Klarinet Archive - Posting 000654.txt from 2004/11

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] HOW TO handle new REEDS?
Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 16:24:44 -0500


Tony Pay wrote,
>BTW, in writing this, I'm just waiting for the post
>that claims, "Tony Pay says that Harold Wright
>was an arrogant arsehole."
[snip]
>Do you understand that that I have nothing at
>all against you posting what *you* find works;
>but everything against you posting what *other
>people should do* -- whether endorsed by
>legendary US clarinettists or no?

The main disadvantage I see with endorsements from legendary US
clarinettists is: They're dead. The only way to ask Harold Wright what he
really meant is by seance. I personally don't get satisfactory results
from interrogating the deceased (unless I use a Ouija board or tarot cards,
because I'm pretty good at cheating with those).

>The most important part of 'what works' for us is
>that our judgement of that workability depends on
>our view of the musical context, not on some
>here-today, gone-tomorrow authority.

Yes, and for those of us who wish to cite the best, the most accurate, the
most unassailable authority, there's an even more serious disadvantage in
citing any here-today authority, such as yourself: If we do quote you as
saying, for example, that Harold Wright was an arrogant asshole, or that
the only correct way to trim a reed is with the fingernail from the
smallest hind claw of a Romanian Ridgeback dragon, shed naturally (not
pulled!) and then sharpened with three and only three strops on an Arkansas
oilstone before each use, then there's a fairly high risk that you'll see
the message and write back and correct us. How embarrassing! The textbook
is safer, and the Ouija board moreso.
;-)

Lelia Loban
Q: Why did the saxophone player play a lot of wrong notes?
A: He thought the key signature was just a suggestion.

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