Klarinet Archive - Posting 000291.txt from 2004/11

From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Clarinets
Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2004 10:47:26 -0500

Kurt, that was Mazzeo's old basset horn. I have since sold it to
Karen Sremac who plays it beautifully.

Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net

-----Original Message-----
From: kurtheisig@-----.net]
Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2004 11:30 PM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: RE: [kl] Clarinets

Of my dozens of clarinets, I think my 2 C clarinets are the
easiest (a 1976 Buffet R 13 and an old Amelotte)---also my Selmer
9 alto clarinet. I don't think that is a function of any key as
much as it is qaulity of instrument, over-haul, mouthpiece and
reeds. Since I am a repairman, and mouthpiece maker, I have huge
control over those factors. I also have thousands of great aged
reeds stashed away, and learned reed-making from Steve Adelstein.
So I have been able to equalize the variables!!!! Still I think
the C and Eb alto are easier. The BEST clarinet I ever played in
any key, however, was Danny Leeson's old Selmer Basset
horn!!! ---DANNY, WAS THAT YOUR ORIGINAL BASSETT, OR WAS IT
MAZZEO'S OLD BASSET?????

Kurt

-----Original Message-----
From: Karl Krelove <karlkrelove@-----.net>
Sent: Nov 4, 2004 7:55 PM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: RE: [kl] Clarinets

> -----Original Message-----
> From: kimi [mailto:kimi_kimy@-----.com]
> Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2004 10:08 PM
>
> --- Karl Krelove <karlkrelove@-----.net> wrote:
>
> > The most usual, from highest-pitched to lowest
> > (shorter to longest):
> >
> > Eb = piccolo clarinet (small)
> > C = highest-pitched of the soprano clarinets
> > Bb = next highest soprano (the one used in bands and
> > played by beginners in
> > the U.S.)
> > A = lowest of the standard sopranos
>
> Out of the above soprano's not counting the Bb, which
> is hardest in your opinion and which one is more
> enjoyable to learn?
> K
>
Can't really do that one simply (if at all). You're asking me of
the C or
the A clarinet which is the harder and/or the more enjoyable to
learn. First
of all, most students in the U.S. first learn to play on a Bb
soprano (as I
did). Secondly, playing the other two soprano instruments isn't a
separate
learning process, more an accommodation of their individual
acoustical
quirks. Since no one I know has "learned" to play clarinet using
anything
but a Bb, I'd have no basis for an answer. It may be that the Bb
is easiest
to play, at least among the mass-produced brands, maybe because
they sell in
so much more volume that manufacturers can afford more research
and
development.

Between the A and the C, I'm not sure one is easier than the
other, though
they are different. Music tends to be easier on the clarinet for
which the
composer wrote it, because simplicity of key was generally an
important
consideration in the choice of instrument, at least for composers
of the
mid-nineteenth century and earlier. But I couldn't say that
either the A or
the C clarinet is inherently harder than the other or more
difficult (or
unenjoyable) to get used to.

Karl Krelove

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