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Re: "Madsen" refacing?

Author: Gregory Smith ★2017
Date: 2008-08-07 23:56

"What impact on mouthpieces and clarinet playing did he have?"

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For one thing, the list of players that relied on him over the years reveals quite a bit about past and present influence.

He taught alot of us as we learned by observation. Much of learning to make mouthpieces is like that. Hopefully we have influenced players with the mouthpieces that we now make and adjust for clarinetists all over the world.

Specifically he taught the importance of the relationship between all of the components that go into building a mouthpiece - not just strictly the science but the art of mouthpiece making as well.

He swore by symmetrical facings but was willing to do what it took to get the piece to play for the individual. He had a set or series of Popsicle sticks (no kidding) with marks on them that he used to measure for the most advantageous swoop to any given baffle.

He excavated these baffles with precision ground but regular old hardware store-bought bolts. He had a sandpaper collection tucked into and along an old spiral LP rack (that's Long Playing records for some of you) on his large working school desk.

Each piece of sandpaper had it's own unique history that if you asked, he'd tell you about. He'd keep them because he knew from experience how each piece worked in any given situation. They were decades old and were handled with care and lovingly cleaned and maintained. That rack of sandpaper was his own special "repertoire" if you will.

He sculpted something much more specialized than many of today's simply efficient feeling and utilitarian sounding mouthpieces. They were works of art as well. As that was indeed the case, it wasn't by accident or guesswork. It wasn't in him. He wasn't capable of such a thing.

He was my friend & teacher. I am proud to have known and have been taught by such a decent and honorable man - serious, intelligent, and most of all, an old and kind soul.

Gregory Smith

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"Madsen" refacing? new

csmith

2008-08-05 15:08