They’re all terrific, but which is which, and who cares?

The true test of any plastic reed: Sounding like cane, and not being able to tell the difference.

After playing the clarinet for most of my life, I’ve heard the phrase “blindfold test” countless times, always in somewhat the same context.
Many years ago, it was actually playing a metal clarinet and then a wooden clarinet, or a plastic clarinet behind a screen to determine if the listener could tell the difference. The most interesting thing about the so-called blindfold test was and is, the test was usually only talked about , seldom given or taken.

The audition for symphony orchestras originated by Rosario Mazzeo of the Boston Symphony was the first test to actually have players audition behind a screen, but in fact, these players are usually always known by the panel members.

When I went to The Geneva International Clarinet Competition in 1960, we played behind a screen. However a lady walked up to the other side of the screen screen prior to my playing and said, “Mr Friedland, would you like to play now?” And after I played, someone came and told me, “We really don’t subscribe to the American way of playing the clarinet.” And all this behind a screen. Yes, even though I was the only one to play the Bozza Clarinet Concerto, I was eliminated   (Yes, it is still painful.)

The refinement of the so-called blindfold test has now advanced to a new and even more amusing stage wherein the performer plays somethng on a clarinet reed made from cane, of course very well indeed, and then plays it again on the new synthetic reed which is being heavily touted within the undustry presently. (There is a rather considerable battle to be the leader in the sales of these synthetic clarinet and saxophone reeds. Reasons for this are manifold. At about twenty-five dollars each, sales can only pile up if they are heavily advertised, and let us face the fact that not everyone plays the clarinet, making accumulated sales somewhat difficult.)

Along the way, the word “synthetic” was substituted for “plastic”. Synonyms, but one without the stigma of being unreal , cheap and a substitute.
What is interesting about this blindfold test is that one hears the cane reed or the synthetic reed, then immediately hears the other reed playing the same thing. Seems simple, does it not? You guess which is which, but here is another fact which is not given, and that is the technic of recording and of course, the choice of the reed being played, no matter how well.

I believe that we as clarinet players, all know the work that goes into selecting an excellent reed. I’ve come to know this to be considerable. Which the test leaves out, including the expertise and experience of the player/performer.
The answer is somewhat similar to the advertising for prescription medication or non-smoking medications, the difference being that in the case of the reed,the side effects are not given. At least in the medical advertisement, the speaker begins to speed up when they are reading the side effects and the background music gets much louder. In the instance of the blindfold reed test, everything happens within a few seconds, the conclusion being, WOW, if I can’t tell the difference between the two, I have to have…..well, which one? Which one? One is not given the many steps that go into the choosing of a reed,or the fact that all cane reeds and all synthetic reeds respond differently.

What I find somewhat hilarious is the fallacy of advertising a good player playing both, which proves that while the synthetic reed plays as well as the cane reed, the opposite is also true. So, why in the world would anyone wish to pay 25 dollars for a reed if the same thing can be achieved on a reed that can cost as little as a buck and a half?

Keep in mind, all of this is advertising.

The most important tool in playing the clarinet is practice, really nothing else. Oh, and the ability to hear and to discern, but thats a “given”. Discernment can be a gift, or developed with achievement through discipline. No screen or test is needed.

Stay well, and keep practicing.
Sherman Friedland

The best Selmer clarinet?

Hi Sherman

It is me again The Swede.
I have a couple of questions that you may consider.

1.Is the Selmer Series 9 “the Selmer”

2.What is your experience or opinion of the Conns from the 50´s and 60´s. I have seen 2 for sale,one is model 78 (built in 1967)and the other is NNN something from the 50´s. Somebody said that they were the “poor man´s Selmer 9.

3.I have this 10/10 that is fully restorated. I have not yet the correct mouthpiece but when I blow it ,it reasponds very well with a very nice tone in the low register.However I can´t get it to work with my right hand fingers (after the break) Maybe if I play very slowly.I wonder How can this be???

Sincerely

L K

Dear LK:
By “The Selmer, I take your meaning as THE selmer, the best, the classic. If I’m correct, I would answer NO, it is not the classic Selmer, the best or even second best. The best Selmer in my experience was the Centered Tone Selmer. This CT clarinet was a large scale production and was among the clarinets I played professionally, though I’ve tried many. It had a larger bore than the selmers of today, but not larger in the sense of being unable to control. Iused it to play in a professional symphony orchestra with great success. Currently and since the appearance of the Series 9, their bores are smaller, and I’m curently playing on a Selmer 10S, which was an improvement on the 10, which was a tuneful and pleasant instrument, though limited in its ability to play the long line with a good bit of color. The 10S had that ability, which probably means little. It was agood horn, though I found it to be small in sound and the 10S is capable of more breadth.

