Klarinet Archive - Posting 000401.txt from 2002/07

From: "rien stein" <rstein@-----.nl>
Subj: [kl] tooth bridge
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2002 20:11:24 -0400

Anthony W. wrote

<<
I don`t mind this additional crowning, but I want to
know, if possible, how secure (and comfortable for the embouchure) the false
bridged tooth would be for clarinet/sax playing. Is it going to move up and
down, according to my changing lip pressures?
>>

Dear Tony

I had a bridge in my mouth for over twenty years. My sound seems to have
been very good, especially taking into account that I am only an amateur.

But teeth sometimes rotten, even when there is a crown over them, and the
bridge had to be replaced by a plate. I never got the sound that I would
like to have, my sound is now a litle "sharp" (Dan, pardon me!), not in the
sense of being somewhat out of tune (that might be corrected by changing
length of the instument), but more in the sense of shrill. I find no way to
correct that and get the old sound back.

Maybe that is why I more and more prefer the claribass? Of course I also
like the sound of it, but there is only very little that an amateur can
play! Recently I was with a recital by Harry Sparnaay, one of the worlds
leading bass clarinet players I think. He played a very beautiful piece,
"The Jackdaw" I think it was called (I forgot the composer's name). When I
asked him whether a mediocre but goodwilling amateur would be able to play
it satisfactorily, he answered he thought in the last 25 years he hadn't
played one single piece an amateur could play!

By chance yesterday I played Martin Powell's "Son et Lumiére" again. I wrote
a recension of it in "de klarinet", a Dutch magazine. It is a beuatiful
record. Not very renewing in all respects, but it caused me to put the
Poulenc Sonata on the stand again. So beautiful it is played by Martin. I
already had five different versions of it, but this one beats all other ones
by a long distance (or how do you say that in English?). But the most
impressive work -- to me -- on this cd, almost a revelation, was the
clarinet sonata #2 opus 149 by Wilfred Josephs.

If you or Martin is interested in the recension I will translate it into
English and publish it on klarinet (that is, if the editor of "de klarinet"
allows me, of course).

Greetings, and good luck with your teeth.

Rien

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