 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2019-12-25 20:52
Hi,
I just got a book about Kalmen Opperman for my Christmas, and in it he says (or perhaps jokes) that we should play a chromatic scale before we do anything else in the morning.
I really like that approach to practise - just being able to pick up the instrument and play a little bit many times a day. That would fit really well with the way my days work. However, I tried it once, and I found that the amount of time that I spent putting the instrument together, drying it, and taking it apart, meant that lots of little playing sessions didn't really work.
I also tried just leaving the instrument together and not drying it, but then it cracked.
I wondered if anyone had found a solution to that? I kind of wonder if I should do my lots of little practises on a plastic one, and save my wooden clarinet for longer (half hour or more) practise sessions? I really struggle to get time for a full half hour practise every day.
Thanks!
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Author: kdk
Date: 2019-12-25 21:20
My knee-jerk reaction to the cracked instrument is that it probably would have cracked sooner or later no matter what. Unless the room you keep it in is exceptionally chilly, which might have accelerated the process, but once the clarinet's wood is seasoned and stable I think it would take an uncomfortably cold room temperature to cause a crack to develop when you blow warm air into it. I've sometimes left my clarinet out for the day, playing it for fifteen or twenty minutes at a time and never had a crack result from it.
Running a swab through it once or twice before you put it down shouldn't take any significant time.
I do find that dry reeds are a problem with this kind of routine. You can try to keep the reed of the day wrapped on the mouthpiece in a plastic bag so it doesn't dry beyond a quick wetting until you're finished playing for the day. Then deal with the reed as you would normally. Or, obviousy, you could use a synthetic reed for these short sessions and keep the cane for longer ones or rehearsals/performances.
Karl
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2019-12-25 22:31
Hi Karl,
Thanks, that's good to know. I've noticed that with my new Yamaha the water tends to pool at the joins between the clarinet parts, where as with my old E. J. Albert, it doesn't. It worries me that the Yamaha might crack because of that pooling, although it was actually the old Albert that got a hairline expansion crack.
I'm tempted to have a go at keeping the Yamaha assembled and just run a swab through it after playing, as you say. Must have a ponder. Probably best not to store I in the airing cupboard to keep it dry. :-)
Thanks (and Merry Christmas :-) )
Jen
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Author: kilo
Date: 2019-12-25 22:37
There are at least two problems with leaving your instrument assembled. One is the permanent compression of the tenon corks. The other (with a wooden horn) is the accumulation of moisture in the sockets — if you don't disassemble the instrument and dry them out.
If taking your clarinet apart and putting it back together really takes too much time, why not buy a used resonite clarinet, or even a metal one, and use a synthetic reed? You could play a chromatic scale any time you wanted and use your good instrument when you had more time to practice. I'd suggest putting a pillow case or slipcover of some kind over the instrument to cut down on the accumulation of dust around the pivot points.
Post Edited (2019-12-25 22:38)
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Author: Djudy
Date: 2019-12-25 22:43
Same problem here, so I often use one of my metal clarinets or the Vito, but of course they're not the same. It really depends on what needs to be worked on.
I know for a fact that just swabbing will not get the water accumulating at the joints. What about, after swabbing with a different swab, leaving a dry swab or one of those long fluffy 'padsavers' in the bore between sessions ? Will this wick out the water or just hold all moisture in the bore?
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2019-12-25 22:49
Since the problems of leaving the horn together are already enumerated I'll just say that the only requirement is to run a swab through and pull it apart. The sockets will dry fine while you're off doing something. Then just reassemble when you come back.
With Legere reeds, I leave the mouthpiece system all together for an entire day.
..............Paul Aviles
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Author: kdk
Date: 2019-12-25 23:02
Just to be clear (and all "on the same page") we aren't (I don't think) talking about leaving the clarinet permanently assembled, only leaving it out for the day and then disassembling and drying it more thoroughly after the last practice period at night. The problems that kilo and Djudy mention - compressed corks and water left in the sockets - would be problems with a clarinet that's left assembled indefinitely. The corks, in my experience, recover overnight if the clarinet is put away in its case overnight.
