 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: janlynn
Date: 2008-01-08 19:38
The recent discussion on junk clarinets got me to thinking how we, on this board, acquired our first clarinet. I guess this is sort of a poll.
Please list what brand clarinet and where you got it. and the year if you remember.
My first clarinet came from my neighbors. it was around 1975. It was a plastic Vito. I used it from 4th grade to 12th grade and it worked great.
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Author: rtmyth
Date: 2008-01-08 19:50
Ancient history. Chromium-plated ,metal, Greville, Paris. $18 brand new. Gulp...1935. Three years later a Pedler wooden one , $60 new. It was a good instrument.
richard smith
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2008-01-08 19:52
Wow . . can I remember that far back?
I don't remember the brand name of the instrument, but it was a one-piece, Army-surplus type, metal jobbie. A friend of the family, who was a professional clarinetist and a band director, found it for us. This was in 1957, or thereabouts.
It survived a lot of my beginner frustrations -- built like a tank -- and got turned in on a (probably lesser quality) wooden student clarinet two years later. Don't know what that clarinet was, either. We got it from the local department store (F&R Lazarus). The case looked very much like what some of the later Vito cases looked like -- squarish, black, with large white stitching and metal protectors on the corners, and a blue velour interior with a big junk pocket on the left hand side. I'd say was a large-bore instrument, from the way it sounded, and it began my years-long hate-affair with the clarinet.
Susan
(an oboist now)
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Author: swkeess
Date: 2008-01-08 21:12
About 1961 I started to take lessons with my older sister's plastic Bundy clarinet. My parents bought two instruments for our family of five girls: one flute and one clarinet. Sisters number 1, 3, and 5 took up the clarinet and sisters 2 and 4 studied the flute. Actually, they used to call us by number when they got mixed up with our names! Then in high school I started playing the school's plastic Bundy alto clarinet, which was a perfect instrument for marching band. Also sounded pretty good in concert band, as a matter of fact.
Susan Keess
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Author: awm34
Date: 2008-01-08 21:15
A friend of my father's gave me his plastic instrument in 1945 or 46. I remember being home sick for several days and trying on my own to get a sound above the break. I must have been in 5th or 6th grade at the time.
Stopped after 1st year of college and resumed 49 years later -- working madly towards proficiency (and not there after five years).
Alan Messer
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Author: blazian
Date: 2008-01-08 21:22
Well my first clarinet was an Artley which my band director sold to me and bought back later on after I moved on to high school. I moved up to a Yamaha Allegro, being attracted to the shiny keys and golden colored posts. I haven't moved up since I've only had it since 7th grade (3 years).
- Martin
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2008-01-08 21:25
My second cousin was it's previous owner. His father bought it for him cause he wanted to be in the band. He didn't want to PLAY an instrument, but wanted to be with his friends in the band. So whenever marching band season came around, he'd dutifully hold the instrument to his mouth and wiggle his fingers while pretending to blow through it. Parades, football games, competitions, it was out there with for all of them, being held.
I then took it with me and brought it out on the field rain or shine, snow, sleet, and hail.
And it's still in the back of my closet. My good 'ol Buffet Crampon Evette and Schaefuer K-series. "'Ol Faithful" as I refer to her. Actually, I had Graham Golden (who worked on the Forte Clarinet I believe) create custom wooden touch-pieces for my left hand pinky keys. Very comfortable and a nice interesting addition. Polished wood in place of the tips of the B and C# levers.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2008-01-08 21:39
Ah, you youngsters, back in 1930, my 1st, a no-name wood from a nice OLD Polish repairman in Lansing MI, Pliska. I fought it with lessions from Fr. Perne', who sold me [depression times], about 1932, his Penzel Mueller F B for ?$100, which he had played in ! silent ! movie theaters earlier. I kept it until 2005, giving it to our local historical museum, since it "played" parts in our early 1953++ local symphony and pit orchs, and dance bands [OK, but a bit flat above the staff !!] . Memories ! Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: William
Date: 2008-01-08 21:44
Summer of 1949 entering 4th grade, joined beggining band classes in Wyocena, WI playing on a metal clarinet rented from Beihoff Music of Milwaukee, WI. After one year of lessons, my Dad bought it for me for somewhere over $100. Beihoff would not give us credit for the rent paid and demanded the "new" price even though the clarinet was clearly used. Beginning band lessons ended at the end of 6th grade when the band director left for a better job in Milwaukee and I didn't restart playing until high school two years later. Frank Potter of Madison, Wi's Ward Brodt Music store was kind enough to give us $100 "trade in" toward a brand new Bundy Resonite clarinet "just like Benny Goodman played in the movie, "The Benny Goodman Story" (which was just out in the theatres). Three years later, we traded for a Selmer "Centered Tone" ALL WOOD CLARINET. After that, in college I went to a Selmer 9* which later was traded for a set of Buffet R13s, which I still have btw. I'm now playing on a set of LeBlanc Concertos, but it all started back in 1949 with that old metal clarinet in the musty case that Beifhoff salesman overcharged my Dad for. And I've never forgotten that...............
