 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Keil
Date: 2000-02-12 18:02
Very interested in them as well as barrel, wondering if anyone is currently playing on one, if so can i get some feedback on them?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-02-12 23:45
Keil,
The standard response goes here :^) Some people love 'em, some don't! Gregory will work with you if you're really prepared to buy some (or maybe you could just email him and ask him directly for some references - he's a sponsor here).
As I sat for a couple of days talking over things with Jim Pyne, I've really come to the conclusion that if you don't know exactly where you want to go it's probably best if you <i>don't</i> change mouthpieces (as long as there's nothing technically wrong with what you're using). You can spend a whole lot of time and significant amounts of money - and still be no closer to where you thought you'd like to be. There was a discussion earlier on the amorphous "tone quality" issue - if you know where you are (listen to a recording of yourself), and can figure out where you want to be, then a mouthpiece maker can really help you. If you can't quite figure out where you're going - it's hit or (mostly) miss.
We figured out an analogy. For those of you who wear glasses, going to the optometrist consists of sitting at a machine with a lot of lenses, one eye covered, and a person saying: "is this better ... or this?" Sometimes we make the wrong choice and the optometrist goes down the wrong way. He has to figure out what happened, back up, and ask the question again.
Then we switch the eye that's covered with the other and we do it again. Theoretically, each eye is now corrected to the best it can be for that distance. We've made some missteps along the way, but with the doctor's guidance we're just about there But ...
Now we check with both eyes. There's <i>still</i> some fine tuning to do, some backing up & restarting, but finally we have the right setup for the glasses.
Today.
At this particular moment. (Never get tested for glasses if you aren't feeling well. You'll be surprised when you try using them when you're well. But that's another story ...)
Tomorrow things would probably test out just a bit different. Luckily our eyes get used to the new glasses that are slightly wrong by the time we get them.
Then our (my, anyway) eyes change a bit but we don't notice it because it's so gradual. After a couple of years things get a bit blurry again and we repeat the process ... there's nothing physically wrong with the glasses we have, and possibly someone else could use them just fine, but they're no longer suitable for us.
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Author: Willie
Date: 2000-02-13 02:24
Thats a great analogy Mark. I took the liberty of printing this out. I'm constantly being asked about mouthpeices at the school, but even with a closet full of clarinets and mouthpeices, theres still bunches I've never tried or even seen. About 99% of the non-original mouthpeices around here are 5RVs, which is what the local music stores are pushing.
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Author: Frank O'Brien
Date: 2000-02-13 10:03
After playing a B45 [dot] for years, I now play a Greg Smith Kasper and find it very good. I also play a Otto Link 6* - both are played with a Vandoren 3.I give the Smith the edge, but it often depends on the reed fit.
I don't begrudge Greg is price range - finishing mpcs is not the road to wealth, but I note that the Link costs about half.
I found Greg very pleasant to deal with.
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