Author: KenJarczyk
Date: 2015-07-30 01:50
Many years ago - in College days - I participated in a clarinet clinic/masterclass which still looms large in my memory. I forget the major instructor, but we had probably about 40 players, from High School through Grad School. The instructor spoke about various techniques and styles, and demonstrated a lot of passages for us. He did not have his instrument. He did tell us upfront that he would like to borrow our clarinets briefly to perform demonstrations and excerpts. He would hold out his arm, palm open, and one of us would hand him our horn. No - we didn't think about germs and sanitary conditions. But it did have an amazing effect on most all of us. A student might hand him a Noblet, the next a Bundy with the Geo M Bundy mouthpiece and a Rico 2, I handed him my R13 with my custom made Frank Wells and well-worked over old purple-box Vandoren reed, the next guy his Selmer with a different set-up. What stuck with me all these years later is that this player sounded amazing - and sounded exactly the same on every horn. That blew me away. It really isn't equipment. Equipment is nice, actually equipment is great! It helps us attain what our hearts hold in us for our own sound. Given time, I know I will sound like I do, if I take my treasured current Fobes CWF, and smack it into a brick wall, and pop on a Selmer HS* mouthpiece. Might take me an hour or a day, but I'll adapt knowingly or unknowingly until my ear hears what I do. Yes, I try a lot of mouthpieces, but I know it is just a tool to accomplish an end. Some tools help get the job done easier than others.
Ken Jarczyk
Woodwinds Specialist
Eb, C, Bb, A & Bass Clarinets
Soprano, Alto, Tenor & Baritone Saxophones
Flute, Alto Flute, Piccolo
|
|
The Clarinet BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