Post Edited (2008-01-08 23:04)
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Author: JJAlbrecht
Date: 2008-01-08 22:51
I got my first one in the fall of 1968 from a local music store, Buddy Rogers Music, in Cincinnati. It was a (pretty bad) new Bundy that I kept even after5 I had bought my R13, so I could have a beater for marching band, and a backup for when the good one was in the shop. 12th grade, I played alto sax in marching band, so I let another student borrow it, but she never gave it back to me. No great loss.
Jeff
“Everyone discovers their own way of destroying themselves, and some people choose the clarinet.” Kalman Opperman, 1919-2010
"A drummer is a musician's best friend."
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Author: Cindyr
Date: 2008-01-08 22:54
My father purchased a used (30's, I think) Pedler in 1943 for $25.00. He played it for years. Then I got it and played it in high school and college. It had a nice long nap for about 30 years, than I picked it up and started playing it again.
I was crushed when the repairman told me it has mold and probably wasn't worth restoring. At least he was truthful!
It got me playing again, that's the important thing. I still have it over in the corner, it still plays. It's bakelite, I think.
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Author: ElBlufer
Date: 2008-01-08 23:04
I bought my B12 off prowinds...still works as a good marching clarinet (although, it did crack, and I had to repair it with super glue)Cindyr wrote:
My Setup:
R13 Clarinet (Ridenour Lyrique as my backup/marching instrument)
Walter Grabner K11 mouthpiece
Rico Reserve 3.5's
Bonade ligature
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Author: clarinetwife
Date: 2008-01-08 23:35
Well, my parents bought my first clarinet for $40 from a family whose daughter was in my class. I'm not sure who in that family had played it previously. It was, as it turned out, an old, probably 1940s Selmer Paris horn! I didn't ever write down the serial number so I don't know exactly how old it was, but it had the "new" Selmer Paris seal but didn't say BT or CT or anything like that. I bought my 1979 Selmer 10G after the thumb rest of the old Selmer fell off about two hours before the Allstate concert in Moscow ID. There was no way to make a screw hold anymore, so a quick epoxy job reattached the thumbrest for the concert.
Post Edited (2008-01-08 23:36)
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Author: GBK
Date: 2008-01-08 23:37
After starting on a school issued metal clarinet (YIKES!!), I used my uncle's Evette & Schaeffer through junior high and most of high school.
After a successful summer working at the golf course as a caddy, I was able to save enough money (about $300) to travel into NYC and purchase my first R13 (96xxx).
After 40 years, I still have that same R13 (although I've added MANY others to my collection) and use it frequently for concerts and performances ...GBK
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Author: b.roke
Date: 2008-01-08 23:42
3yrs ago i made a new year's resolution to learn an instrument. looked on TradeMe(NZ's ebay) and there was 1 clarinet - a wooden B&H Regent. Quickly followed by a Couesnon Monopole, Leblanc L200, a 1960 R13, Leblanc LL, and now a Selmer 9. just bought a B&H 1010 and a Selmer 55.
The Regent, Couesnon and L200 have moved on to other homes.
.
steadfastness stands higher than any success
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Author: DougR
Date: 2008-01-09 01:02
Mine was a used gold-lacquered "Collegiate by Holton" with a one-piece body and a snazzy white plastic no-name mouthpiece. It took me through two years of elementary school. A couple of years later, my folks traded it in on a brand-spanking-new Noblet wood horn. This, I still have. The case is falling apart and some of the keys are getting that green crud on them. I played that horn (on and off) from 1959 right up until 2000, when I got my R13.
