The Clarinet BBoard

Improvisation is best in the shortest time frame possible...

Author: Bradley  Date:   2005-11-08 03:07 After starting the body of this, I realised that would grab the attention of some of the jazz players on the board. Oh well. Anyway, I had to use the other school Eb today for wind ensemble, and so I went with my director to the instrument storage closets. I took out the Buffet R13 Eb: [complete with some sort of wine glass drawing probably there from when I was a toddler] Knowing fully that it had problems from the stories about it being in need of repair when they purchased the excellent Leblanc Esprit a few years ago I use now, I ran to wind ensemble so I could check it out before we had to start warming up. Then I noticed a side trill key pad was missing, and the pad that is connected to the D/A tone hole's ring on the upper joint. Just great, right? In addition, my Clark Fobes Nova was too small, and the keywork was out of alignment badly. With two minutes, I ran over to my horn player friend Alexandra and commandeered some gum she was chewing, ripped a loose leaf of paper out of my folder, and grabbed a screw driver from the piccolo player next to me after anxiously asking to borrow it. I fashioned two paper pads the size of the pad cups several layers thick, and used the not-that-sticky-anymore-prechewed gum to keep them in place. I fixed some of the keywork as best as I could, and wrapped some paper around the tenon of my mouthpiece. Want to know something? I fixed the Eb. It was one of my proudest moments working with my hands under pressure. Look to see if you can see them clearly enough: Want to know the best part? I have quite a few solos with the program we're working on for Midwest, almost all in Holst's Hammersmith. In one of the solos I kept on having a problem going through a break I guess because the keywork isn't as responsive as I'm used to, and the Director (who knew the Eb was badly in need of complete overhaul) said "Put that crap away!" after some of my peers had defended me because of what I had to do to get it working. I even think I got most of its intonation figured out and came close at fixing it. I'm not one for using faulty instruments, but I just didn't want him missing the Eb part. I try to cope with politics and favouritism- but it's nice to step back and amuse myself with old problems. I'm getting out soon anyway. Bradley Post Edited (2005-11-08 03:09)

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