are taking band as part of the total school
experience (often just for fun) and have no notion of continuing. So there
is no reason for the upgrades to materialize.

The director has the preconceived notion that wood horns sound better and he
wants his section to sound good so that is what he tries to get all his
students to play. So the parent is convinced to put out several hundred
extra dollars to satisfy this notion when there is over a 50% chance that
the student will quit playing at or before graduation.

Dee Hays

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