A Reed Revolution

Hello everyone:

this is a partial report on two viable synthetic reeds, both of which having some excellent qualities, which, I’m sure, will lead to just about all clarinetists playing either one or the other of them.
As far as the Legere reed, previous to the Signature, I found them insufficient and totally without that feeling that “I can play tonight because I know there’s a good reed in my case. Prior to Signature, I simply couldn’t depend on them for the playing that I was trained to do. The arrival of the 2 Signature reeds changed all that because they both play beautifully. I do not know if they will last because I have only played them for several sessions.
As for the Forestone, I’m much further along, having played them for several weeks and only them, and frankly I kept one on the mouthpiece without moving t for the better part of two weeks before I noted any change at all, truly a great experience, at this point in time, better than the Signature, as I haven’t had the time to properly judge.
The Forestone reeds marks the beginning of a totally new era in the development of reeds, all reeds. It is a new beginning because these reeds are reeds which totally duplicate the feeling and response of cane. Perhaps , it may surpass any reed currently being sold which is not made from cane which has been grown, harvested and then cut. It does have a tremendous advantage in consistency   in that it does not have to be  and warmed up and soaked. Once you have chosen your strength, it just plays. Choosing the strength is relatively easy, at least it has been in my case.

What this means is that it is just a matter of time before cane reeds as such, become obsolete.

What did he say? What unmitigated nerve!

Not at all. It has been coming for years, from the early reeds made of plastic, called fibercane,or something similar, the plastic coated things of many different brands. These were all innovations of a certain sort, not really ready for prime time, or for playing, in my opinion.

One reads about players who have found success of sorts using plastics, but changing their mouthpieces in order to accomodate the reeds. Is that nuts, or what? It’s nuts! You don’t do this. One doesn’t change to a Hitler K14 because your plastic seems to play better on it, a different mouthpiece. It makes no sense, and seems like buying another clarinet because your plastic reed plays better on it. Crazy!  

That “take” may be called strange. It is not. I have been playing for many many years and I know that these new reeds plays as well, and better than my cane reeds, and they play that way each day.

Returning to the Signature it is a huge step ahead for Legere, producing a synthetic that is no longer a plastic reed. I can’t say more presently because my experience with these have not been as positive, nowhere near . If they continue to improve, so be it. I wish them well, and I know they will continue to improve.

That’s what I meant when I said, this is the beginning of a reed revolution.

Others will catch up to Forestone, and the really big makers will see the money to be made by making a reed which actually plays as well as cane, even better.

 It won’t be long. Don’t change your mouthpiece, your horn, or anything. The manufacturers will catch on and get on the bandwagon. They will duplicate from each other and improve upon what exists now. It  has to happen.

Until then, you will never dupicate the effects of  PRACTICE.  All the work, the methods, the embouchure, the studies, the playing experiences, all the gigs, they are all necessary.

And everyone will play better.

 best always, 

sherman

 

 

“Ask Benny for one of his old ones”-my moms advice

Mr. Friedland:
I want to laud you on providing clarinetists of whatever age and ability the opportunity to converse with a truly marvelous musician-clarinetist such as you. I am now 72 but still an active player.

This may seem like such an obvious question but I think one worthy of addressing. That is, starting a youngster’s clarinet instruction off right. I am talking of my own experience. Sixty-two years ago, when I was 10, I heard Benny Goodman on the radio. That decided me on the instrument I wanted to play. So, my musical instruction began at my elementary school in the 6th grade in a group situation with the instructor who was a really good guy not specifically a clarinetist. I then went on to a private instruction at the local music store, assigned to an instructor who was a trumpet player. Later I switched instruction to another gentleman, a good musician, but also a trumpet player. He was my last instructor. Both of these instructors were excellent musicians, but neither taught me anything specifically about the ins and out of the clarinet (mouthpiece and reed selection, embouchure, breathing, technique, alternate fingerings, etc.). My parents were not musicians and knew no better. But, at no point was any suggestion made to me by my instructors of hooking me up with a clarinet player-instructor. Save for a period of over 20 years after I graduated from college, I have continued to play clarinet (and sax) with a dance band, and clarinet with our community band and orchestra. At best I consider myself as a strong and enthusiastic, but only adequate second section, clarinet player. The lingering question I have is, could I have done much better under the early tutelage of a good clarinet player? This may be an obvious redundant question, but an important one for parents and those starting off with a young aspirant student-clarinetist.

