Author: Fuzzy
Date: 2023-06-03 01:02
Well, I guess I'll go ahead and dip my toe into the water...
Though this topic has been thoroughly discussed (over and over) in the past, I do enjoy new versions of the theme because different posters post in the contemporary thread and the thread goes in different directions than earlier threads went.
By now everyone probably knows I don't believe the material of a clarinet body makes any important difference. (When the www was young, there were plenty of blind listening tests online to help drive this point home.)
However, since this thread went somewhat the route of environmental impact - I think there is an important point to be made: One of the best ways to avoid impact on the environment is reuse of the perfectly fine clarinets which already exist.
Closets around the world are overflowing with professional models of clarinets which no longer meet the stringent requirements of today's hobbyist/amateur clarinetist. No, we must have "new" professional clarinets with improved intonation. (The mice in the closet care greatly about balanced tuning.)
The pressure to buy new "professional" clarinets is too great. The fact that most folks who learn to play clarinet will never even be able to achieve mastery of a student instrument seems to have no bearing on the purchaser, the student, or many times - the instructor. If not a new "professional" model - then a new (top-of-the-line...wood) student model!
Whether brass/metal, plastic, hard rubber, wood, etc. doesn't really impress me as having near the impact on the environment as does the sheer volume of wasted materials already used as clarinets - but snubbed as "not being good enough for me" when folks decide to learn clarinet.
If the clarinet is sealed and functioning properly (and otherwise in average repair)...chances are, it isn't the clarinet itself which is holding a player back.
It seems there are an awful lot of professional clarinets out there, and very few professional clarinetist in relation. I think we do a disservice to the environment (and to potential clarinetists) by perpetuating the idea that professional instruments (or even wood student instruments) are the only avenue for serious players.
Funny thing to me is: Many hobbyist/amateur clarinetists play in venues where the instrument might be exposed to heat, humidity, cold, quick temperature changes, etc. - settings which should bias instrument selection away from wood.
Fuzzy
;^)>>>
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