Author: Wodkowski
Date: 2006-04-26 00:02
I also use Eaton clarinets and find them to be fantastic in orchestra.
Richard Hosford inspired me to pursue them, and I have been very happy with the decision to abandon Buffet. He is a fantastic artist, and I feel lucky to have studied with him - he opened my mind to a new world of sound and musicianship.
I use the International model, Peters small bore version of his big bore Elite. In play testing I found little difference between the instruments and opted for the International, Hosford thought I sounded more English on the small bores!
The real test has been freelancing on the job in London - they have not let me down yet. No matter what orchestra I have played with, London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, they blend and give me as much power as the other guys in the section, with lots in reserve.
One valuable thing I learned from Richard:
I always thought that he must play on the most incredible setup becuase me makes such a beautiful sound and achieves such a variety of colours and flexibility. Well I was dead wrong, because whenever I tried his setup it felt awful to me, I didnt understand how he made it work for him. I had an epiphany one day when he played my clarinets and sounded EXACLTY like himself, with all the little inflections and colouring he does. Richard simply just plays and uses his tremendous air control, voicing, and great talent to achieve what he does - your mental sound concept must be true and in the end you will sound and play like yourself, I just had to divorce the setup issues and get on with things. Sure some of my past teachers preached something similar to this, but this example convinced me, its all in the mind and physical approach.
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