Klarinet Archive - Posting 000880.txt from 2002/10

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: Re: [kl] This thing on my front door
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 18:20:07 -0500

On Thu, 31 Oct 2002 08:35:36 -0700, wsemple@-----.com said:

> Would it be fair to restate your view with the following syllogism:
>
> 1) In a closed system, one cannot generalize about the relative
> importance of elements.
>
> 2) The clarinet is a closed system.
>
> Therefore, ergo, to wit:
>
> 3) One cannot generalize about the relative importance of the elements
> of the clarinet.
>
> Assuming that the major premise is true (I do not know, having never
> considered this issue before, but it makes sense), the minor premise
> becomes the arguable condition:
>
> Is the clarinet a CLOSED SYSTEM??

Well, I dunno.

Thinking about what you write above I find boggles my mind. That's not
necessarily because it doesn't make sense, but because it doesn't fit
with how I deal with the problems of playing the clarinet, or fit with
how I think about those problems.

I don't deal with any of it that way. Even if I try to understand
even what might be meant by the idea that one part of the mechanics of
playing the clarinet is more important than another, I very quickly get
confused. Over the past few days, I tried to define for myself what's
usually meant by 'more important'; but I can't see how any definition I
can come up with is at all useful in these circumstances.

If I have to make a clarinet that I'm not used to, work -- which happens
really quite often, by the way, especially when getting old instruments
to go -- I try to relate the difficulties I have to other difficulties
that I remember having in the past.

"It seems stuffy -- is that to do with how it's covering? The forked
notes seem too dull and out of tune -- does that mean I need a
mouthpiece with a closer facing? But now the sound is too bright -- can
I change my embouchure to compensate? If not, would a heavier reed
help? Let's try a more 'covered' embouchure.

"How about the tuning? Is the bore right? How about the mouthpiece
chamber? That would affect the twelfths in the high register, no?
Might it also affect the general response? Let's try a different
mouthpiece, like this one here.....

"Should I try practising with how I've got it set up at the moment? OK,
what should I practise? Perhaps octaves and long notes, but also some
scales. Hey, the G# is really wildly sharp! How about the C# a twelfth
below? Well, sharp too, so perhaps I should fill in that hole a little.
But then, how about the F in the altissimo register? No, that would be
OK, because I have an alternative fingering, and in any case it's not
too bad. Let's play against the tuner....

"I wonder about the length of the barrel -- it looks as though it's been
cut down. What happens if I lengthen it with a ring?

"Now the throat notes are a bit flat -- but perhaps that's the way I'm
playing them. Is there any wax or other filler in the holes? Yes,
there is a bit -- what happens if I remove that? Very good!! Now the
whole instrument seems to 'ring' better, and it goes with the tuner too!

"What happens if I change the bell? Oh gosh, completely different! It
feels more responsive, but I don't like the sound in piano so much. But
perhaps if I now use a heavier reed...."

And so on.

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE http://classicalplus.gmn.com/artists
tel/fax 01865 553339

..... Some minds should be cultivated, others plowed under...

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