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Re: 2nd break trouble

Author: kdk
Date: 2017-01-20 04:37

"Serviced recently" is not synonymous with "in excellent condition." Players post here so often insisting that their instrument is the image of mechanical perfection because a local repairman "serviced it (fill in an appropriate time interval)."

Do you know anything about the repair person who worked on your Prestige? Do you know that he or she is competent *with good quality clarinets* (not school rental quality instruments and not trumpets and flutes)?

Was this problem with the altissimo notes present when you got the serviced clarinet back from the repairer? If it has started happening only after a reasonably long time - say at least a month - it's possible something has gone out of adjustment since the service and his work was faultless. Service six months ago is not a guarantee that nothing has gone wrong since.

The bottom line is that, if one instrument is easy to play and another isn't, the greatest likelihood is that there's something mechanically wrong with the one that's giving you trouble. There's nothing inherently different between an RC Prestige and an R13 except, maybe, positions of some keys, that should make one harder to play than the other.

It sounds as though you probably have a leaky pad somewhere near the top of the clarinet. Before you waste time and build frustration trying to find explanations in your technique or your mouthpiece or your ligature or anything else, have the instrument checked by a good repair tech - if you trust the one who did the original service then go back, otherwise look for someone with high recommendations and a high level of skill specifically with clarinets.

Karl

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