I have little to no experience with Conn clarinets, but I do know that the period of time to which you pertain was a good successful time for Conn and the clarinets were probably no exception. The Conn clarinet can be called anything. For specificity you would have to try the individual clarinet. Names can be called for anything, the”poor mans selmer 9″ is nonsensical, meaningless, though pleasant sounding.

Te B and H 10/10 has an excellent reputation in the UK, but little here in the US. The main reason for this was the bore necessitated a special mouthpiece, with a matching larger bore for the clarinet. As I recall, the mouthpiece which matched that horn was a 923 or 926 B and H. At the point of buying a special mouthpiece, I lost interest.

As far as your not being able to play in the second register, that is a problem having to do with either your finger placement,or the clarinet being out of adjustment.

Good luck, and keep practicing.
sincerely, Sherman

Clarinets, Legends in the making.

Dear Mr Friedland:
My colleague in the orchestra in which we play has a leblanc ll Bb
which plays nicely in tune however he has bought a buffet e13 a to go with it and the barrel is always pulled out when he plays it.He uses a vandoren B45 mouthpiece on both.To my mind the buffet is sharp which is bad as he paid quite alot of money for it
I have bought a backup Chinese hard rubber clarinet for $130 which plays like a dream. It is well made and has silver plated keys and actually feels like a buffet. Above all it plays in tune, not bad as it came from ebay
i.

Dear I:
Well, to begin with , you have your model numbers mixed . As far as i know, there is no Buffet E13 clarinet. There is the R13, but there is only an E11 clarinet. Both of those would be quite expensive, and I’m hoping that the clarinet your stand partner purchased in an E11, is much less costly.. Look, this is not a matter of opinion; these clarinets can be quite good, but they need a real retuning by a technician, who can hear and who can act on his ear, which is unfortunately , not the case in many instances. What happens is the purchaser has to have a “Buffet” , a buzzword for something which at some point in sales history was a reasonably good instrument, some even better. I’ve had good Buffet clarinets and have had good results, but these instruments were always “picked” from a group of horns, picked as the best, never just ordinarily purchased horns.
So, your partner who bought an expensive Buffet, which is not tuning well is just the average story, more and more these days.
Yes, and I know you bought a Chinese clarinet which most probably plays better and tunes much better, but it does NOT have silver plated keys, which cannot be put on a rubber instrument, (bad chemical reaction) So, don’t believe the “silver played keys” story;

The tuning is another story. Lots of them play  nicely, and very well in tune. Things begin to go a bit astray in the second and third registers, but basically they are  in tune. I bought one, actually I have accumulated 3 of them and they are all quite reasonable. I have reviewed two of them within this website. The superb Lyrique, with the best tuning in the industry and the Orpheo 450, which is the “Best Buy”.
All Van Doren mouthpieces have a slight tendency to play sharp, especially the B45, their best seller. That is a playable super ordinary mouthpiece.
To conclude this entry, please tell me “what does a Buffet feel like”? Perhaps no response is necessary. But in truth, there are now many instruments of all prices which can be played in tune and sound well.
Personally, I have been a player and performer of Selmer Clarinets for may years, and indeed was a clinician for them. They had a wonderful reputation and a great deal of integrity both as a family and a company.
While Leblanc always made a fine instrument, they were not properly managed in the US in the 50s and 60s.
When Tom Ridenour became chief designer that changed, as he was the designer of the Opus and number of their top line instruments, which are still playing beautifully. They were standard setters.
Later, after leaving Leblanc, he designed the hard rubber instrument, now called Lyrique which is gainng so much attention for its excellence.
I have and play a set of his Lyrique Clarinets now, and am quite pleased and enthusiastic.
You mention ebay in a way that is disparaging. This is not necessarily the case. One must always remember in any auction,….Caveat Emptor….., which means buyer beware, even further, be wary and look carefully .
Keep practicing,
as ever, sherman

To acquire a clarinet effected by tropical ocean, fluctuating between the rainy season and the dry season.