Hi Jet:

Does the teacher we choose determine the outcome? The immediate answer is almst a resounding NO. As far as choosing a clarinet player for a teacher at the beginning level, you must consider what made you chose the clarinet? That’s closer to an  affirmative response. You and I both were inspired from listening to Benny Goodman. You studied through your school and was assigned a teacher who happened to play trumpet. In my case, and this is almost unbelievably true: my parents suggested that I write to Benny Goodman* and ask him for one of his old ones. I knew that wouldn’t work.  After I asked and more, they put an ad in the paper “wanted to buy, used clarinet”.

The fellow who answered the ad also offered lessons. He was my first teacher and truly a great influence and happened to be a wonderful player (as well as a dealer in used clarinets). I remember taking my first lessons at the NEC. Frequently during lessons, there would be a knock on the door, a short conversation, a few bucks passed and my teacher wold come back to the lesson with a brown paper bag in which was a clarinet he had just bought from …..? I never knew. I still wanted to play. I had been an unhappy kid I guess, and the clarinet absolutely changed my life, truly and completely. The source of all of this was me, the student and the player. Even traveling to Washington DC in the back of my dads Nash, on Route One,(to visit my brother) I practised while the car was bumping around on that crumby highway. Nothing would stop me. I knew I couldn’t miss a day. It was certainly more complicated than that, however while my parents had literally nothing to do with it, they had everything to do with it, because I did it to spite them, and that is really true. My father had told me that as a musician, I would “walk the streets”.In my deepest self, I knew that I would someday play the clarinet and never “walk the streets”. That I happened to have talent was inconsequential.
Yours, ours, is a story repeated by just about everyone in the world who, at a certain time in their time here wonders what would have happened had one circumstance or a group of them may have been different.
I see so many similarities in your question and many of my own that I can’t help but say that we’re  in the same boat. There were so many opportunities that could have been changed had I made a different choice or that would have had to change had things gone differently.
Everyone   goes through the same kind of experience.
In your situation, you could have had a clarinet player for a teacher, and they could have been either quite helpful to you, or not. The trumpet instructors you did have perhaps made you a better player than you would have been had you had a clarinetist.
From your letter, I see that you have loved music and played music all of your life. That is an achievement. I have seen so many students in conservatory that have turned against the instrument and the discipline involved. They simply gave up or said “to hell with it” and never had the chance to play for a lifetime and remain enthusiastic, which you have done. It really is of no consequence were you play or in what organization. Perhaps you are “only adequate” as you say. The thing is that you’ve done it with enthusiasm and joy.
Perhaps your aspiration was to play the clarinet. You have done that and need to enjoy whatever there is still to play, and it is always there, so you are in the same position as many who have aspired to much more and remain totally unfullfilled.
I auditioned one time for the Israel Philharmonic. It came down to two players, me and someone else. I know that I played the better audition, but not according to the conductor. So, I was disappointed and felt robbed too. Had I gotten the job, I would have been in Israel playing . I would not have met my wife in Buffalo where I was engaged to play new music. I played many many performances of new music in New York and in Buffalo. But my wife who is an amazingly lovely person  happens to understand people very well, especially her husband. She has told me many times that I am really not cut out to be an orchestral player.I do not function well with a conductor whom I do not respect or in situations where you simply sit and play. I have always had to do more than that, much more,so I wound up, conducting, teaching, playing , administration and all kinds of different things . Still, I wanted to do more, but  a part of me wishes that I had been appointed in Israel.
I’m still here, alive and playing and loving music, and still doing many of the things I love. Same as you.
Be well, and enjoy each rehearsal.

best always, Sherman *(Many years later, I did meet Benny, and rehearsed his part with the Milwaukee Symphony , and later helped with balance when he and his daughter, Rachel, played a benefit concert for the Fontainebleau Schools. This was at the ES Gardiner Museum in Cambridge)

Scherzo from Midsummer Nights dream

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYhSAP6viHs>

The above address should take you to the you tube recording of two clarinetists from Paris, specifically, the Orchestra of Paris, as it says, playing the clarinet parts from the Scherzo, Since this is repertoire that   you and I have actually played many times, I can only inform you that they play is as easily as they can. That’s very fast!

