Klarinet Archive - Posting 000011.txt from 2003/12

From: "Ken Wolman" <kwolman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] The season to kill bad ideas
Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2003 10:42:34 -0500

Dan Leeson wrote:

> OK. I'll bite. What physical property may be found in the Selmer
> clarinets (or vice versa) that allow them "to indeed sound different"
> from Buffet clarinets (or vice versa)? And once you describe that
> physical property, the next question is how does this difference
> manifest itself in a sound that is "heavy on the fundamentals and lower
> partials with relatively less energy in the upper partial (which you
> define as "dark")?"

Every question here beats the whatever out of me. Last week I went to
my first lesson with an honest-to-God teacher, a 25-year-old (maybe)
woodwind MM candidate at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers.
This young man is principal clarinet of the Rutgers orchestra, so he
came in (he had a rehearsal to follow) with his attache case with Bb and
A R-13s. He wanted to play the instrument I was carrying probably to
make sure it worked: this is not the Noblet I'm now looking to move, but
the 1967-vintage Series 9. He attached his own barrel and mouthpiece
and played for a few minutes. It sounded great: a hell of a lot better
than me playing the same instrument. Big surprise. But as to whether
it's my ear or some infinitesimal difference in construction or
workmanship, which pieces of the tree Buffet and Selmer used, in fact I
could not really hear any discernible difference between what he sounded
like on my old Selmer and how he sounded on his Buffet. I know the bore
dimensions are different. That seemed to have no effect on the quality
or properties of the sound. I'm totally confused about the physical
properties of Selmer vs Buffet clarinets of the same approximate
quality. You could add all the other brand names you choose there and
then we can start in (again....) on why players choose one brand over
another.

As for partials, I keep thinking of false teeth:-).

Ken
--
Kenneth Wolman
Proposal Development Department
Room SW334
Sarnoff Corporation
609-734-2538

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