Klarinet Archive - Posting 000819.txt from 2004/10

From: orm1ondtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya)
Subj: Re: [kl] Question about middle Bb (or: I think I'm in love)
Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2004 04:42:25 -0400

Michele=A0Kaeder wrote:

> My question is, do all clarinets have really
> stuffy, sub-par tones on the wide-open Bb, or
> is it just every clarinet I have ever played?

With proper breath support, you can obtain a passable tone, but in
general, throat Bb *is* noticeably the instrument's weakest note ---
"stuffy" is a good word for it. The register key serves two purposes
and it is not in the ideal location if Bb were the only consideration.

For the R13, a well-known clarinetist named Abe Galper invented an
improvement. Mr. Galper died recently, but I would assume (?) that his
improvement is still available. You can find his web page easily by
doing a Google search (or probably a search on any other service) for:

> Galper clarinet

Of course, since we haven't heard your particular instrument, we can't
be positive that there is not some other problem.

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