Author: NBeaty
Date: 2017-08-14 06:00
"It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that ping", couldn't agree more Bob.
It's certainly not fair to imply that no other maker is producing a product that has a naturally nice ping/ring to it. Since you singled out A blank zinners and 13 series vandorens, I'll assume that's who you were referring to (a belief I generally agree with).
To an extent, it's not so much a matter of opinion as to what happens with deep baffles and so forth as it is just physics and geometry.
It's unfortunate that those makers who do emphasize retaining the upper overtones and a focused and clear sound are often frowned upon as being "bright". Bright is a word that really should go away from our vocabulary for describing sound because almost 100% of the time it is meant in a negative way.
We need a certain amount of "brightness" in clarinet sound much the same as when making mouthpieces you need a certain amount of brightness (light). You have to be able to see well to make an artistic product; without it the work would no doubt suffer. It's hard to have a beautiful sound if the light is turned off is the analogy I'm attempting to go for here...
"Darken" the sound often results in other things- usually dull, dead, and lacking resonance. The natural resonance of the clarinet is a beautiful thing and we should all stop attempting to force ourselves to sound this way or that way. I couldn't agree more Bob that clarinetists need to have more flexibility.
Let's take a look at jazz saxophonists for example. They have tremendous flexibility in that one player to the next can sound drastically different! One could argue they have gone too far, but it's easier to argue that clarinetists haven't gone far enough.
If the embouchure is formed properly (reed is allowed to vibrate/minimal pressure, lips forward and in, tongue arched) and the mouthpiece and reed (and ligature for that matter) is setup in a way that it will respond quickly and predictably with a comfortable working resistance, everyone will indeed have a unique sound. Everyone's orientation of their jaw, oral cavity, and preference on mouthpieces/reeds is slightly different as well as their ideal sound concept and would result in a larger variety of sounds than we have today.
Not coincidentally, when playing in a more natural style (allowing your voice to come out rather than attempting to force something else), playing gets much EASIER!
All that is to say that yes it is true that many mouthpieces and reeds tend to de-emphasize a full and vibrant tone and force people's voices to be a bit....the same, there are plenty of mouthpieces out there that DO still have this ring and focus. Even with the "BEST" mouthpiece though, many players use reeds that are so hard that the natural resonance is lost anyway.
To conclude- "I'm not sure that clarinetists really like the sound of the clarinet all that much" was something I said after an ICA conference one time and I still think it's got some merit. Not all that dissimilar from Bob's comment on everyone sounding the same, but just that players are often afraid of aspects of clarinet tone that should be there in its natural state.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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