Klarinet Archive - Posting 000301.txt from 2005/06

From: "Dan Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Trouble in River City
Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 21:43:08 -0400

Steve, this argument has no bottom. It allows us to suggest that we have
simpler clarinets with no low e since it is a note so rarely called for. And
this key or that key can be eliminated because we can get that note in some
other way. Simplify for the purpose of reducing price, would be the
mechanism du jour.

The bottom line is that our instruments are capable of considerable
complexity much of which may not be used for this or that concert, but we
have them anyway. So why not have a basset clarinet as the regular
orchestral instrument. And with its extendede compass present, composers
would write for it, thus justifying the manufacturer's expense to make it
and the clarinetist's expense in buying it.

I am sympathetic to your financial concerns, but not to the extent of a
possible elimination of an important clarinet type simply because you don't
want to buy one. One could argue that the A clarinet itself should no
longer be made, and the B-flat with an extra half tone extension be used at
all times. It will save you the cost of buying an A. The problem is only
the unwillingness of the clarinetists to make a considerable sacrifice.

These financial arguments really net down to your personal financial
situation, and I have serious questions if the improvement of the clarinet's
mechanism should be dependent on your needs. Instead, I suggest that you
will have to get more money somehow in order to possess these improvements.
The fact that the additional notes will not be used very much or at all for
a few years is not as important as getting that instrument into the general
population.

It is not the manufacturers having high prices for new development that is
the problem. It is the unwillingness of clarinetists to sacrifice and
absorb the pain that is the problem.

Further, sales of the basset clarinet in A would eventually result in the
need for a basset clarinet in B-flat because the lower notes would appear
also for a B-flat clarinet. In addition, the added length needed for the
basset range would supply the instrument with an improved sound for those
notes already on the traditional instrument. For example, the low C bass
clarinet provides improvement for those notes that are traditional. The low
e is better because the low c wood is there, even if the note is not played.

Change is going to occur as long as we insist upon it and pay for it. If we
don't, change will become stultified and all new developments will dry up.
It then becomes the players who are the problem, not the manufacturers.

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve White [mailto:bass.clarinet@-----.net]
Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2005 7:45 PM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: RE: [kl] Trouble in River City

A truly multi-faceted issue that has its roots in personal economic
concerns.
(Interesting bait, Dan)

It is agreeable, to most clarinetists, that to play in an orchestra you are
eventually going to need an A clarinet. How often does the professional
clarinetist play the pieces that require a basset clarinet? Or, more
pointedly,
how often is she/he paid to play these pieces. This, in and of itself,
tempers
the "requirement" of having one. Cost justification is just as big an issue
with customers as it is with manufacturers. Of course we could push blame
to
composers for producing significant amounts of quality material to generate
more
of a "requirement" from artistic directors. This is starting to happen with
low
C bass clarinets. (albeit exceedingly S-L-O-W-L-Y)

Of course that doesn't mean I don't WANT one. They're beautiful and amazing
and
wonderful.....
I can't justify spending that kind of money on one right now - when my A
clarinet will suffice. (and I don't consider myself to be a professional in
that
I do not make my primary income from clarinet related pursuits)

Artistic and Music Directors surely love to see these instruments, but they
certainly understand that not everyone has the resources to procure one.

Dreams are infinite - If you can imagine it, it can happen. [Do I want
one -
YES!]

Possibilities are tempered by plausibilities - Just because it is possible,
doesn't mean it is likely in any way. [Are they available - YES! - Does
that
mean I'm going to get one? No.]

Resources are limited - you can only do what your resources can support.
[Do I have the resources to get one - Maybe.] [Do I really have to have
one -
No.]

Although if emotion ruled, I'd have to have at least one of everything....
:)

Of course Dan knows all of this, but I took his bait.

.02 inserted (preparing for Dan's incendiary bomb)

Steve White (Yes, I know I owe you a pizza)

-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Leeson [mailto:dnleeson@-----.net]
Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2005 5:13 PM
To: klarinet@-----. org
Subject: [kl] Trouble in River City

Because I am next to the Buffet display, I was generously given every single
item that was given to potential costomers. They are very nice people, and
Francois Kloc was most gracious in his gifts. One of the gifts was a
complete display of the Buffet clarinet products, and ladies and gentlement,
I think we in the clarinet world have screwed up.

The very expensive and very complete brochure showed just about every
combination of soprano clarinets except the basset clarinet. There was also
no basset clarinet in the Buffet display. There were three bass clarinets
in the Buffet display but no basset horns. So I asked Francois about that.

He was very politic and the impression I got was that Buffet is not pressing
the lines of those two products because they are not money winners. They
had D and C clarinets galore, lots of different varieties of E-flat
clarinets, and 5 or 6 different varieties of B-flat and A clarinets.

So what I see in the bleakest sense is that after 200 years the basset
clarinet was reborn in great hopes and the clarinet world has simply ignored
the challenge. While I doubt if these instruments are to be taken out of
the Buffet catalogue of available clarinets in the immediate future, were I
in the management of that company, I would not tolerate a product line that
is not selling. It costs money to keep that product line in the public's
face, even if none are made, and I would simply stop production, have a
bargain basement sale for any still around, and never make another one.

I see the same genearal scenario for the basset horn. Either the public
starts buying them and take them out of the product line.

All things being equal, this time I don't blame the manufacturers, but the
clarinet players for having shown such little interest in the revival of the
basset clarinet and possibly an equal disinterest in basset horns.

That's where the trouble is in River city.

Dan Leeson
dnleeson@-----.net

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