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Re: clean

Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2010-06-20 02:48

Ed Palanker wrote:

> If it were only
> condensation all four of us in the BSO would have exactly the
> same amount of "water" in there clarinets,

Ed, I don't think this is true. The condensation is moisture that is carried in the player's breath (like humidity in the atmosphere). When the breath, which is warm and moisture-laden when it's exhaled, hits the cooler walls of the mouthpiece and even cooler walls of the clarinet, the moisture would condense out of the breath. No doubt everyone's breath carries different amounts of water, accounting for differences in the amount that ends up in the clarinet. I would think it even makes a difference how long you hold the air in your lungs, so different phrase lengths might produce different amounts of condensed moisture. Also, individuals' oral and core temperatures may be different, especially under the physical stress of playing, so the difference when the exhaled air hits the mouthpiece and barrel might be enough to account for some differences between players in the amount of condensate. I don't think the condensation has much to do with the humidity level of the room air.

And of course there *is* a certain amount of actual saliva that gets blown past the reed, so your point is probably correct that individual salivary levels probably account for some of the difference in players' need to swab more or less often.

I'm more curious about Janine's teacher's advice about using cork grease to prevent water from getting into the instrument (or at least to somehow prevent it from "ruining" the clarinet). Sounds like it could create a small mess inside the bore and I have trouble imagining what benefit it would provide. I'm hoping Janine will explain a little more about it.

Karl

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