In the late 50s, AMT introduced a line of 1/25-scale plastic car models, that you could build in either "stock" or "custom" configurations. I usually built mine stock, and ended up using some of the leftover "custom" decal sets on my clarinet; for a while I was the only kid in Jr. High orchestra with a clarinet that had hot-rod flame decals on it. I thought this was pretty neat, at the time. (yes, we used to say "neat" back then.)
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2008-01-09 01:39
I found my first clarinet at the First Monday (as it started on the first Monday of the month, and is like the car boot sales we have in the UK but on a larger scale) in Canton, Texas back in August 1986 - it was a 1965 Boosey&Hawkes Series 2-20 (serial number 234701 - amazing how I still remember that!).
I had seen other clarinets on sale there, mostly plastic Vito, Bundy or Artley types for a lot more money (more than I could afford at the time, and better maintained clarinets of the same type could be bought from a music shop in Tyler) and just happened to see a case on one stall laid in a pram which revealed this clarinet when I opened it (the case was a single, but had a huge bits compartment in the front making it almost as large as a double case - made by Ess&Ess Cases? Something like that).
As most clarinet players I knew at the time played B&H clarinets (except for my first woodwind teacher who was a Buffet player), I knew I couldn't go too far wrong with this one. I asked the seller how much it was and he said '$7.75' - I had to ask him to repeat himself, not because of his accent, but I just didn't believe him the first time, and $7.75 it was.
The same weekend I bought an old silver-plated Buescher Tru-Tone alto (without the front F key) for $50 which I part exchanged for a plastic B&H Regent oboe when I got back to the UK in September. I should have kept the Buescher as my alto at the time was a Communist-era B&S (stamped 'Elkhart' as it was supplied by Vincent Bach).
The clarinet served me well, I learnt to do various repairs on it, repadded it several times with different pads (finally with cork and leather), used it for the remainder of my time at school and started college with it, but it got stolen from the college music department back in 1989.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Bill
Date: 2008-01-09 02:03
"Emil Jardin" with plastic replacement barrel and UJ crack.
In a forest green Bundy case.
$65.
1992.
I was at a flea market, and my friend said "Oh, just buy it."
He has come to regret that statement many tmes over.
Bill Fogle
Ellsworth, Maine
(formerly Washington, DC)
Post Edited (2008-01-09 14:37)
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Author: Tony Beck
Date: 2008-01-09 02:15
Mine was in 1964, I was in the 4th grade. We didn't have a music store in Leesburg, so the whole family went to Washington, DC, to a hole in the wall music store in NW. They had dozens of clarinets, new and used. A distinguished gentleman (at least he seemed to me) showed us several and patiently explained them to my folks. Dad decided on a 7 ring Kohlert, which was probably 15 years old. It was a nice instrument and served me well. Wish I still had it. When I got to highschool we "traded up" to a Signet Special, which I do still have, and my daughter now plays in her school band.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2008-01-09 02:20
My older brother quit playing clarinet when he was in the seventh grade; I was in fifth grade and inherited his instrument. Unfortunately for all those who know me, I continued playing. But my current instruments are better than the first one (a plastic Vito, it was).
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Author: MichaelR
Date: 2008-01-09 02:44
A few years ago I mentioned to my wife that I'd like to play an instrument. Clarinet would be nice, because of the beautiful sound. Months later, in September or October, I brought the subject up again and she asked "Do you really need another hobby?" I smiled and agreed "probably not."
That Christmas (2005) she gave me a plastic, pawn shop rescue Bundy. She'd bought it after my initial mention and asked the hobby question to keep me from spoiling the Christmas surprise.
I learned on it for a year and then bought myself a Ridenour Lyrique, with her full encouragement.
--
Michael of Portland, OR
Be Appropriate and Follow Your Curiosity
Post Edited (2008-01-10 21:48)
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Author: marzi
Date: 2008-01-09 02:45
very boringly got it thru the school rent to own program in1968, a plastic and very sturdy Vito that did me very well all thru school(didn't need top of the line stuff back then to play 1st!) , and then my son was able to use it until he upgraded in jr high. its still around for when needed for his school outdoor pep band playing. it never needed much repairing , the usual pad/cork replacements, one bent side key, and thats it. The case is still in great shape too. I remember my Mom worrying if it was worth the extra money they would have to come up with every month to cover the payments... yes it was worth it!