They have good tongueing, and they manipulate the parts quite well, though far from perfectly. They are not totally in “sync” in several of the ascending scales for the two. I also find the sound to be very thin, and yes, very French, very far from the way it’s is played in the US or in Germany or Holland. Those clarinetists have much more substance in their sound. By comparison, this is thin playing, but very indicative of the clarinet playing one hears in Paris. Thy play Selmer Clarinets as do most Parisian clarinetists, but the sound is much more the tradition in that city, and certaily not the sound of the “make” of the clarinet.
I wonder why they seem so pleased with themselves when the results are really not that good or precise.
What we know about this particular group of soli passages for two clarinets is the issue is never the speed, but always the conductor who of course, sets the tempo.
If he had taken it down a notch or two, making precision more important than speed, I doubt if they could have rattled it off, and been so pleased with themselves.
This is not an experienced couple in the business, but a couple of tongues, and for the reason stated above, I find it less than impressive.
The conductor in this Mendelssohn estblishes everything.
Anyone having played the work or about to, should first of all, determine what the tempo will be.
This requires time with the conductor and/or the rehearsals necessary. If you will determine those points, you will be much more successful performing this frequently heard work, but never ever this fast.

Keep playing, and stay well.
Sherman

Centered Tone? or the much earlier “balanced tone”?

Dear Mr. Friedland,

Hello, and I just happened to look for this clarinet on Ebay, and I was wondering if the price on this Selmer ‘Centered Tone’ Clarinet – that has about a week from now (6-17-09) from removal – was worth buying. Here were the descriptions:

“This listing is for a Bb clarinet made by the Selmer Company of Paris, France. It is the famous “Centered Tone” model which some consider one of the finest jazz clarinets ever produced (no)  It is made of wood with nickle-silver keys. The serial number is in the N74XX series placing production about 1950. We have oiled the bore and body and have installed new pads. This instrument plays well. It does have a repaired crack in the top of the lower joint that does not leak (see photo). The keys are tight and show little wear.(NO)  Free USA shipping. Included is a nice case, new Selmer mouthpiece, ligature, cap, a reed.

swab and cork grease. I also sell new Selmer, Yamaha, Conn, LeBlanc, Buffet and other fine instruments. Email for a great quote.

This Clarinet is up for $799 ‘buy it now’ and I was thinking if this one is worth buying. I also had some doubts since this clarinet had a crack on the top of the lower joint.

This was the site for the item.
 

It would be greatly appreciated if it was replied soon as possible! J thanks!
-M Y

Dear MY:
thanks for your note on the Centered Tone Selmer Clarinet, a subject dear to me because I owned a set of them for many years, and at that time, they were not a Jazz Clarinet, as I’ve mentioned before. I was trained to be an orchestral clarinetist and that is how I used them, except for an occasional Gershwin.
They have come to be called a “Jazz” clarinet because of only two small reasons: one is the fact the the bore is a tiny bit wider than most, and a big bore is considered to be for Jazz. (Funny thing is that Jazz doesn’t know) The other reason is that Benny made an ad advertising the horn when it first came out in the late 50s or so.
Those are the only reasons.
As far as the clarinet you asked about, I think it is overpriced and worth no more than perhaps 500 dollars.
Not only that, but that crack in the lower joint scares me just to look at it. It is in a crucial place and looks as if the repair was crudely done. Any clarinet is diiminished by a big crack right in the middle. There are plenty of horn of Centered tone bore out there for sale and look for one that is not so over-advertised, (read hyped), or try to get a Leblanc Dynamic, same bore size and just as “famous” for Jazz. They’ll go for much cheaper because of the maligned state of the brand , as such.
 One final caveat: I do not think that the clarinet pictured and described is a CT Selmer/ The serial numbers don’t match the CT series of serial numbers, but they match an earlier clarinet, the BT. This according to a viewer who notified me of this.

