Klarinet Archive - Posting 000388.txt from 2001/02

From: Bilwright@-----.net (William Wright)
Subj: RE: [kl] Swabbing
Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2001 15:08:05 -0500

<><> Ed Lacy wrote:
My habit is to swab all instruments from the bottom or bell to the top
[snip] This is undoubtedly due in part to the fact that I am primarily
a bassoonist, and this is extremely important on the bassoon..

At the "grade-school clarinet" level, swabbing from the mouthpiece
down is important. I've seen the unhappy results of doing it vice
versa with my own daughter (11 years old at the time), and I've also
seen it several times with children where I take lessons.

What happens is that they drop the cord into the bell without
checking that the cloth is not wadded up. Then they pull on the cord,
and the bore's taper compresses the wad and makes the pulling more
difficult.... so they pull harder..... and eventually something rips and
leaves a wad of cloth tightly jammed in the middle of the instrument
with no easy way to grab hold of it.

If the child starts at the mouthpiece end, at least this avoids the
'compressed wad' problem because the taper is expanding, not shrinking.

Cheers,
Bill

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