Klarinet Archive - Posting 000302.txt from 2003/01

From: Jeremy A Schiffer <schiffer@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] shopping for first mouthpiece
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 10:53:40 -0500

On Tue, 14 Jan 2003, Paul Ebersman wrote:

> Given all that, what mouthpieces should I be looking at? What reeds
> other than the MLP should I be checking out? I don't mind going
> through a half dozen boxes of reeds I might not use again. Ever guitar
> I buy gets the same treatment of trying out 6 sets to see what's best.

For beginners, it's really hard to go wrong with the Vandoren B45. Not
everyone loves it, but it's high quality and if nothing else, provides a
good benchmark. Don't get me wrong, though, it's not specifically a
student mouthpiece; there are plenty of advanced players who use the B45.
I have been buying more mouthpieces recently, and everytime, seem to come
back to the B45 (mine has been modified, though) for the things I like
most in my sound.

There are also several mouthpiece makers on this list, who have received
good reviews from other players here, and I know at least one has a
student-geared model.

Finally, since both you and Rigel (who is CC'd here) mentioned Klezmer, I
wanted to address that part. Make yourselves familiar with
http://www.tara.com, as it's the best source for anything Jewish and
musical. Your first purchase should be "The Compleat Klezmer" a book and
CD set by Henry Sapoznik. It has a great theory section, recordings from
the early 20th century, and transcriptions of the recordings. It's the
closest thing to a klezmer textbook around. Once you learn all those
tunes, you can get by easily in any klezmer jam session. There's also a
video by Andy Statman called "Learn to play Klezmer Music" which is pretty
good. He goes over three traditional tunes and some basic ornaments;
he plays clarinet, but it's designed as an instrument-neurtral video. They
are each around $20, as I recall.

I hope that helps some,

jeremy

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Jeremy A. Schiffer
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