 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Simon
Date: 2008-05-02 02:45
Hi all,
I have been reading about the CLARIMUTE by Claripatch. Can someone please advise if they have used this device and how you have found it. I am particularly interested because I mostly play music by year and I am not sure how this will help if you can't hear your self play.
Also who has used the Claripatches and what do you think of these?
Many Thanks
Simon
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2008-05-03 13:15
Simon -
Mutes work on brass instruments because all the air and most of the sound comes through the bell. There are many mutes for trumpet, including practice mutes that make the instrument very quiet (for a trumpet).
The same mute in a clarinet bell has almost no effect, because the air and sound come out of all the open holes.
There are many strings here, which you can find with the search function, asking about clarinet practice mutes. The best solution, which is none too good, seems to be a soft bag that contains the entire instrument below the mouthpiece, with slots that you put your hands through. Those who have tried it say that it does reduce the volume, but the back pressure causes a big increase in resistance and makes the instrument difficult to play.
The Clarimute, shown at http://www.claripatch.com/en/IfUProEN.pdf, is a disk with a couple of small holes in it that fits between the barrel and the upper joint. However, the literature notes that you can't play the instrument using it -- just practice fingering.
There's a possibly apocryphal story that two great players, Ralph McLane and David Weber, when they were students, took turns sitting in a closet stuffed with clothing and the door closed, which absorbed most of the sound. They would play as loud and with as much resonance as possible and rate each other on how well the sound carried, on the theory that this would teack them to be heard over a large orchestra. I think the reason they took turns is that it quickly gets stifling in a closet.
To let yourself breathe better, you could get a large plush carpet remnant or part of an old stage curtain, hang it from the ceiling in a circle, and sit inside.
Otherwise, the only solution seems to be to find a garage or rent a room in a building that's not occupied, such as a church during the week. There's a large 19th century apartment building in Manhattan with 12-foot ceilings and foot-thick plaster walls that block everything. Musicians hire rooms by the hour for rehearsals, and I can tell you from experience that there's absolutely no sound leakage.
Ken Shaw
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Author: RLSchwebel
Date: 2008-05-03 13:56
Ok...so don't laugh...
Though the acoustics are completely dead, I've occationally practiced in my small travel trailer we use for camping. When there is a wind symphony or chamber orcherstra concert coming up, usually during the holidays and there is a house full of people, I can escape to complete solitude. Ironically, my family and friends think it would be great to hear me practice. But honestly nobody wants to suffer through runs in some Hindemith or Nixon piece, much less a march.
Might be cost prohibited...one RV! But only the dogs can hear ya!
~robt
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Author: Sylvain
Date: 2008-05-03 15:09
Ken,
I remeber reading an article in the NYtimes about how the principal oboe of the NY phil practiced in a closet for months before the audition to build as big of a sound as he could...
--
Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2008-05-03 15:49
One good "practice" clarinet idea that I have used sometimes is to assemble the mouthpiece so that the reed just below the edge of the tip rail on the mouthpiece. If there is a space of 1mm you can hear the "notes" a little, but there is nearly no volume.
Post Edited (2008-05-03 15:50)
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