Klarinet Archive - Posting 000033.txt from 2001/12

From: "David B. Niethamer" <dnietham@-----.edu>
Subj: RE: [kl] Interesting facts (?)
Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2001 20:33:47 -0500

>>From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.com>
>
>>I HAVE seen a paper clip in a trumpet valve (not pretty!). And I have
>>personally repaired a young clarinetist's instrument at a band festival by
>>removing a DIME that had become wedged in the lower part of the bore
>>(Lesson: don't leave loose change in your case!).

>on 11/28/2001 4:50 PM, Jim Hobby wrote:

>I once removed a penny from between the barrel and the top joint of a
>clarinet. It wasn't an accident, though. The girl's older brother had a
>wicked sense of humor. <g>

When I was in high school we discovered the "penny in the barrel" trick
at a Regional Band festival (eastern PA, USA). The conductor was very
patient and let us have our fun, and soon everyone knew to look before
they had played a note.

We did a piece for four horns and band, and the stage drill was that the
first four clarinets put their clarinets on their chairs and went off
stage to get a chair and stand for each of the soloists. We discovered
that a quarter between the lower joint and the bell only blocked the E/B
and muffled the F/C, so we tried that. When the first four clarinetists
came back to play, everything was fine until halfway down the first page,
where they hit their first long B. They had to stop to remove the "spare
change" and the rest of the section couldn't play for laughing! The
conductor looked away into the brasses until we had composed ourselves,
and then we started over.

David

David Niethamer
Principal Clarinet, Richmond Symphony
dnietham@-----.edu
http://members.aol.com/dbnclar1/

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