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Re: Clarinet Fest

Author: antaresclar
Date: 2017-08-06 20:19

There is another issue here in regards to the topic of expensive equipment and that is the issue of how a clarinet, mouthpiece, ligature etc.. looks. Morrie Backun's great genius is that he realized many years ago that 100% of amateur clarinetists and 90%-100% of professional clarinetists are most influenced by how a clarinet looks and that if one changes the look, one can dramatically raise the price and convince a huge part, if not all of the clarinet community, that it plays better and is thus worth the higher price.. I remember when his barrels were first introduced and how everyone swooned over the look of them.

Next came the bells which solicited a similar reaction. Next, why not put three lines across the table of a standard zinner blank and charge $500? I believe those three lines on that mouthpiece had more to do with why it sold then and why clarinetists thought they were great than any other reason. How about gold plating on the keys? It looks sooooo great! How about a purple crystal mouthpiece? The look effects us in our mind without us even realizing it, and it is this new look that causes us to initially part with large sums of money, not how it plays.

Next comes along Silverstein with it's innovative ligature which again I believe has sold more product simply because of how it looks. If a cryogenically frozen Bonade ligature was offered how many of us would pay for it what the Silverstein costs? Now we have Selmer clarinets that are all black...

The reality is that the look of these very expensive products is what gets us hooked initially, then once we are hooked we come back time and time again for the newest version of that awesome looking product. Even if it makes no difference in our playing. Even if the cost is exorbitant.

This is not a bad thing, it is how we are wired...We can't help but do this...What is unfortunate is that we loose so much $$$$ because of it!

Garrick Zoeter

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Clarinet Fest new

Bob Bernardo

2017-07-31 16:34