Hola Mr Friedland

I live in Central America and play a Bundy Resonite by Selmer. A cheap student model to be sure. I would like to get a better clarinet. My question is, what is the best clarinet for a person living in a high humidity area. Here the humidity is high and is effected by the near by tropical ocean, and fluctuates dramatically between the rainy season and the dry season. I feel that wood would not be a good choice for here. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely
B W

Dear Mr W:
I agree with you totally, a clarinet made of wood is not your best choice in an area where the fluctuations vary between high humidity , dramatically changing from rainy season and dry season. There is simply too much change in the effects of the humidity upon the wood. The results would be far too much give and take on the tension of the keys , the springs and certainly each joint of the clarinet.
Actually resonite is a reasonably stable material. However there is a much better material which is readily accessible and is the most stable material when  your warm air hits the inner bore material. It is hard rubber, a material having been around for a number of years with excellemt success.
Because of the effort of a singe man, William Ridenour, we have now a clarinet made from hard rubber which is the best in tune instrument within the industry.including material of any other origin.
I would suggest you contact him for more complete information, as he is readily willing to talk to people about his clarinet. You will find an excellent model hard rubber clarinet to cost about one third as much as does a french wooden instrument

good luck, sherman

Problems with the C clarinet

Dear Professor Friedland:

First, a belated happy new year 2010.

I think I will begin by asking if whether or not the altissimo fingerings on a C clarinet can be different from that of the Bb, or this is merely a consequence of inadequate skills on my part. When I tried the Amati 351, I found that I have to change my fingering somewhat for above C6. As I’ve never had formal instruction, I don’t know if this is the norm for C, and whether or not if same can be expected for clarinets in different keys.
Another question I have would be on how that is it that the Grenadilla instrument seems to become more in-tune and giving me a notably better response after I’ve played on it for some minutes. Although I was never able to get the instrument exactly in-tune, I found that intonation improved after the instrument had warmed itself, which is something that I have not noticed with the composite clarinets that I have. How and why is this so?

Lastly, I would like to know if whether or not evaluating a Clarinet purely from its physical finishing, mechanical reliability, fluidity of keyworks and its durability could circumvent being blinded into finding that “magic bullet” of a clarinet, for that the subjective nature of one’s sound should only be treated as a mean for the buyer to build a bias as to choose the instruments the buyer desires most out of the potential lot.
Regards

Hello and thank you for the New Year wishes, which I reciprocate.
What mouthpiece are you using on the C clarinet? If you are using the Bb mouthpiece, you are correct, the only differentiation being the quality thereto. In general, and I do believe you are talking about high C, when you mention C6, that is two ledger lines above the treble clef. This requires no change in fingerings and the cause is an incorrectly formed embouchure,or a reed which is softer than should be played , or probably most importantly a lack of suppport..It doesn’t mean that you have to squeeze the note or blow harder or take more mouthpiece into you mouth.
There are occasions when I open up a resonance key in the actual altissimo, however you should be able to play everything on the C as you do your Bb, with only small modifications.

Wooden clarinets are really less stable than are ABS or hard rubber, which are the most stable. Wooden clarinet have to be warmed up carefully. The case must be opened , the clarinet allowed to breathe and adjust itself to the temperature of the room in which you are playing. Then, you may warm the instrument by passing air through it. Only then will it beging to assimilate the temperature and your hot breath and begin to play it in  tune, if in fact it can, but it will never play in tune if you and your embouchure are not also warmed up Grenadilla instruments are simply not terribly well in tune. They can be tuned, but usually only by experts, who can hear and act on what they hear, with precision.
You most probably will not find that “magic bullet” as you call it, without it having at least some of the excellent physical characteristic to which you allude. From your interesting letter,  I might suggest learning more about support, embouchure, and reed choosing; private instruction will benefit.

I hope I’ve answered your questions
best of luck with your C and happy New Year, sincerely
Sherman

Considering an A clarinet? There’s one better!

Dear Mr Friedland:

Thank you for your web site, I enjoy reading it on a regular basis and learn quite a bit.

I wonder what advice you could give on clarinets in the key of A. Last fall I was playing in a band that at the last minute put together a piece to play with the choir, and it was in a wicked key signature (5 sharps) with really difficult fingerings even with the full Boehm options my particular instrument had I just never was able to master it in the time I had. I was thinking an instrument in a different key might have changed my ability to play the piece to my satisfaction.