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Author: Bill G
Date: 2008-01-09 03:06
I received my first clarinet as a Christmas gift in 1937, when I was 10 years old. It was a no-name wooden Albert system with a wooden mouthpiece. It was good enough to get me to first chair in an excellent high school band by my junior year. I still have it, and the mouthpiece has deep tooth marks from my uninformed embouchure. I don't remember ever replacing a reed until I split it or a chip fell out!
Am I better off now? Bill G
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2008-01-09 06:30
I was very small (about 6 years old) when I went to meet who was later my teacher, because she wanted to meet before accpeting such a young student. I was too small for a Bb clarinet, so my teacher suggested I start on Eb clarinet, but I don't think we had any non-professional Eb clarinets here. By coincidence a few weeks later my grandparents were travelling to USA, and bought me a Vito Eb clarinet in a store in New Jersey which I played for a couple of years before growing into a Bb.
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Author: kilo
Date: 2008-01-09 10:12
In the summer between third and fourth grades I started taking lessons from a family friend using my mother's old "Larue" clarinet, made in Czechoslovakia.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2008-01-09 12:05
1939 and in my memory it was an "Andre Ruelan", wood body plastic bbl and bell. Purchased by my parents for $5 a month from a trombone player dance band guy George V. Hendricks who threw in three months of lessons which got me into Grade School Band. Played it for all 8 years of g.s. and h.s. Played it in all kinds of weather , never oiled the bore(boar...haha) and it never cracked.
Bob Draznik
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Author: davyd
Date: 2008-01-09 13:25
Bb: Selmer Signet, 1973, from the local store. $200 was a lot in those days, or at least so my parents thought.
A: Buffet, 1979 (used) from my teacher.
C: (brand scratched off, possibly Selmer) 1985, from a dealer in used instruments.
Bass: Noblet, 1989; rented new for a theater production and subsequently bought.
Post Edited (2008-01-09 17:10)
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Author: LonDear
Date: 2008-01-09 14:18
Bb: 1966 - my mom's old Noblet
Eb: 1975 - new Bundy
Bass: 1979 - used Leblanc, had to build a case out of plywood
Contraalto: 2002 - new Vito
Alto: 2005 - used Selmer, about 30 years old
A & C: 2007 Lyrique
Of course, many upgrades over the years...
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Author: Bassie
Date: 2008-01-09 14:40
Boosey & Hawkes Regent, plastic, c. 1980. Had to choose an instrument at school and have a vague recollection of choosing clarinet cos it looked like a recorder (!). I remember the cross-hatching on the LH C/F key, reminded me of a golf club. So pleased when I upgraded to an E11...
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Author: Molloy
Date: 2008-01-09 15:23
My first clarinet was a battered Leblanc alto, $10 at an estate auction in Springfield, Illinois in 1985. It was damaged beyond ever being fit for 'traditional' use. I played it in public once, at an Art for Peace show, in an improvisational quartet of voice, alto clarinet, cello and drum. At some point I traded it for a six-pack of good beer.
My second was a Normandy Resotone. I got it in the late 1980's, I don't remember how or where. I still have it, it was an entirely adequate instrument for a beginner.
My third was an old Noblet eefer, $50 at an antique store in Madison, South Dakota in the early 1990's. It was a few years before I invested in an overhaul and a mouthpiece for it. It's a nice clarinet, it has good intonation and a sweet tone.
My fourth was the one that turned me from a musical dilettante of the general sort into one who mostly plays clarinet. It was a 1920's Selmer in essentially mint condition, acquired in the late 1990's for $50 at a pawn shop in Vermillion, South Dakota.
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Author: theclarinetguy
Date: 2008-01-09 16:21
My story isn't to exciting. Before the start of my 6th grade year my mom bought a student plastic Normandy from our neighbors. That was 1998, I'm a young guy but I'm still playing and studing!
Micheal
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Author: Brent
Date: 2008-01-09 17:06
Mine was a Leblanc Paris whose major claim to fame was having crossed the equator 22 times (it accompanied my dad on the battleship Maryland through most of WW2). Still have it. Not the best instrument, but it has a great throat Bb (due to the S-K mechanism it sports).
