Klarinet Archive - Posting 000263.txt from 2004/08

From: Nancy Buckman <eefer@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Morrie's contribution
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2004 01:00:24 -0400

At 02:31 PM 8/9/2004, you wrote:
>Nancy Buckman wrote:
>
>>BTW, I have given my Buffet R-13s (circa 1968) to Morrie to have
>>rebuilt. He says he can make them light enough for me to play again and
>>that they will sound just super. When I get them back I will let the
>>list know how they stack up to the Wurlitzers that I played at Fest. If
>>they come anywhere close, having your clarinets "Backun-ed" (or
>>Morrie-fied) may just be the biggest bargain in clarinetdom. We are
>>talking thousands of dollars in savings here.
>
>How do you make a clarinet lighter? Ream the bore? I'm serious.

Well, you eliminate the extra metal and use extra thin and lightweight
bells and barrels. Other than the keywork there will be no metal on my
clarinets. Then add a strap and a hooked thumbrest and you have a lighter
clarinet. And I know of no clarinet with a lighter, smoother touch than
those Wurlitzers. The Recital doesn't even come close. The ones I have
played seemed very stiff. When I was in New York last winter and Ricardo
Morales was passing his clarinets back and forth to people, I had the
opportunity to handle his recitals. They were extremely stiff. I could
never play on anything like that. But his hands are larger and stronger
than mine (and younger) and those stiff keys work just fine for him. The
"action" of keywork is a very personal thing.

>Now, hearing about savings is nice but knowing up-front costs is even
>better. I have never heard a semi-critical word about Morrie Backun's
>work, and his client list reads like all the winners of Clarinet Star
>Search. That said, I'm sorry, don't tell me about "estimates," tell me
>what you charge. Morrie's website omits prices. What's his bargain for
>an overhaul?

Send him your clarinet and then you will know what he charges. Every
instrument will have a different price. Morrie actually puts clarinets
under a microscope and inspects all the tone holes and every inch of wood
for tiny cracks. If you want special pads or extra keys made or wooden
rings or new plating or other-than-standard materials used in your
overhaul, or if you desire bells and barrels, all those things have
different prices. There is no "bargain overhaul" in Morrie's
shop. Everything Morrie does is top of the line. I don't make my living
playing either. I do however, wish to play as well as possible and
unfortunately that can't be done with a "bargain treatment" of my
instruments. As for the price of Morrie's bells and barrels, his prices
are reasonable. If you try them and can't tell a difference in your
playing, then you aren't playing at a level that warrants their use. I
have yet to actually listen to someone trying his things that I haven't
been able to hear a difference. There were some pretty young kids trying
his things who could tell the difference. Morrie's bells and barrels solve
all sorts of problems from projection issues to pitch and response
troubles. No other bell and/or barrel on the market today can do what his
do. And that would include those from the Asian bell and barrel maker who
was at ClarinetFest. I tried his things and they created problems that I
didn't have before I made the switch to Backun products.

I haven't broached the subject to Morrie, but I am hoping to convince him
to do a workshop at ClarinetFest in Atlanta where the floor is open to
amateur volunteers who wish to see just what a half hour in his presence
can do for their playing. Morrie doesn't need any more work. He is knee
deep in alligators with no prospect for escape for a long time. But he
alone can make a huge difference in shortening the learning curve for the
amateur player. If he does nothing else for the amateur, the fact that he
can eliminate the break issues and major pitch problems would make life for
most amateur players and their section mates, in what ever organization
they play with, so much more rewarding. Imagine learning to play a
clarinet at age nine or fifty-nine, and not having to deal with going over
the break. To me, that is cause for celebration.

My wildest dream would be for Morrie to sit down with ten little kids and
their clarinets, in front of parents and teachers, and one at a time
eliminate their playing difficulties by fixing their instruments properly
and providing student models of his barrels and bells. He would have to
choose one model of clarinet and then work with the manufacturer to supply
barrels and bells for those instruments only. There would be no other way
to control the quality of something that would have to be mass
produced. Just designing the equipment to make his products in mass
production will be a monstrous job. It will happen though because Morrie
isn't going to be able to keep up with the demand for his stuff. As it is,
he works from the crack of dawn until the wee hours when he has deadlines
to meet. He worked eighteen hours a day for weeks preparing bells and
barrels for Fest. He took 800 pieces with him and sold nearly everything
(in 4 days) and had a huge pile of orders besides when he went home. And in
his shop he has his wife, sons, sister, nephew and many friends helping him
on a daily basis. The phone rings constantly, faxes are flowing in and
out, e-mails pour in with requests and out with answers to questions,
people are going in and out of the shop, in addition to those sitting up
front waiting their turn or just visiting. A beehive can't be any busier
than Morrie's shop and he is managing to get it all done. He is an amazing
man and he holds the key to the future of clarinet players the world
over. He is building his own clarinets and has waiting lists more than a
year long for them. It is unbelievable that one person can do so much for
one segment of the musical world. And his woodworking is a thing of
artistic beauty.

So if you want to play the very best you can, you must be willing to open
your wallet and spend some money. Morrie does make his living in music and
he is fair and honest to a fault. I can honestly say that Morrie has given
me much more than I could ever pay him. And I would do it all over again.

Nancy

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

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