 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Carol Dutcher
Date: 2005-05-09 04:23
I was looking through a new catalog the other day and wondering how did those great old 1920's New Orleans clarinet players get by without the fancy accessories we have? What did they use for reeds? What kind of clarinets did they use? What did they do when they were on a gig and they lost a pad? What did they use to clean their horns? Great food for thought.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Rachel
Date: 2005-05-09 04:38
I suspect it was because they were quite good at playing their instruments.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ron b
Date: 2005-05-09 05:07
Right on, Rachel. They also grew up in an era of Tinker Toys and Erector (and Mechano) Sets and were somewhat more adept at fixing things than TV and Video Game kids... [prepares self for burning at the stake]....
- r![[cool]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/cool.gif) n b -
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: clarnibass
Date: 2005-05-09 05:22
Many excellent players today don't use any special accessories. Actually (and I think maybe I posted this before) if I look at my favorite clarinetists, none of them use any "special" equipment.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-05-09 15:11
The above comments pretty well say it, I starting playing in about 1929-30, and recall that the "infamous" Vibrator reeds were about the only ones available to me [in Lansing, MI]. We had only one repairer, a philosophical Polish gentleman, my teacher was a French gentleman, whose income was-or-had come from teaching and playing in pits for silent movies, on a Full Boehm Penzel Mueller, which I bot about 1934-5 for ?$100. Still have it, work on it at times to improve, finally getting the 12ths up into tune, with barrel/mp trials !! We made do for cork repair with strips of newspaper, also for ring tightening, and rubber bands for springs, before taking in for inexpensive [now] repair, pads, adjustments etc. Put up with mps, we did have some O'Brien glasses available, broke my best one ?somehow?. Didn't know enough to relieve rt. hand thumb strain, or about cushions for it and mps. Bot a Buescher alto sax $135, hard earned!, learned about trying to nurse it into tune with others. AH, menories, good AND bad. Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: BobD
Date: 2005-05-09 15:30
Well, the really old timers like Sidney Bechet never even heard of or could have afforded Tinker Toys or any other store bought toys. Read Sid's biography for some insight. He didn't even own a case but carried the clarinet in pieces in his pants and coat pockets. He was known to have made his own reeds from any wood available. Rubber bands are still viable especially for the register key....I still carry one in my "kit". Any old paper can be wrapped around a tenon cork and replaced as necessary. Chewing gum can be used for a pad by sticking paper to the hole side. Of course none of these tricks is renowned for yielding a dark sound.
Bob Draznik
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bob A
Date: 2005-05-09 23:33
Of course y'all realize that this was in the 'pre-Buffet R-13' era. That reduced much of the hastle and maintenance ![[grin]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie5.gif) Also many of them used the older Albert system and were really good at it, inventing keying and lipping up/down when all else failed.
Post Edited (2005-05-09 23:34)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ron b
Date: 2005-05-10 01:40
The idea that Mr. Bechet "never heard of or could have afforded" mechanical toys intrigues me, Bob. That statement causes me to wonder where the information came from. While the Bechet family (I've read John Chilton's bio of Sidney B. and it seems, at least the first pages of Chapter One, quite contradictory to your statement). Other "musical families" likely were not wealthy, but I feel quite confident that exposure to many pleasantries of the day were not beyond their reach. Sears catalogs of 1921 -- 1939 indicate that mechanical toys were very well established and affordable if one worked hard and saved pennies. Meccano sets were certainly familiar items at a time when Sidney would have been a late teen or older. So, I have no doubt that Sidney, and others, were quite familiar with mechanical 'kits' during their formative years, whether they owned one or not. There were also higher percentages of skilled laborers per family than today. The combination of make-do and fix-it-yourself thinking of the '20s and '30s is highly conducive to nursing a mere musical instrument along until a trip to the repair shop was a last resort... much more so than today.
Musicians of the early 1900s were actually quite well informed and skillful players. That's my conclusion from the bios I've read. I understand that others may draw different conclusions.
- ron b -
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: mkybrain
Date: 2005-05-10 02:26
even though it is neat i would never suggest for anyone today to put gum on their clarinet, plastic or wood.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: BobD
Date: 2005-05-10 14:06
"The idea that Mr. Bechet "never heard of or could have afforded" mechanical toys intrigues me, Bob. That statement causes me to wonder where the information came from."
The statement came from me and , in retrospect, could have been better made. Using SB as an example was probably a poor choice as the family was relatively "well off" compared to many in the south. My intention was to illustrate that ....in general....the early musicians of that time in that area made do with what was available. Sidney's earliest wind instrument was hardly even intended to produce music.
Bob Draznik
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2005-05-10 15:02
Sydney wandered around Paris with his "roll" - because he didn't trust banks.
The guy could buy as he liked - he just spent it on things other than gear.
******
John Manassee was kind enough to deflate the equipment buying bubble of my young classmates, two years ago.
When asked how to make such a full, involving sound, he answered the youngsters, "lots of long tones with a metronome, you know - the way your teacher suggests?"
The kids in question are top notch players, but real gadget geeks.
The teacher in question has more horns that she plays, but who is counting?
John admitted to a fetish for reeds, himself but his wife and little kid keep him from collecting much stuff.
In short, he found what works for him and plays 6 hours a day - just like SB...
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ken
Date: 2005-05-11 12:56
Everything's relative. I used to travel throughout East Bloc Europe (i.e., Romania, Poland, Yugoslavia, Ukraine, etc, and Russia) giving concerts and clinics for high school/college-age students. The incredibly poor quality instruments some impoverished kids were forced to make music on was as angering as heart-wrenching. It was all too common seeing saxophones, clarinets and flutes with scavenged, filed down keys from non-matching instruments; chewing gum, wads of tissue paper and shoe leather for pads and rubber bands, binder clips and broken off sewing needles for springs and screws. Reeds? They came in all sizes, shavings, shapes and "natural" colors and flavors; black, green, brown, and bleu cheese. I saw one kid that had a whittled-sanded down popsicle stick for a reed, and the inside of his mpc looked like a terrarium.
I got smart quick, and on return trips loaded up on spare joints, hardware, stock/factory mpcs, ligatures and reeds --- anything I could buy at the local pawn shops or get my hands on. And, they were always received with a warm handshake, hugs, [joyful tears] and the enthusiasm of a Christmas gift. But I think the saddest part was watching these young people struggle on their instruments and still make music with the same love and burning desire to play.
I recall one joint-performance in Moscow with the Red Army Band where the bass clarinet player I sat next to lost his register key pad. I quick pulled out my pouch 'o stuff, grabbed my cig papers and bic lighter and glued it back in to the end of the gig. We exchanged non-verbal nods and that was it. We shook hands before leaving stage but to my astonishment, 10 minutes later the bass clarinet player came to my dressing room shouldering a hanging bag. He unzipped it and [for my nominal effort] presented me with a complete Russian KGB Officer's (Colonel) full-dress uniform --- pants, jacket, shirt & tie and wheel hat.
Now, there's a Ruskie who knows how to pay his instrument repair bill! v/r Ken
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