I realize that odds are that this situation of just not being able to master something like this isn’t going to come up every day, but since my daughter is a fairly accomplished player and I have renewed some of my own playing we both thought it would be fun to own such an instrument to have available if we could find a nice one. I have looked on the internet auctions sites, since my current instrument….a LeBlanc LL with the extra keys (not completely full boehm but it has many of the extra keys on it) has been such a delightful instrument to play I had found this way and probably ended up paying less than it is really worth at that time. My daughter plays a LeBlanc L7 I purchased new 30 years ago, and we have a second L7 also secured via the internet that is also a very nice instrument.

That being said…when I look at A clarinets I saw a LeBlanc go around $800. Currently there is a Yamaha also that looks to be in good condition but it is going very high. Also I came across a Selmer that appears to be full boehm, but also looks like it may take some work to put it in good playing condition, but I am not against that if an instrument goes reasonable and can be a very good horn once overhauled. The serial number given on the Selmer was 9195 and they believed it to be from the 1930’s. Also there were some touted as “new” at a moderate price and when I inquired I was told they were made in China.

So…I’m really not sure what to look for. I am primarily comfortable when I look at LeBlanc instruments because I pretty much know what I’m looking at. I know Selmer makes some very nice instruments, but don’t know what I’m looking for at all when I look at a Selmer. I was not really wanting to go into a huge price to buy one, because I would prefer to try out an instrument that I am going to pay a large sum for before buying it. I actually got my LL for $500. which was in fact a steal but I also had to take it sight unseen, it could have just as easily turned out to be a poor instrument instead of the gem it is.

Any suggestions on what we might want to look at if we eventually buy one.

Thank you.

J T.

Dear JT:

As far as your current clarinets, you have several very desirable instruments. Both the Leblanc LL and the L7 are in my mind, superior. I have owned and played both, unfortunately having parted with them for one reason or another. The set of L7s that I owned were unusual in that they had been owned by a clarinetist who came from the Oehler or Albert system and he had made rollers on the little finger keys, and they were full boehm without the low Eb, about the best situation one can have.
My basic idea is that these keys which you call “options” are necessary. My own background is having played full boehm Mazzeo System clarinets as Principal in the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and they fulfilled every need I had.
There is what I call ,a prejudice against the articulated G#, the fork Bb/Eb. Many call them extra keys; I do not. Mine never ever gave me a problem and I played them for any number of difficult works. (That is why you got your LL at such a good price. Believe it or not, I bought a set of LLs like yours for about 600.
“A “clarinets have an interesting history, because they tend to play a bit diffeently than do the Bb. As a youngster, I learned that the A in general was a bit stuffier than the Bb. Some are quite resistant by comparison. Indeed, I frequently would practice on the A because the Bb was so much more pleasurable by comparison. My full Boehm Mazzeos were about equal.
If one plays a simple Bb, there are many more choices and there is a simpler design and ultimately less adjusting, although one gets to learn to keep the G# smooth and effortless. Keeping that key down in both 3 flats or sharps becomes automatic and saves all kinds of mechanistic extra practice to make simple places totally smooth in execution.. The same go for the seventh ring.
Back to A clarinets, there are very very good ones being made now and in the Orient as well.
I own and play every day , a Ridenour A Clarinet. I think it’s called “Lyrique”.Although he produces both Bb and A clarinets, the A is better than the Bb. These clarinet are made frm hard rubber and that material is excellent for a clarinet, has been used for many years and produces n instrument that is much more stable as far as pitch is concerned. It also has a more even response , as well as a sound that is easier to produce and more dulcet in quality. But in the Ridenour clarinets, we are talking about the chief designer of Leblanc clarinets, having designed the Opus, the Sonata, Concerto and others as well. The intonation is the best in the industry at any price.
While he is no longer with Leblanc, his influence continues to be felt. The instruments he designs and produce are the best buy in the industry today, without exception. And his policy is extremely liberal as far as trying an instrument. I do not advertise for him in any way, but his horns are “in my case” for the above stated reasons. You will find his A prices at round one third of a new french or Japanese instrument
I would definitely recommend that you try a Lyrique A clarinet. You cannot buy one with either an articuated G# or the seventh ring, however they are highly regarded.
As far as shopping is concerned, you may find the occasional clarinet with the articulated G# etc a bit less expensive for the above stated reasons, but the Lyrique is better as far as response and intonation are concerned.
A clarinet in the key of A should be a consideration in your case and will afford you more ease and security with more accidentals in the key signature.
Best wishes, Sherman

