Klarinet Archive - Posting 000532.txt from 2000/10

From: rgarrett@-----.edu
Subj: Re: [kl] Mouthpieces - resistant or free blowing
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2000 13:48:01 -0400

At 11:33 AM 10/10/2000 EDT, you wrote:

>You've lost me. Neither of these have anything to do with the usefulness of
>selling mouthpieces as you state nor do they seem to fit the separate
>discussion of personal endurance.
>
>Gregory Smith

I'm reposting all of my response to the snip I posted from Walter's post so
that we can get to the original meaning of the post. (What a sentence)
Without that information, it can be read in many different ways - none of
which seem to have the interpretation I was trying to provide:

Walter said:
>The string players that I played with commented favorably on my endurance,
saying that that was not their experience in working with other clarinetists.

I responded:

Walter,

I'm glad you had no endurance problems. I haven't either in those
settings. I'm not sure the reason has anything to do with mouthpiece tip
openings or asymetrical vs. symetrical facings. Those assumptions seem
more useful in selling mouthpieces than determining reasons why we do or do
not have endurance. But who is to say unless a test is made up and employed?

My new statement:

My response had to do with Walter's belief that he went four hours in
marathon rehearsals with his standard mouthpiece - that is more closed than
a 1.20 and employs a symetrical facing rather than an asymetrical facing.
Then he concluded that the endurance was a result of the tip and backed
that statement up with the idea that the string players noticed his endurance.

I was stating in my response that endurance may have very little to do with
symetrical/closed, etc. facings and that such a conclusion would only do
more to support the notion that an open/asymetrical facing is somehow less
preferable to players (for sake of endurance) than the medium
tip/symetrical facing. Since this conclusion virtually ignores the number
of people who have seemingly no reported endurance problems with the former
style mouthpiece, a more logical conclusion could be that the statement is
made to support the purchase of medium/symetrical style mouthpieces. Since
Walter makes only medium tip/symetrical mouthpieces (I'm not sure but don't
you also Greg?), then one COULD conclude that the statement was more to
direct people to the purchase of such mouthpieces than to support the idea
that different people get different results for different reasons. It
seemed to me that the conclusion was biased and faulty - even though it was
sincerely thought out and stated.

Best wishes,
Roger Garrett

Roger Garrett
Professor of Clarinet
Director, Symphonic Winds
Head, Recording Studio
Illinois Wesleyan University
School of Music
Bloomington, IL 61702-2900
(309) 556-3268

"A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes
another's."
Jean Paul Richter (1763-1825)

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