Klarinet Archive - Posting 000925.txt from 2004/07

From: Nancy Buckman <eefer@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Best Fest ever!
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 02:25:24 -0400

I am home long enough to do the laundry and repack for my visit to the
Wizard of Vancouver. But I must fill in as many details about Fest as I
can before I depart.

Pre-Fest activities:

I visited parts of BWI Airport that I had never seen before and learned how
to sneak past the Nazi guard at the security checkpoint for Pier D (which
has 29 gates). I have lived in Baltimore all my life and this airport is
getting so big faster than I can check out all of its innards. The
Saturday before I picked up Audrey Travis and delivered her to the
Conference Center. Contrary to David Blumberg's description of the rooms
as glorified dorms, the place is beautiful. The lobby is spacious and all
the elevators all worked well (no waiting), there is a computer available
in the lobby for house guests to use and a fitness center for indoor
exercise (although, with all the transportation issues and the size of the
exhibit areas I don't think exercise was an issue). I picked up Morrie
Backun on Monday and left him at the Conference Center without
incident. On Tuesday, I picked up Sue Raycraft, who was kind enough to
share her room with me for the one night that I couldn't stay at the Inn
due to the over-booking incident. We registered for Fest that evening with
amazing ease (no lines!) and stayed at a very marginal Best Western and
played trios with Audrey that night. It was a good way to get to know each
other.

Opening Day:

On Wednesday morning early we went over to campus to begin a great week of
clarineting fun. I left Sue at the dorm where she was staying and went to
the Conference Center, parked in the garage and then went to leave my
luggage in the luggage room until my room was ready. Then I went looking
for the shuttle to the Theatre along with droves of other Fest-ees. There
was no bus to be seen, so some people set off on the hike up and over the
hill to the theatre, while the rest of us walked down to the road and
finally one of the University busses came and picked us up. It wasn't the
shuttle, but we eventually got where we wanted.

After making our way into a crowded lobby, Audrey and I went into the
concert hall for the official opening of Fest. Bob Walzel, ICA President,
warmly welcomed everyone and then the most spectacular opening since 1998
(when Combs, Daniels and Morales set the stage on fire) unfolded with David
Krakauer and "Klezmer Madness". It is not normal to hear this kind of
music at 10 AM. When David was finished, believe me, everyone was
awake. Since the exhibit hall didn't open until Thursday, everything was
in the theatre the first day. Ed Palanker of the Baltimore Symphony gave
one of the most beautiful performances of Heinrich Baermann's "Adagio" that
I have ever heard. For those who don't know, he was Ricardo Morales'
teacher and it was very obvious where Ricardo received his influence. The
nuance displayed was touching. Later Palanker gave a great lecture on
"Bass Clarinet for Dummies" that was well attended. Being from Baltimore I
hear Ed regularly, but on bass clarinet. He does play on Bb soprano, but I
am always busy playing somewhere myself and don't get to hear him. He is
one of the sleeping giants, in my opinion, of clarinet-dom. If you ever
have the opportunity to hear him, do it. I promise that you won't be
disappointed. And if you have bass questions, you can write to him at
Peabody Conservatory/ Johns Hopkins University and he will generously
answer your questions. He is most approachable.

The Exhibit Hall:

On Thursday the exhibit halls opened. The ICA needs to make sure that the
Hall is open on opening day. This year's Fest had a huge exhibit area
(much larger than past years) and was on two different levels in three
different areas. The first place I hit was Lomax Mouthpieces. Audrey
wanted to look into choosing a new mouthpiece and I needed to replace my
new Lomax that I just bought six weeks ago. At Wednesday's rehearsal of
the clarinet choir, the assistant to the conductor dropped my mouthpiece on
the floor trying to seat someone who was just arriving for the
rehearsal. I play wooden mouthpieces and my fell out of the case as she
pushed it aside off the chair next to me. When it hit the floor, it
cracked right up the middle of the table. Yeah, I was heated up and have
made my complaint, and so I need to choose another while Mike Lomax tries
to fix this one. I also bought a new e-flat one too. Audrey took five of
them back to her room to try in peace and quiet, which was in very short
supply in the hall. Steve Fox was next to Mike Lomax and had an
assortment of strange instruments that drew large crowds who tried to make
acceptable noises on the things. The only person who I heard play them
with any authority was Tom Puwalski, although I was told Josef Balough
could do them justice. Fox had a crowd every day trying them out. We
walked down to "Backun Boulevard" , which was located in the very center of
the big hall and had to be the drawing card in the exhibits, sharing the
aisle with Howard Klug's "Woodwindiana" and Luyben Music. They brought 800
barrels and bells and sold about three quarters of what they brought and I
am sure took orders for many more. I think the biggest coup for Morrie
and his wonderful crew ( his nephew Joel and his most handsome son Jeremy -
oh, and Tom Puwalski was in the fray), was that Larry Combs, who is a
Leblanc artist, was seen sitting at the Backun tables trying bells and barrels.

