Klarinet Archive - Posting 000884.txt from 2002/10

From: "Forest E. Aten Jr." <forestaten@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] This thing on my front door
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 18:20:11 -0500

> 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,

I would think of what you described as a hierarchical structure based on
dependencies.

Forest

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