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Author: Tim P
Date: 2008-01-09 18:24
in 1965 my parents bought it used on a rent-to-own arrangment with the local Music Store (B & B Music, Dover Del.). I am not sure what they paid for it. I think $35.00.
it was (and still is) a wood Conn Director. I have searched the serial number and found it was about 6 years old when they bought it.
all the "cool" students had the new "high tech" plastic. However, even though I played 3rd clarinet most of my jr high and high school, me and my conn always got to tune up the band.
I still have it but do not play it. I keep it clean and in playing condition and even bought a cracked wood twin to use for parts if ever needed.
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Author: dgclarinet
Date: 2008-01-09 18:29
My first clarinet was a Bundy screamer, rented by my mom in 1966, when I was in the 5th grade. With all the $5/month payments she made, it probably had cost us $150 when the music store finally gave it to us. I still proudly own that screamer...it has seen me through many years of outdoor playing (and many years of marching band played by my kids). I had it repadded once..probably in about 1974. You couldn't hurt the thing with a hammer.
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Author: janlynn
Date: 2008-01-09 20:28
SO, it doesnt look like many of us started off on a "junker" and we have all continued to play albeit some have taken many years off and came back.
if we knew nothing about the clarinet or what to get and we dident get junkers, why is it that so many kids today do? whats the difference?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2008-01-09 20:31
janlynn wrote:
> if we knew nothing about the clarinet or what to get and we
> dident get junkers, why is it that so many kids today do? whats
> the difference?
Well, you won't find the people who got junkers "back then" here because they were turned off by the difficulties in playing their instruments and wouldn't be posting here.
Time filters out the junk for us ...
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Author: janlynn
Date: 2008-01-09 20:40
then I guess that might make the case for parents today who feel like the cheapest,lowest quality clarinet is the way to go when just starting out. Not many people who started that way continued.
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Author: EuGeneSee
Date: 2008-01-09 21:25
1955, Fairfax, VA. Entered 4th grade band class and played an unknown plastic school horn for 3 or 4 months. Yhen my parents bought a new shiney black hard rubber B&H Edgeware from the band teacher and gave it to me for Christmas. I played it until 1962 when I dropped out of band to play football.
44 years later I started trying to relearn the clarinet. Still have the B&H, which is now a dull greenish brown, though I have other horns that I now squawk on.
Don: Were there still dinosaurs in 1930?
Eu
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Author: clarinetwife
Date: 2008-01-09 22:04
EuGeneSee wrote:
>
> Don: Were there still dinosaurs in 1930?
>
> Eu
Nah, but I'll bet the woolly mammoths were amazing to see ![[grin]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie5.gif)
Hi, Don! Sorry, I just couldn't resist. Hope you are doing well.
Barb
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Author: richard1952
Date: 2008-01-09 22:14
1943 - Sharon, PA - A Pedler metal-silver plated clarinet. 1945 - a new wood Pedler, which I still own along with five other Pedlers. including two with seven rings. Four Leblanc clarinets, two LL's and one model 40 Noblet and one model 45 Noblet.
Richard
Phoenix, AZ
richardseaman@cox.net
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Author: SVClarinet09
Date: 2008-01-09 22:48
In 2003, I received my first clarinet--a Selmer 1400.
In 2005, I started playing on a Selmer Paris Omega(school's)
In 2006, I bought my own Selmer Paris Omega and I'm suffice with it for the level I'm at right now.
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Author: MC
Date: 2008-01-09 23:25
In 1970 my parents rented -- and later purchased -- a shiny, new plastic Wurlitzer clarinet on my behalf. When I was finished with it (I upgraded to a Selmer 10 after about 5 years) I passed it on to a cousin, and then to a niece. It's now back in a closet upstairs. It served the family well!
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Author: Jaysne
Date: 2008-01-11 22:42
I played sax in grade school while my little sister chose flute. After a year or two, she switched to clarinet, and then to French horn. The clarinet stayed in the family. When I began doubling on clarinet, I "borrowed" hers--that would have been in 1974.
The horn was a Vito, and I ended up keeping it and playing professionally until I got my current Selmer 10-S in 1990. The Vito was really a good horn--I remember playing it in a pit orchestra, and the conductor was remarking how good my clarinet sounded. When I told him it was a 20-year-old plastic student horn, he almost fell over backwards.
