The Clarinet BBoard

The Clarinet BBoard The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Previous Message | Next Message

Re: choose a horn... from custom maker vs named brands

Author: Franklin Liao
Date: 2010-06-16 21:52

In response to all the above, I do have my own personal findings from a few preliminary auditions with the named brand instruments...

1. It would seem that a person can become accustomed to a certain acoustic tonal profile and a certain resistance that they would lean to a particular maker (in my case, it would seem to be Backun and Symphonie for the time being)

2. The physical feel of the instrument and aesthetic factors come to play. I supposed that a higher-end instrument has to embody something more than good intonation and fluid mechanical keyworks to the user.

3. The 'mood' of the instrument relative to that of the player. I found Yoyo Ma's assessment over Davydov to oddly apply, as the more I would 'attack' a horn to make it do what I hope it would do, the less I get in return, whereas if things come naturally and only has to coax the instrument at worst, the relationship yields plenty of reward emotionally, and perhaps musically. I noticed how I would pick up a certain horn more so than others because of this synergy.

4. Making a conclusion on one example of each maker is too difficult. One cannot help but think at the back of the head that it may not be right to make a blanket statement about a particular model as all findings made are anecdotal. I therefore can definitely see myself sitting at some place going through several horns of the same model just trying to sort things out and confirm if certain traits are universal within the same line of instruments.

I feel wishy-washy suddenly, but it seems that it is not even about the few grands that would be dropped into an instrument, but rather it is the search for what the heart desires that proves to be so vague an objective.

Post Edited (2010-06-16 22:17)

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics