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

R13 and R13 Greenline

Author: Lisa Chien
Date: 2001-04-10 19:04

I just wanted to relate to you what happened to a group of us as we were selecting a clarinet. A fellow student and our teacher went to the woodwind store in New York. My friend wanted a Buffet R13 and he brought me and our teacher along so we could offer our opinions.
Although I was listening and playing, my main purpose was to shuffle the unwanted clarinets and pick up three more. After about 2 dozen R13's I asked and brought back 3 R13 greenlines. I passed them each one and blew on one myself. Our instructor played his greenline for a couple of minutes and said, "the keywork is excellent, but...I the tone doesn't sound better than a plastic student model," I passed him mine and he played it after a couple of seconds said, "this sounds exactly like the other (greenline) one." My friend passed him the third greenline (he also did not know that they were greenlines and said, "This one doesn't even sound like a Buffet." Our teacher played this one for a couple of scales and said, "all those last three sound no better than a student horn." At that point I confessed that they had been playing greenlines and not wooden R13's and my friend said, "you know I tried to push the sound, tried to change it but it seemed very inflexible." Our teacher said, "while they were definately in tune, they just didn't have that special sound that when you hear it you say 'Ah that's a Buffet.' Enough joking around. Bring some real wooden clarinets this time!"
The point is that my friend had in his mind "the classic R13 sound." Our teacher specifically asked my friend what type of sound he was looking for. During the selection process he put aside excellent clarinets that both "brighter" and "darker". But ultimately they were both looking for a sound that really sounded "special." And that probably meant they had in there mind a specific clarinet sound and wanted something to match or top it. Maybe I should have brought more greenlines. After all we only tried three and tried at least 2 1/2 dozen wooden one. But after the unanimous thumbs down, I brought out 3 more wooden R13's. Ultimately, the clarinet one buys is based on the sound one has in his head.

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics