Author: Bill
Date: 2009-12-13 14:46
I'm 50. I play clarinet for my own pleasure only. When I was 37 I was obsessed with clarinet, and today it is still a great love. I own more instruments and mouthpieces (and music) than I'm willing to disclose (where will this collection go when I'm dead?!). A well-known first chair professional, with something of a queasy smirk on his electronic face, has labeled me a "hobbyist." OK!
My point today: Occasionally I still get stuck within a valley, a difficult place, that I try to "play myself out of." No matter how many years go by, how often I play, sometimes I land in set-up hell.
Nothing sounds good.
I go in the responsive direction ... 2.75 reed, crystal HS** mouthpiece, and my altissimo sounds like a cat in heat. No amount of arch in my palette is going to take the tin out of that sound! I go in the resistant direction ... "Everett Matson" style close mouthpiece, 4.0 reed, and it feels like I am trying to tango with a telephone pole.
Don't get me wrong. Some days I walk into my music room, pick a reed, sit down, and everything is joy for the next 90 minutes. But when I land in this particular spot where nothing seems to be "right," it's misery.
Nothing to do but read a book and take a break from clarinet. (You know I'll be at it again all day today ...)
Bill Fogle
Ellsworth, Maine
(formerly Washington, DC)
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The Clarinet BBoard
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