 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: diz
Date: 2002-05-02 02:24
Hmm, after reading some comments about clarinetists insisting on their 2nds and 3rds playing the same brand of clarinet ... heaven help us that we should have some tonal diversity in music!!
I was conducting last night and listened to my two clarinetists playing some twiddly bits and thought - "wow, what a nice sound, must remember to ask them about their brands".
Well, I had almost assumed they had the same brand, as their tone was almost identical - to my surprise, clarinet 1 was using a Buffet Festival and clarinet 2 was using a Leblanc - horror, shock!! They actually played beautifully together, but why?
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-05-02 02:30
diz...I think that the reason your 2 clarinetists sounded so well together is that they both observed orchestral rule #1:
"Thou shalt listen to one another" ...GBK
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Author: Bob Arney
Date: 2002-05-02 04:01
diz, could they have been playing Bass Clarinets because "they were down-under"???
Bob A
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Author: Willie
Date: 2002-05-02 04:50
GBK hit the nail on the head here. My good ol' band director worked us (woodwinds) after school to teach us how to listen and adjust our pitch. We had to. At least half of the 18 clarinets were old metal school horns. But, our woodwinds caught the eye (ear?) of the judges many a time. We won against many of the "richer" schools that had all new wooden horns.
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Author: IHL
Date: 2002-05-02 10:17
haven't the residents of this bb always been saying that the instrument is the least significant part of a clarinettist's sound, and the embouchure is what matters most?
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Author: Mark Pinner
Date: 2002-05-02 12:44
I thought the whole woodwind choir played beatifully together last night. GNS rocks if you can have a bit of fun.
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Author: Stéphane
Date: 2002-05-02 14:46
Diz,
Another explaination could be that you had sipped(!) too much of Shiraz before conducting? 
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2002-05-02 15:14
In playing a musical now, and church music frequently, I have found that I prefer my Selmer [Bb] to blend better with my lead's Buffet and Selmer, as my LeBlanc requires some emb./fingering tuning, particularly of the throat tones, when finding unisons. A non-scientific observation! Don
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Author: Bob
Date: 2002-05-02 15:44
Aha...what sounds nice to one person...I have pondered much over the subject of why anything sounds "nice" to one and still don't have a complete explanation. Caught some music by Milwaukeean John Downey the other night that I really liked. I think the "listening to each other" is part of it but I also think that the subtle differences in overtones might be part of it..
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Author: William
Date: 2002-05-02 15:44
IHL--Greg Smith puts it this way: the farther away from your mouth you get, the less important the equipement becomes. The concept in your brain is the most important "tool" that we have. Then, the embouchure, the ear, the reed/mouthpiece set-up and then everything else farther away in order. It's like a long trip, the most important information is "where do I want to go?" Then the eyes, the map, the travel mode (car, train, etc) and so on. Have a good trip with, Good Clarineting!!!!!
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Author: diz
Date: 2002-05-02 22:35
I might, also point out, that the bassoon section was particularly effective *thanks to Mr Pinner* - love your bottom B flats!!
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Author: Melanie
Date: 2002-05-05 19:46
My friend and I play in orchestra together as well as do a lot of duets and have done some pit work together. He plays an Leblanc Concerto and I play a Buffet R-13. The other day, during a rehearsal of Mozart's Requiem(we were sight reading), we were given many complements on how well we blend. I think it is completely a matter of listening. After playing together so much in the last 2 years, we have learned to listen and have picked up a lot of similar playing and phrasing characteristics. The same goes with any other group. In my first college jazz band, 3 out of 5 saxes had been in jazz band in high school together. We had no problems blending together even though some of us had switched to different saxes (me-from alto to tenor).
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Author: Gregory Smith
Date: 2002-05-06 19:15
William said:
Greg Smith puts it this way: the farther away from your mouth you get, the less important the equipment becomes.
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Thanks for the mention William but I am far from the original source! The famous teacher Stanley Hasty (Professor Emeritus, Eastman School) was where I first heard it.
Gregory Smith
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