Klarinet Archive - Posting 000593.txt from 2004/01

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] care of clarinet
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2004 10:48:43 -0500

>We should also advise not to pull a full-sized swab
>through a mouthpiece.

I take off the reed and rinse the reed and mouthpiece with lukewarm water
after practice. I blot the reed and the outside of the mouthpiece dry,
but to dry the inside of the mouthpiece, I use one of those dumb little
"mouthpiece savers," usually sold in music stores next to the reed cases.
I never leave a mouthpiece swab inside the mouthpiece, where it would
prevent complete drying and promote stinky yuckiness eventually, but the
swab is the right size for a loose fit, pulls through easily and takes out
most of the water. One thing to watch out for with those mouthpiece savers
is the little plastic tip that covers the wire core at each end. That tip
is loosely attached. When (not if) it falls off , the exposed wire core
could damage the mouthpiece. To prevent that from happening, whenever I
buy a new mouthpiece saver, I remove the plastic tips and reattach them
with Gorilla Glue. Gorilla Glue is a gap-filling adhesive, available from
hardware stores. Eventually the tip does fall off again, so I stay wary,
but this fix works for several weeks or even months at a time.

Maybe I shouldn't even mention this, but since we're on the unmoderated
list . . . I used to know a young woman who claimed that the very best
mouthpiece swab was a tampon. To prepare one -- yes, a new one, you
dirty-minded oafs ;) -- she would unwrap it, soak it in water until it
fully expanded, then leave it out on a towel until it dried. She said it
didn't shrink again when dry. (If I remember right, she said it was a
Regular Tampax.) She kept this fluffed-out tampon in her case with all the
rest of the doodads. In rehearsal, she would whip the tampon out and dry
her mouthpiece without the slightest embarrassment. I admired her
nonchalance, though I must admit that I was never even slightly tempted to
follow her example!

Now I *know* I shouldn't mention *this*, but eventually one of the brass
section guys asked her (with a big smirk on his face while other guys
conspicuously listened) if she thought a condom over the mouthpiece would
be a good way to keep the reed wet while doubling. She answered coolly
that she had tried it, but its tightness made it time-consuming to remove
without displacing the reed, and thus made changing instruments too slow.

Lelia Loban
E-mail: lelialoban@-----.net
Web site (original music scores as audio or print-out):
http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/LeliaLoban

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