 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2015-06-04 21:29
Another bboard topic on ICON barrels (although it could have been on many other clarinet products) was recently bumped up by an additional comment.
In it, someone posted the copy written on this barrel to expose it for the more fluff than substance it is.
"ICON barrels are extremely supple in every register and the different finishes produce interesting acoustical variations. Gold produces more high harmonics and timbre, silver frees up and rounds out the sound, and black nickel seems to stand halfway between the two, producing a more compact effect. "
As a group we conceeded that products vary and materials matter, and that these barrels might very well be good, but just not up to this hype.
This got me thinking about a corporate mission statement generating program I saw once, that literally used a fix number of appropriate adverbs, verbs, adjectives, and nouns to produce a random explanation for a company's existence (i.e. their mission statement) that one might find in the glossy pages of its annual report.
The effect is best seen, not described:
http://cmorse.org/missiongen/
That said, I am confident that this software, especially since you can customize the aforementioned parts of speech (e.g. verb, noun,etc.) can be used by many clarinet instrument product developers in lieu of copywriters. ![[wink]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie3.gif)
It's just a matter of the right list of words: dark, supple, sweet, light, centered, impactive, compact, focused...you get the idea, to describe sound, appearance, and response.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2015-06-05 17:06
An excellent illustration of why we need to try before we buy, when we're tempted to go for the latest and the greatest! In some ways I feel safer with neglected, filthy old flea market finds, just because I *know* they won't play worth half a squeak without a lot of work -- and I know a clever ad-writer isn't swaying my decision on whether the price looks right.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2015-06-06 01:58
This reminds me of the ""chlorophyll craze" in the early 1950s. It was everywhere and was a sure cure for bodily odors.
Perhaps the ICON barrel needs to add a little chlorophyll to cover up any "bad smelling" notes.
It's all about marketing!
HRL
PS I also recall pet rocks.
Post Edited (2015-06-06 05:09)
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Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2015-06-06 02:19
This reminded me of Leblanc's old description of the Infinite; the claim was that it had a more "youthful" tone than the Concerto. I've been playing the clarinet for over 50 years, and I have no idea what a youthful tone is.
Leblanc really seemed to know how to write clarinet product copy, and here's a link to an old catalogue: http://www.clarinetperfection.com/galleryclar/Noblet/Ads/
NobletAd08.pdf
Post Edited (2015-06-06 02:21)
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Author: fskelley
Date: 2015-06-06 05:06
That Leblanc catalog makes me want to order one of each. Gee, I wonder how long it would take to accumulate an entire set off of eBay, and get each one playing and looking like new. And what it would cost.
I'm curious which models tempt any of the rest of you, and why. Does the ad copy help or hurt?
Stan in Orlando
EWI 4000S with modifications
Post Edited (2015-06-06 07:42)
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2015-06-06 21:43
clarinetguy wrote,
>This reminded me of Leblanc's old description of the Infinite; the claim was that it had a more "youthful" tone than the Concerto. I've been playing the clarinet for over 50 years, and I have no idea what a youthful tone is.>
My idea of a youthful tone is a baby shrieking about a wet diaper! That's not quite what I want to hear from my clarinet....
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: derf5585
Date: 2015-06-06 23:02
"My idea of a youthful tone is a baby shrieking about a wet diaper"
Are we talking about a wet C# key?
fsbsde@yahoo.com
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2015-06-07 01:35
Relying solely on the advertizing copy, I know immediately which models of LeBlanc I want. Give me the Symphony VII (rosewood) to make the "high tones stay round and full whatever the volume level" (my neighbors will love that) and the LC 2000S, with its power to make "easy work of many musical passages that are difficult on other brands of clarinet." No sweat: I plan to start playing Marius Constant's "For Clarinet" on the LX2000S soon as that clarinet arrives. If it lives up to its promise, that should be "easy work."
Post Edited (2015-06-08 04:37)
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Author: fskelley
Date: 2015-06-07 17:40
We have a great base of clarinet experience here on BBoard, perhaps the best able to answer these questions...
In the referenced Leblanc product catalog, which of the statements about various models are actually justified? In particular, are any claims that sound overblown in fact close to reality? Did the copy writer(s) start with some truth and just get carried away?
How would YOU rewrite some of those statements to accurately portray reality, yet not sell the instrument short? And once you've done so- would you keep your job as a copy writer? Maybe you'd start a new trend that could carry over into automobiles and politics. Naaaaahhhhh.
Stan in Orlando
EWI 4000S with modifications
Post Edited (2015-06-07 17:43)
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Author: derf5585
Date: 2015-06-07 20:00
"How would YOU rewrite some of those statements to accurately portray reality, yet not sell the instrument short?"
