Klarinet Archive - Posting 000823.txt from 2002/10

From: b5w@-----.net (William Wright)
Subj: Re: [kl] What makes the biggest difference, the horn or the player?
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 14:52:59 -0500

<><> William Semple wrote:
I have an R-13 Buffet A that initially seemed highly resistent. In time,
I got used to this instrument, making adjustments that now allow me to
move between my A and Bb quite easily. But it wasn't this way at the
beginning.

The above quote omits a critical datum. In the same message you said:

=========
Some of this must be purely psychological, rather than any specific
sonic result that can be detected
=========

My question is: Do you think that the "sonic result" of your technique
changed as you "adjusted" (to use your word) to the R13?

This is where the factor of interaction enters the discussion, and I
think it is incorrect to ignore the interaction. I suspect that the
R13 required changes to your technique, and this interaction **did**
produce a 'sonic result' that was different from (1) what you played
before you bought the R13, and (2) what you would play now if you
returned to your previous instrument.

Thus you can say that *you* changed when your instrument changed, and
the two factors interacted to produce 'your music' as it exists at this
moment. There would be more changes to "sonic result" if either you or
your instrument changed again, and I suspect that changing either one
would cause a change to the other (again) as well.

To say that your music is unaffected by your equipment is unrealistic.
It is also unrealistic to say that making a certain change will produce
the same result for every musician. Probably if you and I were both to
switch to <Brand C> or to <Tip Opening D>, the result would be different
for each of us.

For that matter, why do you have two instruments (your A and Bb)? Is
it **only** to avoid transposition? Are all other of your
introspections about sound character purely psychological --- by which I
think you mean not perceivable to the outside world?

Cheers,
Bill

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