Author: Franklin Liao
Date: 2010-01-17 00:49
Today, I decided to go and find out about Amati 351 for myself, and I ended up spending 3 hours at the music store making a fool of myself in their practice room, playing a few Clarinets.
While there, using my own mp, I swapped between my LB310, the 351 in C, an Amati in Bb and an E11 in A. Suffice to say that I burned away my hours there pretty quickly.
The strange things that I've found is that the Amati remains eternally flat, hovering at 25 below generally for me, no matter what I do, although it got better in terms of tonal response as I play on it more. The instrument at first felt a little... is timid the right word?
It was odd, but I've immediately noticed that C was a blast to mess around with. There's something that is carefree... descent recorder like with its tighter spacing and smaller size that somehow got to me quickly, and it's got this bright nature to it...
This feeling of instrument 'waking up' of sorts was exhibited over the E11 in A. It also is peculiar that I would feel that the horn in A is a bit... too serious almost. It feels a bit reluctant comparing to a Bb or the C instrument to make sound. However, even to me, a novice, this E11 in A admittedly makes for far easier time with some passages.
For the consistancy in the flat response I got in Amati, I am guessing that a true mouthpiece in C would solve that nicely... but...I don't know if I am being delusional in feeling that the grenadilla instruments liven up once warmed up. This has never been a concern for someone like me that's lived strictly off of composites, so I was hoping for someone to shed some light on that.
My second question is whether or not I am right to conclude that altissimo fingerings for C would be different from the Bb. I was never able to use the same fingering beyond C6 to get what I wanted out of the horn.
Lastly, would be if whether or not I am just being purely subjective when I enjoy the C far more than the A?
Thank you.
Post Edited (2010-01-17 04:01)
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