Klarinet Archive - Posting 000965.txt from 2003/03

From: "Wendy Bosma" <bosma@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Introduction
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 09:45:43 -0500

Thanks for the info, Dave, I didn't know we were supposed to introduce
ourselves either. I guess I'll chime in.

My name is Wendy Bosma, I was born and raised in Muskegon, Michigan where I
attended Reeths-Puffer schools all my life. I'm only stating that because I
saw John Varineau, the associate conductor of the Grand Rapids Symphony on
the list (I don't know how long you've been there, but I sat 2nd chair to
Jamie Decker in school my whole life). I studied under the magnificent Kent
Krive in high school, I attended Blue Lake for 5 summers, I played with the
Muskegon Community College orchestra, the West Michigan Concert Winds, and a
couple of smaller "all-star" ensembles.

After graduation I moved to Tucson, AZ and got my bachelor's degree in
Anthropology. They don't like non-music majors in their larger ensembles so
I played in a clarinet choir at U of A where I picked up the Eb and learned
additional respect for anyone who even thinks about playing one of those.

After graduating from U of A, I moved out to New Orleans to be an
archaeologist. In my spare time I picked up an acoustic guitar. I forgot
all about my clarinet at that point and it's been about three years. Just a
few weeks ago, I attended a show by the New Orleans Klezmer All Stars and
was reinspired by Rob Wagner (who is actually a sax player and hardly seems
to care about the clarinet at all). But it was enough to make me miss my
clarinet fiercely, so I took it in to get it back in playing condition and
haven't gotten it back yet.

I guess that's my life in a nutshell. It's good to be here amongst fellow
clarinetists.

Wendy

-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Appleby [mailto:Dave_Appleby@-----.com]
Subject: [kl] Introduction

Hello all,

I signed up for the list a couple of weeks ago, but as a result of being
somewhat busy and having grown up on "news" I have only been lurking. After
seeing Anne's note, I went back and actually read the FAQ and wouldn't you
know it, I am _supposed_ to introduce myself! So, here goes...

My name is Dave Appleby. I am married to Rochelle (Shell), and we have a
little boy (Alexander/AJ). We live in Sydney, Australia.

Rochelle has been playing piano/flute for a long time, though the last few
years have been hard to find time (read "we now have a child"). Rochelle is
a classroom teacher of Primary level here (i.e. children 5 y.o. to approx 11
y.o.). In jobs prior to Alexander's arrival, she "assisted" with band
programs and tutored students. This year, she has taken on the role of Music
Program and Band Director at a local school, and has also returned to
University to gain formal knowledge & accreditation in Instrumental
Teaching.

I have been working in Information Technology for longer than I care to
remember. My musical experience is limited to some forced organ lessons as a
child, along with some time playing guitar (badly) in high school. I have
been interested in both Clarinet & Sax for some time, but I always seemed to
be too busy.

Now we have reason to have both in the house, and I have finally started
learning. I have found my previous exposure to music is helping (primarily
sight reading) as the learning curve is not so steep, however I am starting
to wonder about the wisdom of starting both instruments in short succession
(though I am keeping pace on each). I have a strong leaning towards the bass
clari, though having purchased 4 instruments since Christmas we are putting
that purchase off for a year or so. Shell is, of course, learning violin,
trumpet and clarinet new, along with continuing the flute and some piano. I
have no idea how she does it.

I plan to take professional lessons shortly (now my embouchure has
stabilised) to make sure I am on the right track, and we are both planning
to join the community band when our schedules (and babysitting) allows.

I just wanted to make a couple of quick observations RE: traffic on the
list. I subscribe to a lot of mailing lists as a necessary part of my work.
Some days I need to sort & read (or not) thousands of messages (really! My
average is around 700). In my experience the number and relevance of
messages a mailing list sees is not important as long as two basic rules are
adhered to:
1 - Never send an empty subject, and make the subject relevant to the
message body. Thus, if you are not interested in a thread, it is easy to
ignore/delete the lot.
2 - When replying to another message, remember everyone has already received
it - only quote what is necessary to maintain legibility of your own message
(there is nothing like downloading a message for a minute to find it only
had one new line in it!)
I am pleased to say that so far, everything I have seen has been a real
treat, both content and "netiquette".

RE: the "Clarinet Facts" posting, I was under the impression that the flute
was actually cylindrical - it is the fact that it acts as an open pipe (at
the mouthpiece and the opening) that makes it overblow an octave, whereas
the clarinet acts as a closed pipe (closed at the mouthpiece, open at the
bell) that makes it overblow a twelfth. The sax is of course then a closed
cylinder, which is different all over again, but overblows an octave. Can
anyone let me know which is right? (Yeah, I know it is probably more
technical than necessary, but I have a scientific background and hate not
knowing the answer to anything).

Further, reading some of the messages about piano/clarinet "cross training"
and hernia recovery, I started to think of an electronic music flash card
system (I do spend a lot of downtime in front of a computer). Does anyone
know of such a beast? I immediately had a grand vision of not only allowing
sight-reading tests, but hooked up with a microphone to "listen" to the note
played to provide average speed & accuracy results by playing your
instrument to the computer. Of course, I don't have time to do this, but it
sounds like such a great idea. I think I'll copyright it just in case!

I hope some of this info is of interest to you, and I wish to thank you all
for making me feel like part of your family (already). Sorry for the lengthy
post, but I figure I might as well get my money's worth.

I'll go back to lurking now, but never fear, I will be back!
D.

I know everything about some things. I pretend to know everything
about the rest.
I leave it to you to figure out which is which.

P.S. I am proud to be Australian, but I am disgusted and ashamed by the
actions of my government. Please forgive us and understand that the
government is acting against the wishes of the majority. I hope, though all
such hope seems vain, that the innocent people of Iraq are not harmed, nor
further disadvantaged by the arrogant actions of our leaders.

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