 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ashley
Date: 2001-05-11 21:44
I think my clarinet is seriously plotting against me. I've had it for 6 months, in February it cracked 2 hours before my college audition. In March it cracked more the day of opening night of Fiddler on the roof. Today (dress rehearsal for our spring concert, I'm playing the clarinet part to a vocal solo of Send in the Clowns) was my fault, i hate to admit, but still. I dropped it. I know, i know, i'm dumb. Unzipped the case and lost my grip on the case.. and it fell out onto my foot then the carpeted floor, the pieces hitting together a little.. Found one of the rods is bent pretty badly so the RH pinky keys dont work, bent up the bridge key and side keys, and pretty much everything on the lower joint (and the upper joint) is bent up a little. I bent some of the keys back enough so it would play, but its at the shop now getting everything realigned. I had to use my directors clarinet (a Yamaha, dont know the model but roughly twice the price of mine) for the rehearsal and that worked out. And i sounded about 15 times better on her clarinet than i do on mine. I'll probably use hers for the performance tomorrow (since mine wont be done and i sound better on hers anyway) I decided that my clarinet hates me, so its going to get replaced next year. Probably with one the same model as my directors.
But it helps that when I went in to the shop today to bring it in, my new upper joint is here. So i guess they only have to fix the lower joint : )
Do i just have bad luck or what? This is awful!!
~ashley~
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Author: Mike Irish
Date: 2001-05-11 23:11
you might offer to buy your directors horn ( if it can be parted with )
maybe when you get it back, it will be back in adjustment, and you will feel more comfortible with it......
like my son and me...... both playing clarinet, his is in the shop mine goes to school.... mine in the shop his gets played here......
he prefers his to mine ( mainly the feel of the keys and the way the thumb suport and stuff are ) and I prefer mine.... have played several different ones... and mine always seems to be better.....
oh welll...
Mike
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Author: ron b
Date: 2001-05-12 03:27
I firmly believe everyone should have a functioning old clunker for just such emergencies as you describe, Ashley.
You're not at all dumb, don't go there....
Everyone has mishaps, some serious but most pass relatively unnoticed. Yours happened to be at a crucial time when all eyes were upon you but, hey, it's working out 
Look at the positive side. You learned a thing or two that I'll bet you'll never forget. You'll also be patient with the rest of us when we mess up. I'm sure everyone who visits this BB has a few horror stories to tell.
Let's hope your 'bad luck' streak has run its course.
Hang in there.
- ron b -
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Author: Bart Hendrix
Date: 2001-05-12 05:34
It could be worse if you didn't have access to another horn.
In college I had an old Eb that I used for marching to protect the new LeBlanc (that was before non-wood horns other than metal were commonly available). For football half-time shows, we often used scrambles to get from one formation to the next. At one game it rained fairly hard all the first half of the game and into the start of the halftime, but we did the half-time show anyway. In one transition, another band member and I bumped, I lost my grip on the horn and it got stepped on in the mud at the center of the field. Fortunately, it was undamaged (due to the soft, gooey mud), but it was full of mud and I was done for the evening. Unfortunately, I was a one person section and it was after I had convinved our arranger to write some nice, juicy parts for me.
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Author: Leesh :-)
Date: 2001-05-12 14:34
I feel so sorry for you! I can't really say much but I do have a couple of tales of my own (and my teacher). Last year when I was playing Eb clarinet in Shostakovich's Symphony no.10 with my youth orchestra, just before the final concert I accidentally bent the RH Bb/Eb key a bit and the screw kept falling out. It would still play alright but I was so stressed because the Eb part is pretty challenging and prominent in places and everytime I had to touch that stupid key (which was a lot) the screw would slide out some more. Luckily I used my noggin (head) and brought a screw driver onto the stage that night (you know, just incase anything drastic was to happen). Just before one of my solos I was so annoyed with this screw that I unscrewed it on stage, bent the key and put the key back on (VERY quickly). Little did I know that the second clarinettist was watching the whole time in amazement and after I played my solo almost busrt out into laughter. After the concert she totally lost it and told me that she had never seen a person so determined to fix something so fast and then be so cool about everything when I had to play my solo. I think my nerves (mixed with rage) must have just taken over. I'm just lucky I have a steady hand and experience, otherwise the screw might have ended up underneath the second flute's seat. Another time after a clarinet choir rehearsal at uni, my teacher was carrying the uni's bass clarinet up the fire escape stair well (which was a shortcut to his teaching room). At the top of the stairs (3 levels of cement) the case of the bass clarinet opened (it obviously hadn't been closed properly) and out popped the bass, dropping all the way to the bottom. I will never ever forget the look on my teacher's face when he realised what had happened. It took ages to be fixed but we all have a laugh about it now. I'm just glad it was him that dropped it and not me.
Thought they might cheer you up a bit!
Leesh :-)
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Author: Bob Curtis
Date: 2001-05-14 02:35
Ashley:
You have succumbed to the age old problem of not doing things in an orderly and regular manner. Every time, bar none, ALWAYS open your case in the same manner, SITTING DOWN and held very SECURELY!! If you follow this pattern the likehoood of dropping the instrument will be greatly reduced. About the playing characteristics of the Yamaha, don't get the idea that "Pro" models that "everyone" plays are the only good instruments on the market. You just found out that some of "the" brands are not always as easy to play as some other "brands", and that some of the lesser acdepted models are very easy to play. Keep this in mind as you progress and look for another instrument should that time arise.
Good luck, and don't think that the instrument "hates you." Just use the old brain before you open the case.
Bob Curtis
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Author: DLE
Date: 2001-05-15 08:37
This is quite worrying.......
At first I thought this post was bordering on the 5th sign of madness (Or was it the 4th?), and then I remembered back to my national audition 2 months ago, and how my Bass Clarinet conveniently wouldn't play a note from start to finish. Like ashley's, it is a very old and used clari. Makes you wonder.....
DLE.
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Author: Leanne
Date: 2001-05-16 00:06
My wooden clarinet loves me, and so does my bass, so we get along okay. The marching clarinet Benny, well, sometimes he wants some extra attention so a spring comes unhooked, or it jumps out of the case or something drastic.
Perhaps your clarinet has a disorder such as my clarinet. As was discussed in the "names" thread, perhaps talking to your clarinet will make it feel more appriecated.
That's enough of that. Good luck.
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