When I checked out the photos with the clarinet, the shot of the CT written on the clarinet didn’t match what is normally acceptable . In my opinion, based on the above. The clarinet in this ad is not a Centered Tone Clarinet. So please be careful. Auctions sites can yield bargains, but also items which are counterfeit, so, be careful! ( bull-doggiescomment)

“Mr. Friedland, I am the owner-player of a fine Bb Selmer Centered-Tone clarinet(”Q” series) since 1958, and a CT A clarinet (”P” series) for about 10 years. Both are wonderful instruments.  A few years ago I caught the new clarinet virus, and so I tried out the various top-of-the line clarinets.  I decided that they were vastly over-priced and really not any better for me than my trusty CTs. 

In the listing referred to by the correspondent, I was surprised that the “N” series clarinet is shown as a “Centered Tone.”  All of the websites listing Selmer clarinet serial numbers show that the Selmer “Centered Tone” began with the “P” series through the “Q” series.  ACcording to www.clarinetperfection.com, the “N” series was known as the “Balanced Tone” and was in production 1946-1951.  The “Centered Tone” (P and Q series) was in production 1952-1957).”

 

CAVEAT EMPTOR

Stay well, Sherman

The Barrel Virus

Hi, My name is M, I’m a freshman in college and a clarinet major.

So I just recently bought a 1971 Selmer 10S Bb Clarinet. It plays wonderfully, however I am not 100% happy with the barrel. So i’ve been doing some looking around for some barrels, and i came across a few that sounded good. But i would like to have your opinion on if they would be fitting for a clarinet like mine.
The first i came across was the (notorious) Backun Cocobolo Barrel. From the looks and sounds, it seems very nice, but is also $225.00. Is it worth it?
The second one I came across was the Clark W Fobes Barrel. My old clarinet tutor Patty Shands uses this one, but she plays on a Buffet, so i didn’t know if they play better on one more than the other.
And of course there are the Chadash and Moenig barrels, but those are Buffet barrels.
What is your personal preference/opinion?

Dear M:
Thank you for your question about barrels. I really don’t think that anyone knows anything about barrels, except that is, for the pitch that they may slighly change. In truth, a barrel does not have a sound, per se. It does have a response, which one may or may not prefer.
Actually, I find that barrels are just another manisfestation of the kind of noodling that clarinet players love to do, but remember this, in order to know if the barrel is changing anythng, one must have a well-used barrel with which one is comfortable, for response, as well as pitch, to say nothing of timbre.
I first saw those brown barrels one year when I was teaching at Crane, the “birthplace of music education”, located in a remote region of New York. Lots of plain boxy buildings and halls, appearing something like the buildings created for the Third Reich, by Albert Speer. I used to call it the CaneSchool because I walk with one, and they had fire drills about every 20 minutes or so.
Anyway , a student came in with one, paid 200 for it and it looked quite ordinary. She didn’t know why she bought it; it had been for sale at one of those flea-market type clarinet festivals, hundreds of stalls, all kinds of equipment, everything touted to solve all yourproblems, make you play better than your stand partner.
For me the barrel was meaningless and changed nothing, so to answer your first question, it is not worth it, not even if they give you one, which is done frequently: it’s a way of selling one to someone else who sees it when you come back for your first rehearsal.
I notice in your letter, you say that the barrel looks and sounds interesting. This is something I would need to be explained. I started on a metal clarinet, and I always wanted a black wooden clarinet. That has remained my ideal.So the brown barrel is simply a way of adding a zero or two to the price.
The Moennig Barrelmakes some sense, and it will work on your Selmer, as it has on mine. The clarinet barrel is very short as you know, and the moenning have a reverse taper making the throat notes a bit clearer. They also have a rubber insert.But, the Selmer 10s, your clarinet, has a much better throat register than any Buffet I have ever played, and some come with a reverse taper in the barrel.
I think that much too much has been made out of cocobolo or rosewood barrels because the very basic nature of thse woods is instability; they are more unstable than is grenadilla or mpingo or whatever you want to call it.
I think the Fobes clarinet equipment is some of the very best available, but it is quite costly, the mouthpieces though, even the 30 dollar Debut is terrific, and right now, it is what’s on my clarinet.
Anyway, I recently wrote a piece called “ligature virus”.
Let us call this response,”the barrel virus”. There are many, and no vaccine available.

