Klarinet Archive - Posting 000053.txt from 2009/10

From: "Dan Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] New A clarinet from Patricola
Date: Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:13:34 -0400

In my opinion, we are once again falling into the use of meaningless and
counterproductive descriptors when speaking about the character of a
particular clarinet's sound.

I suggest that the terms used by Diego -- "warmer," "darker," and "bright"
have no universal meaning. Clearly the sound of a clarinet needs to be
described, but images of color and temperature as used here are not helpful.
In practice, they are about as unhelpful as terminology can be because there
is little a student can do to obtain (or to reject) the character of
clarinet sound the s/he wants to have. And what is "warmer" to one person
can well be ice cold to another.

I have told my story about Manny's music store on 48th street in NY several
times, but it is worth telling again.

A young boy came into Manny's with his father to buy a clarinet. He said he
wanted one that had a "nice dark sound."

The salesman picked one out saying that its sound was like the grave, as
dark as night. It was like playing while wearing a shroud. Blah, blah, blah.

The kid tried and eventually chose not to buy it. Nothing lost. The kid
couldn't play anyway. Father and son left the store and went elsewhere.

Within 10 minutes another young student came in asking for a clarinet with a
bright sound. The same salesman took the same clarinet out and told the
student that its sound was as bright as the sun at midday. "You need to play
this instrument with sunglasses on," said the salesman. The student was so
impressed, that he bought the instrument.

Dan Leeson

----- Original Message -----
From: "Diego Casadei" <casadei.diego@-----.com>
To: <klarinet@-----.org>
Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009 7:57 AM
Subject: Re: [kl] New A clarinet from Patricola

> Dear Fred,
>
> you are completely right about springs etc. I also pay attention to such
> detail. About the sound, I should say that the "Virtuoso" clarinets are
> warmer and darker than the previous "Professional" series from Patricola,
> whose sound was typically bright. One of the past achievements from them
> was to change the barrels to make a warmer sound (again, I was bothering
> them a bit... I'm tedious): they showed me a hundred or so of old-style
> barrels that they decided not to sell any more. Still, the A clarinet is
> a bit warmer than the B-flat. But this is ok, and it is desired in almost
> all pieces written since the mid of XIX century. On the contrary, they
> still produce the C clarinet with the "old" sound, which is very bright:
> they told me that this is what people want from such an instrument. BTW,
> it's exciting to visit them: they are not an industry but work as old
> craftsmen (everybody is able to do everything), from the wood to the
> mechanics.
>
> Cheers,
> Diego
>
>
> Fred Jacobowitz wrote:
>> Diego,
>> I have had a similar issue in the past with my R-13s. Unfortunately,
>> most of the R-13 A clarinets I was able to get my hands on then (alright,
>> 25 years ago, but still...) were ridiculously resistant and ultra-dark. I
>> had to wait for at least a year, trying out A's until I finally found one
>> that was free-blowing, and (not coincidentally?) was also quite in tune.
>> It was brighter than the other A's I'd tried too, so it blended perfectly
>> with the sound of my Bb. It was a great pleasure to occasionally forget
>> which horn I was playing - they were that similar in feel. However, my
>> experience, as far as I can tell, was (and still is!) quite common - and
>> not just with Buffets. GOOD FOR YOU for complaining to Patricola, and
>> BRAVO to Patricola for recognizing a problem and fixing it (would that
>> Buffet would pay attention to such things!).
>> May I also suggest that you do as I did, and spend a few bucks to
>> have a superior repair person make the spring tensions on both horns
>> identical, so there is no finger-confusion when changing horns.
>>
>> Fred Jacobowitz
>>
>> CASE CLOSED Musical Instrument Case Repair Service
>> Kol Haruach Klezmer Band
>> Ebony and Ivory Duo
>>
>> You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note.
>> ~Doug Floyd
>>
>>
>>
>> On Oct 5, 2009, at 5:32 AM, Diego Casadei wrote:
>>
>>> Dear all,
>>>
>>> I'm pleased to say that, after some month of discussions with the
>>> Patricola brothers (http://patricola.it/), they were able to satisfy my
>>> request of having a more uniform feeling when switching between the
>>> B-flat and A clarinets.
>>>
>>> Some time ago, they started selling the B-flat "Virtuoso" clarinet,
>>> which is a great instrument (if you try, you buy...), together with the
>>> A clarinet. I had the impression that the latter, though a great
>>> clarinet, was giving a feeling not very similar to the B-flat. When
>>> playing in orchestra, switching is easier if the natural difference
>>> between the two instruments is less pronounced, hence I started
>>> bothering the Patricola pushing to change as much as possible the A
>>> feeling toward the B-flat one. After 2-3 bad prototypes, they were
>>> finally able to find the way of providing a similar response of the two
>>> instruments. On Friday, I played the first 2 new A instruments, and I
>>> should say that they are really great (my contribution has been
>>> negligible, still I'm proud of it :-) ...): now switching among a pair
>>> B-flat/A of "Vitruoso" clarinets is easier, and the A instrument did
>>> not loose anything of its qualities (which is the risk, whenever one
>>> makes changes to the bore).
>>>
>>> I hope you'll have a chance to test their instruments too.
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>> Diego
>>>
>>>
>>> PS. Just to reassure everybody, I don't earn any money with it :-)
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Diego Casadei, PhD.
>>> Physics Department, CERN
>>> New York University bld. 32, S-A19
>>> 4 Washington Place 1211 Geneve 23
>>> New York, NY 10003 Mailbox J28310
>>> USA Switzerland
>>> office: +1-212-998-7675 office: +41-22-767-6809
>>> mobile: +39-347-1460488 mobile: +41-76-213-5376
>>> http://cern.ch/casadei/ Diego.Casadei@-----.ch
>>> ----------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>
> --
>
> Diego Casadei, PhD.
> Physics Department, CERN
> New York University bld. 32, S-A19
> 4 Washington Place 1211 Geneve 23
> New York, NY 10003 Mailbox J28310
> USA Switzerland
> office: +1-212-998-7675 office: +41-22-767-6809
> mobile: +39-347-1460488 mobile: +41-76-213-5376
> http://cern.ch/casadei/ Diego.Casadei@-----.ch
> ----------------------------------------------------------
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>

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