I think the most unique and affordable item in the exhibit hall was the
Bois Ligature. It is a hollow rubber ring with an O-ring embedded in the
hollow (no screws for adjustment of fit). You just drop it down over the
top of your mouthpiece. It looks like a piece of junk, but when I tried it
I was amazed. It actually clears up buzzing in the tone and helps to focus
and project the sound. It doesn't come with a cap yet (you can't use a
standard one with it), but they are working on that now and should have one
available soon. It costs $25 US and you can check it out at
www.boisligatures.com . The price on the site is incorrect (it reads $40)
and will be changed shortly. They were located at the table with Redwine
Jazz and the Gennusa mouthpieces. Also at Redwine's booth was a couple
from Spain selling a new reed called "Xilema". They are $23/10 reeds and
come in 4 different styles. They are sized A, B, C, D and E. I got a box
of the Professional D (4) reeds and like them very much. Most of the
people I spoke to about them were very impressed with them, especially the
hand-finished ones. You can check them out at Ben and Leslie Redwine's
site (www.redwinejazz.com). Ben, a student of Gennusa's, is a member of
the U.S. Naval Academy Band and has excellent products and links on his
site. The Redwines are trustworthy and honest and offer only top quality
stuff. Ben had Iggy's clarinets at Fest and they were at Mike Lomax's
booth. The right hand ring cluster was so worn that it looked like rings
attached to little bamboo tubes.

Also downstairs in the big room was Bernd Wurlitzer and the Wurlitzer
reformed Boehm clarinets. I have always avoided playing them because I
couldn't afford them, so why bother. But this time I just couldn't
resist. They are everything they are cracked up to be. Lovely in the hand
and exquisite to play, every single note plays as easily as as the
last. The sound is creamy and rich and the key work is exceptional. They
are beautiful in every respect and I am seriously considering starting a
"Wurlitzer Fund" to buy a pair. On today's market there is absolutely
nothing that compares to them. They just leave everything else in the
dust. There is a model with a low F resonance key to eliminate the pitch
problems. The little e-flat model must be played with a Wurlitzer
mouthpiece, but that is not an issue. It is a good mouthpiece. I had no
problems varying dynamics or projecting sound and they are truly "the last
word" in clarinets at the moment.

Upstairs was Buffet, which had t-shirts for everyone in attendance. They
also had the "Tosca" clarinet. It is big and bad. Personally, it is not
for me. It is very dark (sorry Dan) and very heavy. It vibrates like a
bass clarinet when played and left my hands tingling from the
vibration. Muncy was next to Buffet and it goes without saying that they
had no trouble keeping a mob of people in that room. Between the two of
them, the place was packed constantly with a line waiting to get in the
room always. Muncy and Backun are keeping their bankers happy. Around the
corner, on the back side of Buffet was a booth for the "Claripatch"
(www.claripatch.com), a set of aluminum coated strips to be placed between
the reed and the mouthpiece. This was another of those things one views as
"junk" initially. But the system is really quite intriguing and they
actually do work. They solve the problems associated with reeds that are
too soft, hard, old, stiff, etc. While I didn't buy a set, I am interested
enough in them to keep my mind open and maybe order a set down the
line. Check out the site. The Pro set (8) is $135 and the junior set (4)
is $50. I was very sorry that the people from Hanson
(www.hanson-music.co.uk) didn't make it. I really wanted to see their
clarinets. They make a very nice student instrument and a titanium Pro
model that I wanted to try. I also met someone with an Orsi clarinet and
tried it. It is beautifully constructed and there are many different
models. This one was cocobolo with gold key work. I had difficulty get
enough sound out of it, but Kelly Abraham played it and sounded just
great. It was the only one I saw at the conference anywhere. My
mouthpiece wasn't suited to it though and had I brought a different make, I
think it would have played better (perhaps my Hites would work well here).

In the last room were Selmer, Rossi, WW-BW, Davie Cane and McClune
mouthpieces. After seeing Ricardo Morales in New York last winter with
every brand of clarinet made in his possession, I had to laugh when I saw
him trying more clarinets at the Selmer booth. He plays a set of Recitals
most of the time, I think. He was on the backside of the WW-BW booth and I
heard playing that sounded like him. When I walked around to look, sure
enough there he was trying more clarinets. He must own one of every
clarinet and clarinet toy out there. And I must say he is personable and
friendly to all, taking time to speak to everyone who tapped his shoulder
or greeted him in the halls. His master class was enlightening and he is
such a positive influence. There so many other lectures and performances
and this post is so long already. Hopefully as folks reach their homes,
they will write in and we can hear more of what they thought was great.

There were loads of list people in attendance. I will probably leave
someone out, but it was nice that in addition to Sue and Audrey, I met
Rebecca Brennan, Kelly, Tim, Jim Fay, Larry Paikin (again), Jim Lytthans,
Lelia, Mark C. and many others. We heard David Neithamer, who was excellent.

In 2006 Fest will be held in Atlanta and will be helped along by Joe Eller
(very nice guy). It would be nice if we could put together a list choir or
group of some sort to perform. In 2007 Fest will be in Vancouver, BC - our
first Canadian Fest. And we have Audrey to thank for that. She did a
great job spear-heading the effort to bring Fest to Canada. If you want to
get involved, let the ICA know that you want to help. There is plenty to do.

Fest certainly had its trying moments too. On the whole though, this was
one of the most successful conferences I have been to. But I do want to
emphasize that we are lucky to have Bob Walzel going to bat as our leader
right now. He has made the ICA into "an average clarinetist's
organization", looking out for the little guy and offering words of
encouragement and support when it was sorely needed. And best of all, he
took responsibility for things gone wrong (when they weren't his fault),
and publicly no less. The very acknowledgement of the many problems
surrounding this festival is a major step in the right direction, and that
acceptance so lessened the impact of the flaws. Most everyone I spoke to
had some sort of personal difficulty, but felt that it in no way negatively
impacted their experience. I even had a nice little "plus" when I found I
could park anywhere on campus for free. And I had great fun ferrying
people around and meeting so many new friends. Those coming on board as
the leaders of "our" organization can learn a lot from Bob's
leadership. Now if we could just find someone like him to run for public
office.......

Nancy

Nancy Buckman
Principal Clarinet / Orchestra AACC
eefer@-----.net

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