Author: graham
Date: 2002-03-21 13:41
I believe the answer to your question ultimately does not lie with the design of clarinet you use. I doubt a wider bore lends a significantly more powerful sound (if more powerful at all). If it did, you might as well get a wide bore Rossi, Eaton Elite, or old 1010, and all these would give you an extra .2 mm over the Fountain instrument. And you say you already use an open lay mouthpiece, so the only change there that might help would be to get one with a flatter or even convex baffle which would make the tone more cutting even though not louder.
The problem is unlikely to be with your set up or even with you, but with the others. Why is it that most jazz (trad included) I hear is amplified? Usually to project across a large room of chattering people, but also partly to help equalise balance. This has gone out of kilter since the New Orleans days, because, wide bore trombones now make a fatter sound than earlier narrow bore trombones, wide bore trumpets ditto compared to the narrow bore trumpets of that period, let alone the cornets used by many of the better trad players. Pianos are also louder. The clarinet as a design has not kept up relative loudness, so it needs help from amplification. What is the answer for you? Simple in theory. If your group wants to play New Orleans as it really sounded, they should get hold of period instruments and play them with the subtlety combined with verve of the original players.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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