Evenings for New Music, Ceative Associates, Carnegie Hall

During the period of the 1950s and 60s, performance of new music was very much in vogue in both Europe and the US. Such composers as Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen, both students of the great French composer, Olivier Messiaen established new music centers in Europe , both in Darmstadt and in Paris. The composers of the US at the time were Irving Fine, Milton Babbitt,Harold Shapero, Lukas Foss,  George Rochberg,John Cage and a host of others, like Morton Feldman and Phillip Glass, beginning to be heard.
In the mid 60’s Lukas Foss, the  pianist and composer,and conductor of the BuffaloPhilharmonic, and Allen Sapp, himself a composer and at that time the Chair of the Music Department at the University of Buffalo made a grant proposal to the Rockefeller Foundation  to gather together  performers and composers in order to form what they called the Center for the Creative and Performing Arts.
They received their grant from the Rockefeller Foundation and so I, and about 20 other performers and composers formed the first group of Creative Associates. By definition a Creative Associate was a post doctoral fellow whose membership within this first group allowed them to perform new music as well as anything else that helped them in their careers.It paid a very decent stipend and it was Tax Free. ( I don’t know how they managed it, but that was the 60s, and I was quite delighted to be a member. In fact, I had been assured that I would be able to comlete my Phd while on the grant, but that  changed soon after and I was disappointed, but only a little. The peforming group was called Evenngs for New Music. We were to play concerts of new music at the Allbright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, and repeat tham in Carnegie Recital Hall.
As mentioned, we were free to do anything else we wished to and the first thing I did was organize a concert of music for Soprano, Clarinet and Piano.
I asked George Crumb, who was a composer/pianist to play the piano and Carol Plantamura to sing. (George Crumb as many will know became one of the most prominent contemporary composers and spent his later career as head of Composition at the University of Pennsylvania.
Carol Plantamura toured worldwide and later was a professor at UCLA, San Diego. That first concert consisted of works we all know: Schumannn Opus 92, ,“DirHirt Auf Dem Felsen” and a Romance from an opera of Schubert, and the Alban Berg Vier Stucke for Clarinet and Piano,composed in 1913, and still at that time, it was considered a relatively new piece. (The Center continued until the mid 80s or 90s, but we were the first).
Here is a partial list of the players as I recall them: Paul Zukovsky and Chales Joseph, Violins, Jean Dupouy, Viola, George Crumb and Fred Myrow and Michael Saul,pianists,Laurence Bogue and Carol Plantamura and Sylvia Brigham, Vocalists, and John Bergamo and Jan Williams, percussion. Richard Wernick,  later a winner of two Pulitzer prizes was the coordinator.  Trumpet was none other than Don Ellis, who later had his own rather experimental band, and wrote the music for The French Connection,perhaps the best Crime Drama of the 70s and The Seven-ups, (composed in 71 and 73). Unfortunately he passed away in 1978.
The grants were for a year, however mine was extended for another year, and then I went on finishing my MM, and all the rest.. I played in many concerts and of course,had many works written for me, met all of those composers and folks like Copland and Bernstein, Henry Cowell, (who was still alive then, Roger Sessions, and others almost too numerous to recall. Liasons of all kind were formed, grew to fruition and/or were broken.

Most importantly , I met my wife Linda in Buffalo, and we made four sons,all of whom are working in Montreal.(She is the most gifted of them all, but made me promise not to mention her.) We are retired now and are living and writing and yes, playing in Canada.
Here is a photo of  rehearsal for that first concert. George Crumb, pianist, Carol Plantamura, soprano and myself, on clarinet, as people are prone to saying, playing my Mazzeo full-boehm , (and with hair). (What a wonderful time we all had. (A pun which I believe began there, was the following: If you have a concert and play music by Irving Fine and Vincent D’indy, you have a concert of Fine and Dandy. (Cute, at the time.)

S. Friedland,G.Crumb, Carol Plantamura rehearsing, 1964 Stay well everyone, and have a Happy New Year, Sherman

” Franz Schubert and His Merry Friends” Were they merry? What about his father? and the publishers?

The above was my first book story about a famous composer. I must have been sometime prior to 10 years (my wife read it when she was 9). It talked about the joyous life of Schubert and his many merry friends. Of course, I remember not one word of it, the reason being that Schuberts life was only about 31 years, but during this short time, he was able to write 600 hundred songs (lieder) which have remained even more popular than do contemporary best-selling poptunes.

