Klarinet Archive - Posting 000332.txt from 2010/08

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Spit leakage on mouthpiece -- cigarette papers
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2010 08:50:03 -0400

Diane Karius wrote,
>If you can't find cigarette papers, perm papers (from a beauty supply
>store) are quite effective too. >

Another good alternative, from stores that sell cameras and camera supplies:
lens cleaning tissues. Like the cigarette papers and the Yamaha cleaning
tissues, lens cleaners are lint-free.

Btw, please do take Karl Krelove's warning seriously:
>>One caveat from my own experience teaching in a public school system in
>>Pennsylvania: for anyone reading this thread who is still in high school
>>or younger, these papers may be considered "smoking" or, worse, "drug"
>>paraphernalia. Check first and, if they (along with reed knives) could
>>cause a potential problem at school, you may need to find a substitute.
>>Last time I said this in a similar thread, people posted that they thought
>>I was somehow nuts for suggesting this, but in the school district where I
>>worked, both rolling papers and reed knives would have been grounds for
>>suspension and, possibly, criminal prosecution. >>

The policy may be nuts, but Karl Krelove's warning about it is completely
sane. The school districts in Northern Virginia have the same "zero
tolerance" policies. Suppose a kid with a grudge decided to contact the
anonymous tip line and rat out a frenemy for "drug paraphernalia" in the
clarinet case. Or suppose the school went on one of those "search
everything" overkill binges of inspecting all the lockers, backpacks, etc..
Several schools in my area have conducted these surprise sweeps.

I'm not aware of any local clarinet players getting caught with
"paraphernalia," but I think that's because the kids in these schools
already know better than to carry cigarette papers. Let's assume an innocent
victim (with help from the knowlegable band teacher) could explain the
cigarette papers and get out of the jam without anything worse than brief,
pro forma suspension - but better to avoid the whole mess in the first place
by using perm papers, camera lens tissues or Yamaha cleaning papers.

Lelia Loban
http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/Lelia_Loban

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