Actually, there is. It is called “practicing.”

best regards,
Sherman

The Difference between Plastic reeds and actual synthetic cane

Dear Professor Friedland:
I was excited by your report on the new reeds. Can you be specific just as to how they differ from other plastic reeds. Or are they really different? Thank you for responding.

MP

Dear MP:
Thank you for your note. I happened to have received some more of the forestones today, the new strength, which is numbered -3. I had the time to briefly try them and immediately can think of several ways, one very important that they differ from plastic. I purposely use the word plastic as I believe all of the others, outside of the so-called plastic-covered reeds play as the word plastic implies. As you know, plastic plays differently from cane, any cane.
These reeds are called Forestone. Simply, they play just like cane, the same, the only differences are that all reeds of a particular strength, in this case, -3 play exactly the same. Frankly, it’s like a dream come true. I really wouldn’t have believed it, aspecially after attempting to find a substitute for the problems of cane for as long as 40 years ago.
It is true that you must find the correct strength, but this was easy as I play their lightest model, the least resistant. Afer finding it, you just put it on and play it. Really, the only word I can think of is flabbergasted.
You play them, anything you choose to play and if you could play the passage or the Sonata on cane, it becomes easier with forestone and the confidence it gives one is totally different from any cane or any plastic experience.
You don’t have to experiment with different mouthpieces, the act itself betraying the purpose of a reed. Trying a different mouthpiece to accomodate a reed is the same as buying a different clarinet to accomodate a diffeent mouthpiece. This is something we recommend against:
destroying all your work for a dubious result.
One also does not have to wait for the reed to settle into the mouthpiece or your embouchure, a ridiculous idea at best. There is no time required to “break in” these reeds. And why should there be, if the reeds is a true synthetic, not just a reed-shaped object. If you have to change your embouchure, what are we talking about? After all of our work in learning embouchure, articulation, dynamics and endurance, we need to have something upon which to play that is as good as cane. Forestone is better because it is as good as good cane. Mine allow me to play as I play from the first moments of trying the reed. I am playing it immediately.
Finally, I find playing on cane to be unnecessary .
And for a post script, I am not in any way connected to Forestone, except that is that I will continue to play them.  I am not a forestone  Artist, just as I am not a Buffet Artist or a Leblanc Artist, or in any stable or company.The so-called “artists” are salesman, pure and simple.

As always, keep practicing, but keep from trying too many reeds. It makes life easier.

Sherman

Two excellent student mouthpieces

Dear Mr. Friedland,

Thank you in advance for indulging a question from this clarinet-playing mom! I played the clarinet for over 13 years (5th grade through college) and play recreationally now. I have a daughter who will begin playing clarinet this summer (end of 3rd grade). She is 8. I was a few years older than she is when I started. She plays piano and is very musically inclined.

I am giving her my 1965 vintage Noblet N40 to play (s/n 55474). I have taken very good care of it (I am the second owner) and had it repadded for her. I’ve provided her a new ligature (Bonade inverted, like mine) and a La Voz mouthpiece (a hedge against breakage…I play a Portnoy BP03 and Selmer HS*).

In your opinion, is this combination giving her a good start? I did not start with my Noblet, rather a Selmer rental. I acquired my Noblet 3 years later. I had considered purchasing a second clarinet for my daughter, but could not find one any better than my clarinet for less of an investment than repadding my own.

Kind regards,

K C

Dear KC:
It is no indulgence, but with a considerable amount of concern that I respond to your note.
There is really nothing incorrect with giving your daughter your Noblet to play, and I really can’t fault an inverted Bonade Ligature, which is simply extraneous. It is however a considerable concern that you would allow her to play a La Voz mouthpiece. This is the single most important piece of equipment for anyone who plays the clarinet. But not a La Voz . They make reeds which are also marketed under many other names as well.
You have two reasonably good mouthpieces, so perhaps you should give her one of yours.However there are two others which I can recommend : They are the Hite Premiere, and the Clark Fobes Debut.I have ordered and tried playing perhaps a dozen of the Fobes Debut mouthpieces, and for a time thought I wold make it my one and only , so-to-speak Each of them cost about 30 dollars and are available easily from WWBW, an honest firm, which will give you a good price and has an unusual 45 day money-back guaranty.The Hite Premier is also excellent and played by several of my friends who are professional clarinetists. If I were your daughter, I would prefer either one of those and a plain ordinary ligature, all of which do the same for a young player.

