 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: chorusgirl
Date: 2009-10-29 20:28
My son has a Lyrique that we purchased in February. To date, it has been a wonderful fit for him, and he is doing quite well (he's in seventh grade and will be in a marching band, hence the decision for a Lyrique rather than a wood clarinet).
He gets a lot of snide, negative comments from various people, who are not familiar with the Lyrique, or when they hear it's not a Buffet or Yamaha, etc.
He has an audition coming up, and I'm wondering if he will encounter the same bias. Do auditioners generally look to see what a student is playing on? Will they look at his set up? Will they not look or care, but only base it on what they hear?
I know it is hard to predict that, but I'm wondering, in general, what you have experienced.
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Author: Ed
Date: 2009-10-29 20:34
When I have listened to auditions I don't have much interest in what they play, only how they play. The instrument is only a tool to get the job done.
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Author: OldClarinetGuy
Date: 2009-10-29 20:48
I've had many students audition for various things. I can't say that I have heard about a bias towards a brand of clarinet, but there are judges who have an expectation of what a clarinet sounds like, and different clarinets have different sounds. Last year I had a student who had a wonderful audition for a state ensemble. The audition was a success but she plays on a Selmer Odyssee, that has a very big and round sound, and the judge kind of ripped her in his comments for her "overall tone". I spoke to the judge and he liked her musicality and technical skills but her tone was an issue for him. To his credit, he gave her a very high score and she is in the ensemble.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2009-10-30 12:04
Is it a blind audition where the judges do not look at the people who are auditioning but instead have their backs turned and just identify the people by number? The use whatever you want.
But overall, there definitely CAN be biases against a Lyrique. Of course some people are biased against Selmer, Yamaha, Buffet, etc. Depends on the person. I had a music teacher who no matter what clarinet I had, if it wasn't a Buffet, he would state, "Man. That clarinet sounds really good. Almost as good as a buffet!" Of course it didn't stop him from teaching me in the class.
All I know is that if it were me personally, I would play what I owned. And if anyone gave me any grief, I'd just give them some excuse about it being all I can afford or it was a gift from someone. Hopefully if they were PLANNING on being biased against you, they won't be.
Alexi
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