Karl
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Author: GBK
Date: 2019-12-25 23:46
Since I only practice using an A clarinet numerous times during the day, I have an older 1930's wooden Buffet A clarinet that I'm not fussy about and which I keep assembled on a stand all the time. After about a year, if I feel that the tenon corks need changing I just do it myself.
A small price to pay for the convenience of having a clarinet always ready to go.
...GBK
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2019-12-25 23:47
Hi Paul,
That system that you suggest sounds very doable. If I could leave the mouthpiece and reed assembled and just have to run a swab though and take the pieces apart then that could work. The time consuming part is drying all the nooks and crannies but if I can leave them to air-dry then that is much easier. I've had the corks adjusted so that the part go together easily, which helps a lot.
Thanks so much for this advice. I really would get on much better if I could fit in lots of little bits of practise.
Thanks also to everyone for their thoughts. It's great to know what it is that matters and what doesn't in this. I definitely don't want to have to learn the hard way about cracks in clarinets. :-)
Best wishes,
Jen
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Author: hans
Date: 2019-12-26 02:19
IMO cracking is most likely to be caused by uneven moisture absorption; i.e., the damp inside circumference swells while the (dry) outside circumference doesn't. Wood absorbs water most easily from the end grain; i.e., in the sockets.
Swabbing followed by padsaver insertion won't prevent that absorption so that drying the sockets is good practice, which a valued instrument deserves.
Some people never oil the bore (and get away with it), but preventing moisture penetration by annual oiling seems like a good practice too.
Leaving a clarinet assembled for long periods may cause seized sockets, even in sockets that fit well.
Hans
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Author: Tom H
Date: 2019-12-27 08:55
I do what the OP does--practice on my student model (non-wood) clarinet daily--for half an hour or so (recently cut back from an hour). I practice once a month most months on my good Buffet, and use this for rehearsals and concerts each summer (totaling 14 nights of 2 hours each. Because of lack of use, my total repair work on the Buffet was replacing one pad in 20 years.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2019-12-28 01:05
Assembling, disassembling, mopping out the bore slowly with the pullthrough, drying the sockets with a piece of paper towel, greasing the tenon corks just enough to keep them supple and wiping down the keywork before returning the instrument to its case is all part and parcel of clarinet playing.
Also correct handling of the joints (to avoid bending keys or tearing off key corks) and doing your best to protect it from sudden changes in temperature and humidity are the best things you can do to ensure you get the best from your clarinet. Although at this time of year that last bit can be tricky, but still do your best to protect it.
Keep the mouthpiece clean and don't scrub it with anything abrasive - wash it under cold running water and dry it inside with a piece of paper towel - don't yank your pullthrough through it at lightning speed as that can wear the rails or kick up a burr on plastic mouthpieces. If you choose to keep the reed on the mouthpiece, then that's fine - many players do that and have no trouble, but many will insist in storing your reeds in a reed case (laid on glass or any other flat surface or in their plastic reed holders).
From time to time, clean out the toneholes with a cottom bud (Q-tip) to remove dead skin cells and grease that accumulates in them. Also go around the tenon shoulders to remove any cork grease that's accumulated there.
That's about as much as you the player can do - any further and more involved maintenance should be left to your designated repairer when it goes in to be regularly serviced.
Musical instruments are made to be played. If they're not played, then they just become an expensive ornament.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2019-12-28 01:50
Hi Chris P. I do pretty much all the things you list, but one item has occasionally raised a question in my mind.
After I rinse the mouthpiece in water, I dry it with a facial tissue or paper towel inside and out. However, I'm aware that those paper products have abrasives in them, not by design really, but just because the process for making them isn't very tightly controlled. It's probably embedded "dirt."
People with eyeglasses are aware that if you wipe your glasses with paper towels etc. then the glass surfaces will accrue light, barely visible scratches that eventually will impair their transparency. The damage is visible under magnification.
Therefore I wonder about similar abrasions to the inside of a mouthpiece gradually building up and altering, if not the shape in any significant way, then perhaps the surfaces.
