 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ed
Date: 2015-04-01 19:56
From the Daily Telegraph -
Henry Wade, a London Dentist has obtained the dental records of a number of prominent legendary clarinetists and is offering reconstructive surgery enabling him to replicate the oral cavity of noted historical players. Wade, an amateur clarinetist happened on the procedure by accident. In 2011 Jeremy Bowens, a promising young graduate from the Royal College of Music was referred to him after a car crash which required major reconstructive dental surgery. “Jeremy and I were discussing Jack Brymer, whose playing he had long admired. In the course of the discussion we concluded that Brymer’s signature sound was largely due to his unique dental features. I had remarked that I believed that it would be possible for a player to produce the same sound if they could have the same physique. As we were in the midst of an extensive surgical procedure it was certainly possible to alter Jeremy’s oral cavity to replicate Brymer’s dental structure. Jeremy was enthusiastic about trying it”
After a long recovery Bowens has returned to playing. Listeners have remarked that the transformation in his sound is uncanny. Thomas Harken, one of Bowen’s classmates at the Royal College of Music is amazed. “Jeremy had long attempted to imitate Brymer, obtaining the same mouthpiece and instruments that Brymer had used, but always fell short. Today, one cannot tell the difference between the two”
Dr. Wade is excited about his breakthrough. “Players have long sought out replicas of famous instruments or mouthpieces. With today’s modern medical procedures, we can go the extra step.” Wade has recently obtained dental records for Frederick Thurston and Reginald Kell and has sought to obtain the records of legendary players from the US and France. He is not yet disclosing the names as there are many legalities involved. Wade is offering the procedure to musicians who wish a link to the glory days of the past. “I’ll start with the clarinet as that is my first love, but who knows where this will take us?”
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Author: fskelley
Date: 2015-04-01 20:36
One of the remarkable findings of this research is that all these great players have essentially the same oral cavity shape, and it's quite different from most "normal" people. Some kind of odd genetic accident, that is not even hereditary. In future it is expected universities will either map applicants' mouths, or just check DNA, to see whether it even makes sense to continue advanced clarinet study.
Stan in Orlando
EWI 4000S with modifications
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2015-04-01 20:45
I myself have used a 3D printer to duplicate the fingers of Stanley Drucker. Combined with a duplicate of his enormously strong jaw, which enables him to play No. 50 reeds, my playing is now indistinguishable from his.
In fact, I adjusted the printer to make everything 10% longer and can now play 10% faster and 10% louder than Stanley.
I funded my work with $1,000,000 received from a very nice gentleman in Nigeria.
Lirpa Loof
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2015-04-01 21:14
The medical records of Reginald Kell . . . . I happen to be re-listening to my 6-cd set of Kell's recordings. As admirable as many aspects of his playing are, I can't imagine why anyone would want Kell's sound. He obviously had good control over a wide dynamic range, and I mostly like his use of vibrato, but his basic sound, at least as reproduced on these recordings, is to my ears unpleasant - harsh, edged, reedy, and nothing like full. I have to respect his legacy, and Kell's interpretations are often both unusual and satisfying, but I almost have to shut off my hearing in order to listen.
(This is an honest response to the date-sensitive OP.)
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2015-04-01 23:13
Lirpa Loof wrote,
>I myself have used a 3D printer to duplicate the fingers of Stanley Drucker.>
Cool! Unfortunately, some advanced medical procedures aren't quite ready for prime time. Consider the sad case of Prof. Aolli, who played first clarinet in one of the world's leading orchestras but kept getting passed over for chairman of her university's music department. She thought she could gain an advantage over her academic rivals by means of extrasensory perception, which her companion cat exhibited in abundance. She gave some cat fur (which of course this extremely well-groomed feline had licked and licked and licked) to a colleague at the medical school and offered herself as a subject in his experiments with recombinant DNA. Alas, the transfer of ESP didn't work at all -- but she's ended up hating the sound of a clarinet as much as her cat does!
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: richard smith
Date: 2015-04-02 00:29
The oral cavity effect on timbre was the explanation I received from a high school classmate as to why he had an enviable one.( He studied with the principal of the Allentown Band, as did our classmate George Silfies. Around 1942. )
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2015-04-02 00:55
This explains my superb tone. All my life I've been told "That big mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble one day!" How wrong they were.
Tony F.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2015-04-02 01:54
I am having my brain removed. The thusly won cranial cavity will help my tone, and besides, my grey matter was always clicking "cancel" during my GAS shopping sprees.
--
Ben
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