After I got my Selmer, I sold the Vito to someone for $100.
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Author: Kruzi
Date: 2008-01-16 06:55
In 1999 I got a chinese Lark Boehm clarinet in B. I sounded like Kenny G. on that thing - a sop sax sound rather than a clarinet one. And it was out of tune anytime and I had to fight to get the notes to sound at least recognizable. It was an instrument from hell.
In 2001 I got a high-pitched Bettoney Three Star metal clarinet - one could say that this was my first real clarinet and made things a lot easier.
After discovering that I was (and still seem to be) the only one around playing Boehm system clarinets I bought an Amati ACL241 student model
Albert system clarinet. Cheap but durable with a nice dark tone and each note in tune. It was one of the new models that were completely redesigned. I have sold this one to a clarinet student who still plays it.
The next clarinet was a Richard Mueller with 22 keys. A superb instrument
that soon got accompanied by another thick-walled Richard Mueller clarinet with large bore - this time
a full Oehler system clarinet with bellkey that I preferred to a Wurlitzer of the same age. The Muellers are my absolute favourites among my clarinets - they are just outstanding instruments. And the large bore has the advantage that you can use Viennaise mouthpieces on them and this way turn them into Viennaise clarinets with their very special sound.
The last clarinet I bought was an Evette Master Model that is still waiting for restoration. I couldn`t get the needed replacement parts (a barrel and a set of screws) and info yet. I have
desperately tried to contact the Buffet-Crampon company but they haven`t answered to my e-mails yet. And I wrote them months ago.
I think I`ll send this one over to the Schwenk & Seggelke company for an overhaul and making of a new barrel.
Take what you`ve got and make the best of it!
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2008-01-16 12:59
My first clarinet (yes, we did have to watch out for saber-toothed tigers on our way home from school) was a 1957 grenadilla Conn Director that my father bought new in San Francisco. He bought it because, like me, he's a contrarian, and he bristled at the way the band director pimped for the Bundy and the local store that sold it. (Scandal ensued: It turned out the director was taking a kickback from that store. He nearly got fired, which would have been a shame, because, somewhat corkscrewed in the ethics department or not, he was an excellent teacher!)
I might've been better off with the Bundy everybody else's parents bought, because, although my clarinet was objectively better (a "step-up" model at the time), it had completely different tuning issues from the other kids' Bundies. I've kept the Conn, for sentimental reasons, but it's really a pretty bad clarinet and I never play it any more. It's a testimony to the excellence of white first-aid tape circa 1957, however, because the tape is in like-new condition! What tape? Well, I used to carry my clarinet to school by hanging it by the handle over the left steering bar of my bicycle. I used the tape to bandage the case where my bicycle horn rubbed a hole in the two-toned, green and white plastic cover as I pedalled along and the case swung to and fro.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: Andy Firth
Date: 2008-01-16 13:10
My very first clarinet was Dad's old Boosey & Hawkes Imperial with a cracked bell that kept falling off. It didn't matter though because I was five at the time (1971) and had to rest it between my legs on the floor. I still remember the musty smell of the velvet plush lining in the case. My next clarinet was a challenge from Dad when I turned 12 that if I could learn Benny Goodman's solo in "Sing, Sing, Sing" and then play along with the recording note perfect, he'd give me his Selmer series 10. A year later Dad lost his Selmer series 10 and had to replace it with a plastic Yamaha-still, he wasn't really playing clarinet that much then. Happy days!
Cheers!
Andy
Post Edited (2008-01-16 22:59)
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Author: Tim P
Date: 2008-01-16 15:18
Lelia...... but didn't you love that big old clunky case. I found mine very handy for carrying all sorts of things that needed carried to school (and some things that had no business in school). No white tape on mine but is does have some exposed wood in areas.
i still use my old case from the saber tooth days. it carries music and all sorts of "have to have" gear which never gets used. But you never know when you may need pad cement, extra dozen reeds, anyother MPC, screwdrivers, ETC. I have another old junk Director I use for parts, if you ever need a key or something. I bought it just to get another case.
Maybe you can use your Conn to con your rather clever cats. you could let them distroy it and you can pretend it was one of your good screech sticks.