But as I and we grew(grow) older we learn many other things about the life of this one of our most gifted and prolific composers.

And as clarinetists, whether aspiring to , or employed as, we also learn that he must have adored the clairinet and saved his most memorable orchestration for the clarinet. In the second movement of the 8th symphony, the main theme is first played in its entirety by the clarinet, then echoed by other winds. Of course, the very famous Octet of Schubert, for String Quartet, clarinet, french horn, bassoon and double bass has the most extended solo of the second movement reserved for the clarinet.And, kn the last movement, there is the almost unplayable additional part for both clarinet and violin, frequently left out from performnces, very fast.Although there is no Clarinet Sonata, there is Der Hirt Auf dem Felsen, for soprano Clarinet and Piano, another long clarinet part with the special difficult ending concluding this greatest of all Schubert Lieder. There is also a shorter work for the same group a Romance from an Opera called the” Forlorn Ones,” no longer performed, however the short “Romance” is a terrific introduction to the Shepherd of the Rock.

Schubert first came to the notice of Antonio Salieri,most famous at that time, and later much later for his work with Mozart(Salieri became much more well known as the character in the Play “Amadeus”, (later a movie, and an academy award for his character. That was F Murray Abraham))stories abound about the short life of Ftanz Schubert and his death. Some write that he died of Typhoid fever, other write that he frequented brothels, contracted syphillus and succumbed to that dread illness, but still other report that while he died from the disease, he probably never had the experience of contracting it because it was passed on to him by his mother: congenital syphillus.  One accepted fact is that there was a large concentration of mercury in his blood, mecury being the treatment for the disease at the time. (Nowadays, we have to be careful of tuna or sworfish). Mercury is the culprit in Amadeus as well. The phraise, Mad as a hatter, comes from the fact that mercury was used in the making of felt for hats. Mercury was found in a lock of Mozarts hair.

We know that Schuberts father had a great deal to do with his sons early education and that he , his father and brother played together in a string quartet. And later , we know that Schuberts was employed teaching the youngest of the students in his fathers school. But we also know that he was unable to find steady work in music. (Hey what century are we in?) and relied on those who were better off for such things manuscript paper.

Just think, over six hundrd song and song cycles, 8 Symphonies, piano sonatas, that long set of Variations for Flute and Piano, the list is endless and the quality very high .

One of the statement from my “Franz Schubert and his Merry Friends” was that he frequently wrote on the back of napkins in restaurants, which has to have been true.

He lived a shorter time than did Mozart and wrote almost as much, the lieder alone being worth a great legacy for any composer.

Here is a list of his works:

• • 2.1 Symphonies
  • 2.2 Music for chamber ensemble
  • 2.3 Piano solo
  • 2.4 Piano, four hands
  • 2.5 Lieder (songs) and song cycles
  • 2.6 Liturgical and sacred compositions
  • 2.7 Oratorio
  • 2.8 Works for the stage
• 3
• Keep practicing and have a happy new year.
• Sherman

Leblanc “Dynamic” is also “large bore”

Dear Mr. Friedland:

Please answer a question for me. I play a Selmer Centered Tone and positively adore it. I was wondering if you feel that a Selmer Series 9 would be an adequate back up horn or indeed a suitable replacement. Accordingly, is there another clarinet that you would recommend? I really like what I get out a larger bore clarinet…especially the Centered Tone. There are some available on ebay…would you recommend purchasing one in that manner?

Thank you for your consideration.

Very truly yours,

Hello:
No, not a Series 9, as the bore is smaller and most probably you would not like it as much as the CT.
There are presently available on the auction, several Leblanc Dynamic, which is the same bore more or less, than the CT and is an excellent clarinet. I would recommend that you consider one of the those, rather than a 9*.
Good luck, and happy holidays.
Sherman

Trying every clarinet, mouthpiece, reed will get you diminished capacity in every way.

Dear Mr. Friedland

The two questions are somewhat linked.

I’ve heard wonderful things about the Lyrique clarinets. I’m trying one out now. I find it sounds great and blows quite easily. I am 20-40 cents flat on every note except the A which is in tune. On other clarinets I am typically a bit sharp. I understand that perhaps this reflects some bad embouchure training on inferior clarinets but can I expect this to correct itself over time? I find it easy to flatten the pitch of a note but quite hard to sharpen it without stopping the reed. So in the meantime, I can’t play with other players, I am much too flat.You cannot expect this to correct itself with time, only with proper practice, guided practice.

