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Introducing myself, +questions about Turkish clarinet mouthpiece, and tarogato

Author: fredd
Date: 2005-10-13 14:08

Hello everybody

I discovered this forum a few weeks ago, and was very happy to find a place with a lot of persons as mad as me about clarinet!
First of all let me introduce myself. My name is Frederic, I’m 28 and I live in France (so excuse my mistakes in English! I’ll try to do my best!) .I started the clarinet when I was 8. I first took music lessons, classical music, and then switched for jazz big bands. After that when I was a student I played in many bands with friends of mine in different styles: funk music, reggae and ska music... But I discovered klezmer and “eastern music” and since I love even more my instrument...And I understood that there is a lot of job to do to learn and understand all these music that I don’t know well enough…
I started to play in a trio, music with french lyrics, and tried to “klezmerize” my game. Now we are 6 in the band, and the new instrumentist (violin and trombone) helped to make our music sounds “eastern”, as they were first musicians in folks bands and knows a lot about jewish or klezmer standards. We recorded a first album in last april.

I play the Bb clarinet E13 BUFFET, but I am also a fanatic collection and player of all the clarinet “cousins”. I first discovered the American metal clarinets. I don’t agree with some people on the site that said it can’t be a good instrument. It is true that many are of poor quality. But some ”pro” models have been made, and they’re nice! I own two CUNDY BETTONEY (seems to be one of the best metal clarinets maker in the 1920’s). One Bb silva bet, that needs repairs but which sounds great, and a Eb one.
For New Orleans they both sound great! With the Eb and a good vibrato you can almost dream you’re sidney BECHET! I also tried the Eb in “ klezmer style” musics, as solist, or when played as a “contre chant” above violin and trombone. And it is nice, especially in the high register, which is very brilliant and clear.

Then I bought a Turkish G metal one in Istanbul, the same R KOR than many of you. Maybe it is of poor quality, but it is really a great instrument. It was very difficult to learn at the beginning, It hurts the hand with this big spaces between the holes. And the albert system needs a few month to be learned. But after a few month I could play interesting things. But I did it with my B45 Lyra + reeds 2.5 (as usual for me). The original mouth piece seemed unplayable for me at this time. So with my B45 lyra it sounded roughly like a Bb metal one. Good but not very original.
3month ago another clarinetist told me to try again this original mouthpiece with soft reeds as turkish clarinetist do. I did with a “1” reed and it is really a new instrument now. The low register is deep and fascinating, very powerfull. The high register is also terrific, powerfull. It is possible to find harmonics very easyily by overblowing, that gives many possibilities of fingerings in the high uppper register.

Questions:
Does anyone knows these turkish mouthpiece? The only thing written on it is the number 7. It seems very opened. Is it similar to a JB 45?
I could not find in turkey other better models than the REKOR.
Do you think there is a pro model in metal??
Some of you talk about a wooden G clarinet (I saw some in istanbul but I was told it was very poor quality). What do the turkish virtuose (like mustapha KANDIRALI ) play? Wood or metal?
Where do people play this wooden G clarinet? Wich system? Boehm or albert?
Does Ivo PAPAZOV plays a G clarinet?

My last folie is a taragot (or tarogato).I had the chance to find a good one. I was told that romanian ones where of poor quality, not capable to reach the octave register. Mine is hungarian, a copy of stowasser model (the most famous ones it seems), but not made of “rich “ wood but of resonite I guess. The guy who sold it tome also owned a real Stowasser in very good wood that I tried. It was really terrific, the sound was so beautifull! He also owned a very rare bass tarogato, an incredible long conic tube that reach your feets!
Mine is a GREGUS PAL one, who sounds very good. I worked hard my taragot and start to have results. I can reach the two and half octaves. The fingering is rougly the same albert than the turkish clarinet. I use a “2” clarinet reed, the original specific mouthpiece I have is not opend enough to play with softer reeds.

Questions:
Did anyone tried to play the taragot with a soprano sax mouthpiece? I read on the net that it it was possible.
Does anyone here knows tips about tarogato playing??

Last thing: I continue to look for unusual clarinets.Does anyone knows other cousins?
Is the Klarino used in Greece a C albert clarinet? Does it make a specific sound or is it comparable to a Bb boehm?
I also heard of diatonic clarinets.It is used in a part of France, the Brittany. It seems to have a very important place in their music, from the celtic family. Does anyone knows about it or play of it?

I also found out an excellent site a bout the clarinet in the musics of the world, continent by continent with many references. It also tries to reference all the ancesters of clarinets in the world music, from very primitive form to elaborate ones, but it is in french!!
But everybody can understand the references.
HYPERLINK "http://www.lamediatheque.be/documents/" www.lamediatheque.be/documents/clarinette/introduction.htm

Another good link about taragot:
http://hungaria.Org/hal/folklor/tarogato

If anybody has good sites about clarinet, please let me know.

Thanks in advance for your answers and see you.

Musical salutations
fred