Back to the original post, I believe in drying the clarinet after use - bore, tenons, sockets. I take time to blow out tone holes too. But I've very rarely had the energy to practice multiple times per day.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2019-12-28 02:28
About the multiple times per day.
Honestly I don't know how you'd go about practicing competitively (5 or more hours per day) if you did not break it up.
Ideally I agree that we should dry out everything on the spot, but to address the cork compression, you really only need free the cork from the socket to allow the cork to re-expand (after all, it is only wood).
And speaking of wood, it is the wood fibers in paper (paper is wood too!) that make it abrasive. However, I don't find that the fine abrasiveness of paper toweling would have an adverse affect on the inside of a mouthpiece.
You MUST avoid the quick pull of a swab to avoid the friction or "sawing effect" that speed would impart. But as long as it is merely a silk swab (not all wadded up), it should pull through slowly just fine.
..................Paul Aviles
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2019-12-28 11:23
Hi,
Thanks for all these thoughts. I've adjusted things over the last few days and it's definitely getting easier to fit in more practise, while still caring for the clarinet.
I switched to the Yamaha swab that came with my clarinet, which is silk I think and runs much more easily through the clarinet. The cotton one that I used to use was quite hard to pull through and I worried that it was damaging the bore, so this new silk one seems better. It is certainly much quicker anyway, and fits through the mouthpiece, where the other one didn't at all. My next task is to figure out to not let the weight fall out in the washing machine. They don't work so easily after the weight has got lost.
I also switched back from my silverstein ligature to the PVC rovner one that is quicker to put on and stays put if I move my mouthpiece from one clarinet to the other, as I sometimes do at the moment. (I'm switching between my Yamaha and E.J.Albert clarinets frequently to experiment.)
I'm also just trying really hard not to get distracted by life stuff (reading the politics news online), and to prioritise better. The political situation has calmed down a lot here recently so it's easier to concentrate and get stuff done.
So far all this is working and I'm up to two half hour practises a day instead of three a week.
Thanks!
Jen
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Author: NOLA Ken
Date: 2020-01-01 02:21
I ran into the same question of having a clarinet out and ready to play so that I could just pick it up and practice several times a day. I play mostly vintage Leblancs, so my solution was to pick up a cheap repadded plastic Vito V40, which stays assembled and ready to play for sometimes several days at a time. The V40 feels and plays pretty much like my vintage Leblancs for practice purposes, so the transition is easy. If you can afford it (there's a lot of inexpensive student equipment online), picking up a used plastic or hard rubber student model similar to your wood instrument could solve your problem. A spare mouthpiece (always handy to have on hand) would avoid worrys of wearing our your best mouthpiece. I don't know Yamahas so cannot recommend a model, but maybe someone else here could do so.
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Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2020-01-01 02:58
This is a problem only on this list, in my experience.
Take care of a new instrument in the first few weeks, swabbing out regularly.
Otherwise, practice the socks out of it – not doing so is the real danger to your ultimate success, however you construe that.
Tony
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Author: kdk
Date: 2020-01-01 20:38
Tony Pay wrote:
> Otherwise, practice the socks out of it – not doing so is the
> real danger to your ultimate success, however you construe
> that.
Clarinets wear socks?
Happy New Year, everyone!
Karl
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2020-01-14 17:17
Hi,
I've been having a go at this plastic practise instrument idea and it's actually working quite well for me.
The book I read about Kalmen Opperman said he really valued rest periods during practise, so he basically suggested 5 minutes on, 5 minutes off, throughout the practise, to the point of having an 8 hour practise session, in order to get in 4 hours of actual practising.
I've been thinking a lot about that, and I've figured out a scheme that's working nicely.
I have my plastic Normandy Resotone, that JDBass very kindly sent to me when I was very new on the forum. I have it all set up, with a reed and ligature and a Yamaha mp on it, and I'm just keeping it like that all the time.
A lot of my other work is emailing people all day, so I'm sitting at my computer here, alternating between sending emails and cracking out minor scales, and that is working rather well.
I don't need to worry about swabbing out the instrument or getting it cracked and can just concentrate on practise. I think this could be a really good thing.
Thanks so much for the helpful discussion.
Jen
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