 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: charlie clarinets
Date: 2010-11-28 17:56
Just wondering if there is any device that can stop spit dripping from the bell without affecting the tone. Cause no matter where you are playing, it's still nasty.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2010-11-28 18:00
It's not spit - it's condensation.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2010-11-28 18:04
Indeed, Chris. Having done things with my clarinet that caused spit rather than condensation to accumulate, it's bleedingly obvious when it's spit.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: PrincessJ
Date: 2010-11-28 18:42
I second the above posts. Yeah, I know it's still gross, but if you use a cloth between pieces (or whenever practical), you won't get the goop drip.
I really don't feel like engaging in a conversation about knowing when it's spit versus conversation, ask me again later when I'm finished with my lunch.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2010-11-28 18:44
Doesn't make much difference what it is, you can either wipe it up when you have a chance or put something absorbent on the floor to catch it as it drips. It comes with the territory. Even brass players can control when and where the water is released from their tubing. Clarinets just aren't made that way.
Karl
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2010-11-28 19:38
Spit is considerably harder to wipe up than condensation (or condensation with a touch of spit mixed in). It just kinda hangs there like drool. Because it is.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2010-11-28 22:24
Attachment: distillery.jpg (52k)
You mean to tell me that you have not as yet routinely hooked this (see picture) up to your clarinet?
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2010-11-29 02:57
The obvious is to swab out often, every chance you get. We've had this conversation often on this board about saliva and condensation. Sure there is a certain about of condensation involved but for a great many of us, me included, it's saliva as well and often in a greater ratio than condensation. I had a rehearsal tonight and the other clarinet player played about the same playing time as I did yet I had to swab out about 8 times in 2 hours because I was getting beads of "saliva" in the bore, he only swabbed twice, once at the break, once at the end. If it was mostly condensation we would have been more equal. I play with a lot of saliva, proven fact, it even happens when I play bass clarinet. It's really a ridiculous argument. For many players that don't swab out much, and I know many, it's mostly condensation, for those of us that "spit" a lot when playing, I know several of them too, it's a combination, period. It seems it's only those that don't have to swab often that swear it's only condensation, if it were we would all have the same amount of water in our clarinets, we don't. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2010-11-29 03:06
For regular condensation, I'd advise you to swab right after your Clarinet comes up to temperature. A lot of condensation forms right at the start from a cold instrument.
Be sure to suck in during rests. That will take the excess spit off of the reed.
http://www.SkypeClarinetLessons.com
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2010-11-29 05:37
I've had to swab out every five minutes, and I've had to swab out once. Same piece, same room, same weather. The swab-once occasions were always when I swabbed early, maybe 5-10 minutes in.
There are multiple sources of humidity, and much of it comes with the air you exhale. Try blowing on a cold window, it fogs up. That's what happens inside your instrument, and it's not saliva. Whether or not that humidity varies per person, I don't know.
I wouldn't have been convinced of this until a couple months ago. I was making a demo tape of extended techniques, many of which I've never seen written but I think make awesome sounds. For about 10 minutes, I was growling and grunting and spitting and horking and shhh-ing into my bass clarinet. When I took the mouthpiece off, there was a thick trickle of drool that bridged the mouthpiece and neck, that I had significant trouble getting rid of with my finger.
THAT is saliva. The stuff running out of your keys and bell is probably partially saliva, but unless touching it with your finger leads to a goopy, sticky mess, it's condensation by and large.
Also, whether you need to swab may or may not be an indication of how much condensation is in your instrument. It may just indicate a more or less unfortunate path the condensation took on that given day.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2010-11-29 15:41
Believe what you want. Every time I go to my dentist he tells me that the reason I have so much calcium build up on my LOWER TEETH, despite the fact that I floss and brush regularly, is that I have a lot of saliva build up in my mouth and despite what Alex wants to believe, it actually goes into my clarinet. You can believe what ever you want, saliva is a major part of it with many players. Of course not with Alex, he never spits into his clarinet but i do and so do many other players even when they don't want to. So naturally the solution is to swab often and early. ESP
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2010-11-29 15:50
FWIW brass players tell me that the pH and other properties of their saliva effects the longevity of the bore. Supposedly those who drink carbonated beverages before concerts, rehearsals, etc. get more pitting in the brass linings.
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2010-11-29 16:33
I spit a LOT into my clarinet, I think more than most, and people are often quite disgusted when I playfully exaggerate the volume of slurping during rehearsals. :P
I'm just saying that my mind was changed as to the composition of the liquid streaming out of my instruments once I had that actual-spit experience.
That, and the river of liquid streaming out of the neck joint on my contrabass clarinet, which sits above the mouthpiece.
I'm not saying there's not spit in the liquid, just that it's not the bulk of the mixture.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: MarlboroughMan
Date: 2010-11-29 20:13
Huge cocobolo spitoons, placed directly below the bell, are said to improve tone quality. They're extremely expensive though, and some players say they blow out after a few years.
Of course, I prefer my spitoon to be German bore, and clarinet legend has it that JC Denner stopped making the original "Clarinetoons" when he moved his shop from Carson City to Nurnberg.
******************************
The Jazz Clarinet
http://thejazzclarinet.blogspot.com/
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Author: kdk
Date: 2010-11-29 20:21
I think Morrie Buckun makes these in ringless and "fat boy" models as well.
![[wink]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie3.gif)
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Author: ned
Date: 2010-11-30 04:35
I think Larry Shields had the answer..............
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2010-11-30 15:57
They don't call them "spit" valves on brass instruments because it's all condensation that comes out. Just sit near a French Horn player some time and see all the "condensation" they empty on the floor, even when the hall is really warm. Yes David is right, when the clarinet is cold in the first few minutes there will be "mist" and then condensation but after half and hour, an hour, two hours in a warm concert hall, well think about it for those of us that have over active saliva glands. Enough already. ESP
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Author: salzo
Date: 2010-11-30 18:04
Ed wrote:
"They don't call them "spit" valves on brass instruments because it's all condensation that comes out."
Actually, they are called "water keys".
A trumpet player almost bit my head off when I referred to it as a spit valve.
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