Klarinet Archive - Posting 000472.txt from 2001/10

From: Virginia Anderson <assembly1@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Subject: Posts
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 07:23:11 -0400

I'm not too sure what is going on in the thread about Eb clarinets, but it's
my main instrument for solo and ensemble work.

I use a custom mouthpiece (can't remember the blank brand) made for me some
years ago by Phil Rehfeldt and I waffle between Vandoren 3s and 3 1/2s. I
also use them far too long for their own good (I like the snap of newer
reeds but the reliability of older ones tends to win out). These I adjust
just like my Bb reeds - filed flat on the back, evened up with a smaller
file (about a centimeter wide) down the profile, very little tip work -
although not as crucially as to tolerances.

The softness I find useful for playing the instrument as a serious
instrument rather than as a comic or satanic figure. That is, I've used
stronger reeds for orchestra work: stuff like Mahler (keck!) and the Mexican
band stuff in El Salon Mexico, in which the instrument is meant to display
its rather quirky natural acoustic properties (so that although you can make
it play in tune, it doesn't quite centre in tune). So there's one sort of
playing which I'd return to if I went back to orchestral repertoire.

But I want something different from the Eb for solo and ensemble work. It
can make a lovely high shimmering noise, like a high violin, with the
flexibility that softer reeds bring. One makes a trade: the low register
(to which I always direct composers who are considering writing for the
instrument) sounds much more gorgeous and ethnic and woody with a firmer
reed, but it needs a soft reed to centre it more than the upper register.
You can find descriptions of some of this music on the EMC site listed in my
sig line.

Of course, as the Guy on the Couch says, one has to have a good in-tune
instrument to play it well (everyone here has probably dealt with finding
alternative fingerings for school band eefers). My Buffet RC is the best
I've played, but of course, I'm biased :-). Oh, and lest I get more silly
flames, this is my experience, not a prescription for anyone else, and your
mileage will of course vary.

Cheers,

Virginia
--
Virginia Anderson
Leicester, UK
<vanderson@-----.uk>
Experimental Music Catalogue: <http://www.experimentalmusic.co.uk>
...experimental music since 1969....

---------------------------------------------------------------------