Klarinet Archive - Posting 000814.txt from 2002/10

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Almond oil on wood mouthpieces
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 11:54:59 -0500

Paul Dods wrote,
>jeeze, do i need to tell them not to oil the bores
>of plastic horns? music store salespersons wouldn't
>sell bore oil to owners of plastic clarinets would they?
>lol, sorry, its late

That depends on which music store sells your students their equipment and on
whether or not the students ask questions or just take goods from the
displays to the cash register. If the kids don't ask, probably the sales
people will ring up the purchase without comment, figuring that anybody who
knows enough to buy bore oil knows what it's for.

You might need to include a discussion about stores with your beginning
students as part of the basic orientation lesson. My small city has two good
music stores, both of which I patronize; but I'd only recommend one of them
to clarinet students. Foxes is a full-service, family-owned shop that's
catered to band and orchestra students and their teachers for decades. Most
of the employees teach or perform music professionally. A clarinet student
who goes in there and asks questions can expect good answers.

The other music shop, a branch of a nationwide (USA) chain store, is a guitar
and drum place located on the main drag through town. A local student would
be more likely to notice the chain store than the cozier family business.
The chain is a good store for r&b and rock musicians, and also for musicians
and composers who need specialized computer programs or electronic equipment
(I buy some of my synthesizer gear at discount prices there); but although
the store carries some of the basic clarinet supplies, the employees know
next to nothing about classical music and zip about woodwinds.

A clarinet student who wandered into the guitar and drum place with a
question would be out of luck, particularly if, instead of talking with one
of the managers, s/he happened to ask the question of one of the vacant-eyed
slackers whose real job seems to have nothing to do with customer service.
The slackers are employed, as far as I can tell, to serve as slightly
animated advertisements for the ambience of grunge and somewhat threatening
weirdness that rock musicians find cool. Their conversation consists of
theme and variations on, "Like, uh, uh.... Yeah. Actually. Dude, uh. You
know, like, whatever." Special training enables the slackers to deliver this
entire dialogue while confining their voices to a range of less than a
semitone. Yes, I can easily imagine an employee in the local chain store
selling bore oil to a kid who only owned a plastic clarinet.

Lelia

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