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Re: Mazzeo Clarinet

Author: ghuba
Date: 2007-09-08 13:49

Author: ariel3 (---.woh.res.rr.com - ISP in Herndon, VA United States)
Date: 2007-09-06 01:58

Yes Chris, The Paris Selmer Mazzeo clarinet does have the clutch. It was placed on the professional horn so that the player could engage the clutch to make the horn behave like any other clarinet. This was important, especially in critical situations - concerts etc. when the player did not trust his wings in such critical situations during the learning phase.

In my case, after I "learned" the horn I used clear nail polish to seal the clutch so that it would not engage accidentally.

Gene Hall

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My hypothesis is that one of the reasons (in addition to conservativism and overlearning of the standard fingerings) that advanced players had "trouble" with the Mazzeo system is that most of the Selmer Paris instruments I have seen have had slippery clutch mechanisms, with the instrument having a tendency to jump from one mode to the other. Gene's solution seems like a good one. Possibly Selmer was very aware of this because there are several alternate designs for the clutch that were used at different times and often the used instruments have bent clutches (or plier marks on the clutches) suggesting that prior owners or service technicians used less delicate solutions to the slipping clutch issue. I have never seen a Selmer Paris Mazzeo that did not have the clutch, although perhaps some of the original ones (based on Selmer CTs; there is one of these in the Shackelton collection at Edinburgh University that was originally owned by Sherman Friedland) pre-date the use of the clutch by Selmer.

The Selmer Signet (USA) and Bundy (USA) designs do not have the clutch but rather operate in "Mazzeo mode" at all times.

George
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