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Re: Review rant

Author: Michael E. Shultz
Date: 2021-01-08 18:38

According to my 1971 Selmer Band Instruments catalog:

"But the most outstanding feature of this instrument is its distinctive tone. The Series 10 was designed specifically for the American school of playing, and provides a tone neither as light as the French nor as dark as the German. This is the unique quality preferred by more and more of today's composers and conductors."

So there you have it. The traditional American clarinet sound according to Selmer. However, I bought a Couf alto saxophone in high school rather than a Selmer because I preferred its darker German sound.

While lmliberson's criticism of the subjective nature of sound description was valid in the past, today we are actually able to listen and decide the tonal characteristics for ourselves.

As an example, I have a couple of CDs from when "Saxophone Journal" was published. Bob Ackerman plays on a variety of saxophone mouthpieces.

Today you can go to YouTube and listen to mouthpiece & instrument comparisons of all sorts. However, I am finding that many of these comparisons are quite subtle when played by the same person. I have a good quality stereo system, too. It's still no substitute for personal experience.

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
Groucho Marx

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lmliberson

2021-01-02 20:23