Klarinet Archive - Posting 000079.txt from 2007/09

From: Tom Puwalski <tski1128@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] What to do with horns of famous players
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2007 16:45:19 -0400

Dan,
Maybe the ICA should raise money to house them in the ICA collection,
in is as close to "last gig" status. So future players,
manufacturers, and technicians could see what horns were like when
dinosaurs roamed the concert halls. The ICA could display them, and
once a year would could remove the relics from the arc, and have
someone play them for everybody. I think it would be great to hear
an accomplished player, perform on some of these horns once a year.
Also to hear what is sounds like next to their preferred modern set
up. Hell I hope to get a chance to play Dave Tarras's clarinets
sometime this year, and that will be a total blast.

I would love to hear Morrie speak about some of the clarinets he's
had the pleasure of working on. A man with knowledge and a 10K$ bore
gage could shed alot of light on some of those mysteries of the
golden age. What makes a strad, worth 2.5 mil? Pearlman lucked out
and bought his before "collectors" got into the market. Joshua Bell
had to put a consortium of people together to invest in it, and
someday it will be sold and the group will make some money. There
aren't too many musicians, not in some pop field that can afford the
high priced violins or the bows, working in the music field. Do these
guys really need these instruments? On his recording of the Bach
violin sonatas Pearlman plays, 2-3 different "high end" fiddles, they
sound somewhat different from each other, but not Night and day. I
wish he would have played a modern maker and just said that he used
it on one or two movements and not told the world which one it is.
But my guess is: If you tell your audience that they're hearing one
of the few that are left in the hands of players, the audience will
think it sounds better.

Tom Puwalski, former soloist with the US Army Field Band, Clarinetist
with The Atonement, and Author of "The Clarinetist's Guide to
Klezmer"and most recently by the order of the wizard of Oz, for
supreme intelligence, a Masters in Clarinet performance.

On Sep 21, 2007, at 2:32 PM, Daniel Leeson wrote:

> Tom, what you say has a great deal of sense to it. And certainly no
> student
> player with half an ounce of brains is going to presume that no
> effort on
> his or her part is necessary once one is given the benefit of a
> great pair
> of horns.
>
> But, at the same time, I have to conclude that, all things being
> equal,
> excellent instruments in superior shape are going to be more
> valuable to a
> young student than any other course of events. To allow fine
> instruments put
> in shape by the best mechanics available to languish and eventually
> leave
> the scene completely is anathematic.
>
> I also was in Oklahoma when Iggy's instrument was given to some young
> student, and if that case is a bad one for any of the reasons you
> gave, then
> we'll have to learn for the next case around.
>
> As for Marcellus' instruments, Backun told me that he had done
> those, too.
>
> I suppose that I am predisposed to something with the clarinets of
> fine
> players because I once visited John Denman in Tucson and he had Kell's
> clarinets under the bed. That broke my heart.
>
> Of course the decision of what to do with these treasures (if,
> indeed, they
> are treasures) is up to McGinnis' daughter, not me. But I have'nt
> heard
> anything that convinces me that allowing a young and talented
> student to
> have them, either permanently or for a few years, is a bad thing to
> do.
>
> What would you suggest be done? (And that is not a sneering
> comment. I'm
> looking for good advice for McGinnin's daughter.) She does not want
> to sell
> them for whatever they are worth. She wants to honor her father in
> some
> measurable way. And your suggestion of historical preservation is
> nothing
> less than putting them in a museum for people to look at while they
> detiorate further.
>
> [I'm including Tom's complete comments because they are thoughtful and
> genuinely sincere. That I am not comfortable with them is no reason to
> exclude them from other player's views.]
>
> Dan Leeson
> dnleeson@-----.net
> SKYPE: dnleeson
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tom Puwalski [mailto:tski1128@-----.com]
> Sent: Friday, September 21, 2007 10:29 AM
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: [kl] What to do with horns of famous players
>
>
>
>> And I suggested that, if the instrument can be repaired and
>> brought to fully
>> condition, she allow the clarinet society to present them to a
>> student who
>> wins the annual award, perhaps not permanently but on a rotating
>> basis.
>
> Dan, I had the chance to witness the travesty that was the "donation"
> of iggy Gennusa's clarinet at the Oklahoma clarinet symposium.
> Giving some student a clarinet used by a "great" and believe me Iggy
> was one doesn't serve the student well or the memory of a great
> player. Most of these students don't know the lore, haven't heard
> the stories, most haven't heard these guys play.
>
> It dishonors the famous player because it carries with it the idea
> that some how it was the equipment that made this person great. I had
> the chance to play Iggy's clarinet while in high school and while I
> was in the army in the early 80's. That clarinet the was given out in
> OK didn't play any where near as good as it did when Iggy played it.
> The "restoration" wasn't very good job, and quite frankly, Iggy
> always liked the clarinets that I would bring to a lesson better than
> his every time he played mine. I remember the day he finally let me
> play THE "Ched", what a disappointment that was! He was trying some
> of the new prototype mouthpieces he was developing, and He and I both
> sounded better on those than on the ched. "I'm just used to it" he
> said. AND He could play. All those old-timers, played day in and day
> out on equipment that would be left in the music store if tried by
> today's clarinetists.
>
> Which brings me to what should be done with a set of instruments such
> as Iggy's , Marcellus's, McGinnis, ect. Should you get them into
> playing shape for a player today? I've seen Morrie take some real dog
> horns and make them play great! But should he? I'm thinking
> historical preservation here! What was done to Iggies clarinet
> should not have been done! I know Morrie had nothing to do with
> those! I'd love to know where Marcellus's clarinets ended up. But
> I'd bet a month of my retirement check, if anyone has had the chance
> to play them, they are at best just "OK". Or, are these instruments
> worth more to us collectively as clarinetist if stabilized in some
> way and preserved in as close to the condition they were in when last
> played by the player? I think the later, for no other reason than to
> show future clarinetists that it wasn't the horn, the mouthpiece or
> the reeds.... It was and is the player! That is, unless you're
> playing the New Leblanc symphony, then it just might be the horn!
>
> Tom Puwalski, former soloist with the US Army Field Band, Clarinetist
> with The Atonement, and Author of "The Clarinetist's Guide to
> Klezmer"and most recently by the order of the wizard of Oz, for
> supreme intelligence, a Masters in Clarinet performance.
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>

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