I’ve noticed over the last few days that there are lots of no-name (names I don’t recognize like Orpheo, Vento) brand hard rubber clarinets. Some of the them, like the Vento C clarinet, look identical to the Lyrique C for half the price. I guess looks aren’t everything though. Do these clarinets sound the same as a lyrique? You mentioned in one of your previous emails that the Orpheo 450 sounded good, it sells for very cheap (I’ve seen them for $150), and has( merely ???)poorer intonation than the lyrique. Since my intonation is poor on the lyrique , i was thinking perhaps these no-name brands might be a good option for me.(The worst possible option).

I guess an easy feel to the clarinet is what I want the most, both finger wise and blow-wise.

I’ve been trying different clarinets and the best finger feel I’ve found was a brand new R13, followed by the Lyrique.

In terms of blowing ease, the Lyrique blows quite easily as does one of my friend’s student selmer 577. In fact, I bought a student selmer 577 because his was such a good instrument, but the one I purchased is not nearly as good.(Of course not, )  What determines the ease of blowing in a clarinet? I thought it might be the mouthpiece/reed combination or even mouthpiece/reed/barrel combination. Since now that I own a few clarinets, I can move mouthpiece/reed/barrel from one clarinet to another and some of them blow very easy (my friend’s selmer 577 and the lyriques) and others blow harder, requiring a much stronger embouchure and tiring more quickly. Can I do something to make a clarinet blow more easily? Might it be some subtle pad problems? The clarinets I’m comparing don’t have any obvious leaks1, and yet they blow very differently. Or is it that my combination of mouthpiece/reed/barrel is suitable for some clarinets and not for others….is experimentation the only way to find out? No, experimenting will only cause an explosion, terminally injuring any possibility you have of learning to play the clarinet.)

Thank you very much for all the questions you’ve answered in the past, your site is treasure trove of comparative clarinet information.

Dear MG:
Thank you for your letter of recent date.
It is of course, a simple matter to endlessly discuss the blowing Quality of many different clarinets. This is almost concerned mostly with the quality of the reed and the mouthpiece that the person who is dong the blowing (testing?, no, not really).

Let me concern myelf with the evident problems you have been experiencing with your Lyrique Clarinet. Without hearing or seeing you play, and knowing the Lyrique as I do, having owned and payed many,all models as they have developed, these problems have to do either with an embouchure which is very open-throated, more typical of a saxophone embouchure than that of a clarinet, and/or a mouthpiece probably not suited for any clarinet.
The Lyrique Clarinet as in tune as is any on the market, and this is considering the many many clarinets I have either payed or tested. It plays at 440-442 throughout is tessitura. I would have to know your experiences with playing the clarinet or other single reed instrumemts.
Let us simply leave these other instruments out of the discussion. They serve your discussion in no way. They only tend to make it more difficult to determine your own problems. Any instrument you play for a few minutes will give you a more pleasant response, which would soon change to a negative once you get used to the new equipment.
Concern yourself with your Lyrique clarinet and no other. It is for the record, better than any you have mentioned, no exceptions.
Accept that, and go from there. (Put all other horns away somewhere, or else sell them or bring them back.)
Any of the others have different fingering layouts which can cause difficulty in achieving notes, or not, so leave them alone. You can find out what is wrong by looking to yourself, as the quality control on the Lyrique is really much better than any other.
In order to make a clarinet play more easily, you must practice it! Get used to its finger board, the placement of the thumbs keys, both hands and the little fingers as well. Make sure all holes are fully covered each time you play, even if you have to slowly position your fingers properly. You speak as if you do not have a clue as to what to do, and that you need to spend some real time with a clarinetist, one who knows how to play, and I am not being cynical, not at all. Right now, you are not familiar with any clarinet you’ve tried.
This takes time.” Poorer intonation than the Lyrique” is very bad!

What mouthpiece are you playing, or are you playing on many? What reed(s)? Yo should avoid any plastic or synthetic reed until you have achieved an embouchure, hopefully a correct one, and I do not think you have arrived at that point.

I wish you the best of good,. non-hysterical practice habits and a good holiday season.
Best regards, Sherman