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Re: kaspar vs ched

Author: Gregory Smith ★2017
Date: 2006-03-03 23:37

"He [Marcellus] summed it up succinctly, as was his style, by observing: "The Kaspar is a blue collar, working man's mouthpiece. Chedevilles are a little too blue-blood for me."

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I have arrived home after a matinée concert today having received numerous communications about the meaning of this statement from my earlier post. I'll try to do my best deciphering what he may have had in mind.

Knowing his personality (being his student for 4 years and his colleague and friend for 15) my read on that statement was along the lines that for him, the Chedeville style was too staid, colorless, lacked guts, or wasn't capable of helping him exude enough passion (and wow did he exude passionate playing in the repertoire that he chose to play!), which he believed the Kaspars did so in spades.

AGAIN - that is not a statement in absolute terms. One cannot and must not universalize this statement. It is the opinion of Robert Marcellus. Just because he liked Kaspars and played Kaspars most of his career doesn't mean that if you play a Kaspar style, replica to the 'nth molecule, (or even his own mouthpiece!), that you will then possess the personal qualities available to YOU that ONLY HE alone possessed.

NOR DOES IT MEAN that if you decide to play a (Henri or Chas.) Chedeville replica to the 'nth degree or Chedeville "styled" mouthpiece, that you will sound more like Harold Wright!

It is positively dehumanizing and truly sad to see this type of thinking not only sent in my direction but to see it as a method of choosing styles of mouthpieces as part of ad copy from commercial mouthpiece websites and other forms of promotion. It is based on a false premise that one goes on when assuming these preconceptions. There are so many other, more important factors to consider.

That's the best that I have to offer everyone that inquired.

Gregory Smith

Post Edited (2006-03-04 00:29)

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