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Author: weberfan
Date: 2008-01-16 22:48
Couldn't resist this question. Like some others who have replied, I started out with a rented one-piece metal instrument, in fourth grade. That would be 1957. Group lessons were in the boiler room of my elementary school. I played for one year and gave up, fearing I'd never get the hang of it. (Who even knew the pipes were wrapped with asbestos?) But I always regretted not sticking with it.
So in my 20's I found a very good teacher and, bought, for $75, a used Vito Reso-Tone clarinet. The seller was Pee Wee Erwin, the swing band trumpeter, who happened to own a small music store outside New York City. Delightful man. Heard him play at Michael's Pub after that, and he sat at our table and regaled us with stories of tours past between each of three sets.
But in my 20's, life got busier. Again, I lasted for a year. Again, I regretted my decision to stop playing.
But that was then. This is now. In my 50's I've found I can actually devote the time to the music and the instrument. I have found another great teacher, a former pupil of Stanley Hasty's, and I now have a reconditioned, but mechanically quirky, Selmer Signet (plastic). It's not what my teacher would have chosen for me when I started lessons two-and-a-half months ago. But it's clear that I'm in this for the long haul now, and I hope that by the end of the year I'll be playing on something better.
This is a great Web site.
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Author: samohan245
Date: 2008-01-17 01:09
i started in 5th grade with my uncle's circa mid 60's purefur silver throat deluxe i am now in high school and degrading it to marching band and upgrading to a buffet R13 or Tosca.
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Author: cosine
Date: 2008-01-17 12:23
I acquired my first clarinet five or six years ago when a music store nearby was going out of business. I had thought for a while that I wanted to play the clarinet, and that music store had a Leblanc Concerto marked for ~$600. It looked like a good deal, so I bought it, and set about learning to play!
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Author: Lann
Date: 2008-01-18 00:47
Upon landing in Colorado and surrendering my rental, my mother and I happened to run into a lady who was looking to sell a used plastic Yamaha for $300. "It's a great little thing, well, I mean, I don't play it, it's my daughter's, and she loves it so much that she doesn't even want to be around for me to sell it, but we have to to afford her new wooden clarinet for college."
And she wasn't lying. It was in great shape, and has treated me well for years.
Then, several years later, a Yamaha Allegro fell into my lap. By that I mean, I begged and cried until my parents agreed to buy me a wooden clarinet, so they agreed to take me to the store with my plastic clarinet to see if I sounded better on a wooden clarinet. For not knowing anything about music, they certainly took the right approach to buying a new clarinet.
The owner of the store loved how great I sounded on the Allegro that he cut my parents an awesome deal, and I got a wooden clarinet and a 1990 Cutlass Supreme for my 16th birthday.
Both of my bass clarinets were ebay purchases, the second one to replace the first one that was stolen, and yeah, I was very sad, as it was my first true work of art in repair. My mentor talked me through giving it an overhaul as well as repairing the case, which was actually in worse shape than the clarinet itself. But, I found a replacement, and took solace in the fact that the other one would end up at a pawn shop where a less privileged person would get to play on an awesome bass clarinet with a leopard print case interior. And, I feel a little bad saying it, but the bass clarinet I have now is almost worth the heartache. It's a Yamaha student model that comes apart in the middle, and it's just a spectacular instrument.
I also think that my first kitty cat ran away to go live in the park, and that she is still there. Let me have my fantasies.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2008-01-18 12:56
Tim P-- Yes, I do love that roomy, sturdy old Conn case! Ugly as sin, with the "gas chamber green" lining, but it held all the doodads and music with room to spare. You mentioned keys--thank you, although I can't imagine needing any because I never play that clarinet any more. I already did have one replaced, back in about 1961 or 1962. Those cast keys are fragile. In high school, I tended to clamp down hard when I was nervous, and--snap! A scandalous old codger named Cy, in the Marinated County of California, hand-forged me a replacement on his workbench liberally decorated with Playboy centerfolds. He kept a little topless, grass-skirted hula bobble-dancer doll standing on his bench. She shimmied while he worked. Excellent replacement key--never had a bit of trouble with it and the experience taught me to unlearn that destructive death-grip.
No way can Shadow Cat have that crappy old clarinet!
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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The Clarinet Pages
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