Klarinet Archive - Posting 000646.txt from 2002/11

From: Audrey Travis <vsofan@-----.ca>
Subj: Re: [kl] Dark Sound - Famous Players
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 23:57:54 -0500

ROTFLOL!! You told me how to get it, but you still haven't described
it in words... RE your last sentence - okay! Nevertheless.... :)

Audrey

Daniel Leeson wrote:
>
> 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.
>
>

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