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My new A clarinet....

Author: donald
Date: 2005-04-09 21:38

kia ora
i have reccently retired my aged Yamaha A clarinet, and replaced it with a four year old Buffet Festival that had been seriously "revised" by Guy Chadash. I bought this clarinet from a friend in the US without trying it- which was not ideal, but in this case i knew the player well and trusted that it was a good instrument.
i wasn't suprised to find that changing instruments was not easy- i had played on the Yamaha for 15 years and had, of course, become quite accustomed to its ways.... In fact, after three weeks i really only just started to feel that i could make a sound i liked from the new clarinet, and now (after two concerts using this instrument for major chamber and orchestral works) wouldn't say that i have yet really come to love this horn.
NOW this is the interesting bit...... what HAS suprised me is that in the last two weeks i have received several unsolicited compliments on my tone (when using that clarinet).... a number in regard to the Brahms Trio, and also in reference to Peter and the Wolf and the Mendlelsohn Violin Concerto solo passages. I hadn't told anyone i was using a new clarinet...
The fact is, i don't FEEL like i'm making my best sound, but what's getting out there to the audience is definately making me friends. In the last years i would have received just a handful of such comments. i have experienced (and witnessed) this phenonemonnnmn (sp?) with mouthpieces, when a player sounds better "in the hall" than they do on the stage, but not to the same extent.
So, i'm sticking with this one, i've got the A clarinet i'm going to play for the next 15 years (well, maybe....). But i'd definately reccomend to others trying out new instrments to have an extra set of ears at hand... and remember what sounds good in the practise room isn't always what works in the hall!
keep playing the good tunes
donald

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