Klarinet Archive - Posting 000619.txt from 2002/11

From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Dark Sound - Famous Players
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 23:57:27 -0500

Audrey Travis wrote:
> Dan
> Would you please give us a *precise* definition of what a *dirty* sound
> is? How do I achieve it? How do I accurately describe it to my
> students (in words) so they can recognize it and move away from it?
> Does it involve never brushing my teeth? :)
>
> Audrey
>
> Daniel Leeson wrote:
>
>> Ed Hall had the worst, ugliest, dirtiest sound I ever heard and
>>he was a great jazz player, though sometimes it was hard to believe that
>>he was playing a clarinet. That's how uncharacteristic it was, even
>>though no one really cared that much how ugly his sound was.
>>

Happy to comply. Purchase a used, preferably chipped, Brillhart white
mouthpiece and drop it several times on a hard surface. Concrete is OK
but marble is better. The clarinet should be an old Albert system with a
wrap around register key that has a leak in it. If you can manage and
afford it, use, as the upper joint, a piece from a B-flat clarinet, and,
for the lower join, a piece from an A clarinet.

Buy a box of the cheapest reeds you can get and pick out only those that
have nicks and chips in them. Syccone Symmetricut (spelling?) are just
right. Boil those reeds for 45 minutes in salty, filthy water. When
putting them on the clarinet mouthpiece, be sure that they are
improperly aligned to the right. That is where the grit is to be found.
Also make certain that the ligature clenches the reed at the point
where the mouthpiece table ends. This is particularly important because
you want a great deal of the air to go somewhere other than into the
mouthpiece. Out the side of the mouth or from the nose improves the
gritty effect.

Now, as for identification of the sound character in terms of dirtyness
and grittyness, begin playing with your dog present. If you don't have
a dog, you will have to buy one. The dog will begin to howl with a
decibel level in direct proportion to the dirtyness of the sound
character. DB 15 implies a dirtyness/grittiness level of hateful and
disgusting. DB 25 means so god-awful as to cause a buffalo to puke.
Above 25, it is difficult to actually find words that describe the sound
character, but I know of no person who has actually achieved this DB level.

Now Audrey, quid pro quo; please be so kind as to be as specific in
terms of teaching your students how to get a dark sound.

>>--
>>***************************
>>**Dan Leeson **
>>**leeson0@-----.net **
>>***************************

--
***************************
**Dan Leeson **
**leeson0@-----.net **
***************************

---------------------------------------------------------------------