Our clarinet is the best better than the rest.
fsbsde@yahoo.com
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Author: ClaireAnnette
Date: 2015-06-07 23:15
Years ago, when hand calculators first came out, I recall seeing one for which one operation did not work.
They were honest and said it did not work...but they said it was of no bother as everyone knew...I hope I recall this correctly...the cotangent of 0 anyway!! So one did not need calculator to do that!
After all EVERYONE knows this!!!
I get a scientific product catalog simply because I like reading funny descriptions.
For clarinets, I wish they would just describe features and relate info we cannot see in illustration. But these days. Online maybe Audio clip😀
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2015-06-08 04:59
With Leblanc, they usually took a smidgen of truth and overplayed it. They also didn't tell you about the drawbacks of a particular design. The LL for instance was tonally a very flexible instrument, but the tuning was so different from that of a Buffet R13 (the first caveat one heard when entering Hans Moenning's shop with a Leblanc in hand), that it would take contortions to play it in tune in a Buffet-dominated clarinet section.
The rosewood Symphony model does have a sensuous sound that may well be rounder in the upper register, even as heard from the back of the concert hall; but rosewood can be very unstable, prone to cracks and fluctuations in pitch as the ambient temperature and moisture changes.
Some of the later LX models are admirable (as are the Infinity and the Ambiance) in tone and tuning, but the American Leblanc office (according to Ridenour and others) had a strange habit of reboring L7's and other Leon Leblanc models when they arrived in America to make the tone "fatter" or whatever, and this could damage both projection and pitch.
Leon Leblanc had been experimenting all his life with various acousticians to make a clarinet that could be played with little pressure from the embouchure or tension in the throat. Sometimes, he actually succeeded in this, and it is entirely possible that the very late Leon Leblanc models (just before the switch to the Concerto and Opus) did have extraordinary flexibility in negotiatiing wide interval leaps. But it seems that very few of these last models (LX series) were actually produced. Used Lebancs are worth trying, and a few of them just might at least vaguely live up to some of the ad statements made for them--but you must always try them first to find out.
Post Edited (2016-03-23 19:00)
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Author: fskelley
Date: 2015-06-08 05:45
seabreeze- thanks! I love that kind of info. But even if I had a ready to play collection in front of me, I think I'd also need someone of your depth of knowledge about them to help me sort through my reactions to playing each of them. I strongly suspect they would mostly feel the same to me, and I would miss the subtle differences between them. Though I also think it WOULD matter which one I kept and played on for years thereafter. Add my current Arioso, a 576BC, and a Libertas to the mix- let me blind play and choose- with some good help... where might I end up? (Some of you may be thinking- put an R13 in there also and that's what he'd take. Maybe- I've never touched one.)
I was pretty darned happy with the 1958ish Dynamic 2 I sold. I don't regret the choice to go to my Arioso, I just wonder sometimes.
No wonder so many here have a collection of clarinets, even if you do use only one most of the time.
And I'm also pretending I could gloss over the need to tailor mouthpiece and reed to each clarinet, otherwise I'd just choose whatever worked best with the mp/reed combo I started with... right?
Stan in Orlando
EWI 4000S with modifications
Post Edited (2015-06-08 05:54)
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Author: derf5585
Date: 2015-06-08 06:52
I guess clarinets are like golf clubs.
A different clarinet for different situations.
fsbsde@yahoo.com
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2015-06-08 06:59
I think you would hear the difference. The decision to use Buffet R13s in American symphony orchestras was not arbitrary, or just a sales pitch, or some kind of "mafia" gang plot. In the right hands, with the right mouthpieces, and the right adjuustments by Hans Moenning, the R13 generated a deeper, more focused resonance than the Selmers and most of the Leblancs. Toward the end of his career, Daniel Bonade endorsed Leblanc clarinets but that did not persuade his students or their students in turn to play Leblancs in the orchestra. The Leblancs generally had a lighter, sometimes more colorful and flutelike sound that could be very attractive when miked and were more flexible for commercial work and jazz, but did not have the same acoustical presence unamplified in a concert hall as the R13s.
Some of the Leblanc models played alike and some played very different. You wouid instantly hear and feel the difference between the Opus and the LL or the Concerto and the LX line. The Dynamic line was really big bore and offered still another sound and playing experience Leon Leblanc's models, Ridenour's Leblanc models, and Backun's Leblanc models all go off in different directions from each other in sound, feel, and tuning.
Post Edited (2015-06-08 19:29)
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