Best regards, Sherman

It’s not a rubber chicken!

Dear Mr Friedland:
I was hoping that you might provide some reassurance to my reasoning and guitar analogy so that we can all sleep better until the Lyrique arrives! My wife thinks I’m nuts for buying a $1000 rubber clarinet……..JP

Dear JP:

Actually, there is no analogy in comparing the guitar you bought and the Lyrique you have ordered. But I can say the following for your wife and yourself and your daughter as well.
The Lyrique clarinet, the hard rubber thing, is the best in tune hard rubber thing on the market and what’s wrong with a clarinet made of hard rubber, which is as natural as wood, but much more stable and will not crack, ever.
I play on a set and so do more and more clarinetists and students of clarinetists as well. When I first got one to try, I was amazed, played it for my wife, who has a better ear than me, and she too found to be really beautiful in quality. I played it for colleagues at a chamber music rehearsal and they found that it blends better and tunes better with strings and piano than does wood.
It has been true since, and while I can criticize certain aspects of literally any horn, this is the best instrument, and when you factor its price it cuts all others by miles.
There is a growing constituency out there.
As they say,”cheeeeyeck it out”!
Enjoy your acquisition, and good luck to your daughter.

Best regards, Sherman

The ligature virus

Mr. Friedland, I wonder what your current take on ligatures may be, and what you are currently using?

The ligature virus is only one of many that clarinetists are prone to: the mouthpiece virus, the reed virus, the barrel virus, not mention the CLARINET virus. I’ve gone through them all. But, just when I think I have recovered, along comes along a new strain and off I am again. Ligatures come in all sorts of varieties, configurations, materials, colors, and COSTS.

I have come to use Legere reeds about all the time, given their convenience, reliability, and (for me) their suitability given my humble level of competence. I have ordered the new Forestone reeds which you espouse, and I eagerly await comparing them with cane and Legere. For me, I have found the best ligature for playing a Legere is the original Selmer metal ligature that came with my Selmer Centered Tone which I bought new in 1958 when I was in the Marine Band. For whatever reason, I have found the Legere reed responds best to the metal ligature.
Speaking of some of the outrageous costs for ligatures, I have satisfactorily used a 3/4″ strip of Velcro wrapped around the mouthpiece and reed. I found this to be about as good as any ligatures I have tried—for hardly any cost at all!! I recently bought a metal jazz mouthpiece for my old C Melody sax. I had trouble fitting a ligature to it. I brought out my trusty Velcro for an outstanding and CHEAP result!
——————-

JT:

My take on the current ligature virus is as follows:
I am using a metal Mitchell Lurie “Springboard ” ligature which I found in my drawer, the one especially used for containing as much viral activity as I can possibly cram in. I remember Daniel Twigg of “Twigg Music” in Montreal actually trying to sell me on the Van Doren Optimal optimum ligature.all plated up and covered with maybe two microns of sterling, which was a total washout because for me , it was too much junk with which to contend and I wasn’t able to change from Bb to A clarinet without it coming off and when I tightened the screws enough it would injure at least visually, the reed which to me , didn’t make a lot of sense. It lies, in disused tarnish in my drawer.
I first found what was a slight difference in the Rovner ligature the leather looking one, and I used it for many years. I discarded it because with that ridiculous black plastic mouthpiece cap, the look was reminiscent of Darth Vader, from ‘Star Wars” fame. It irked me.It was also hard to cram into my double case because it makes the mouthpiece thicker than the space accorded for it in the styrofoam or whatever it’s called. It too irked me. It’s not that I’m that irkable; it’s just that getting away from the standard looking mouthpiece cap and ligature betrays my memory, and finally I return.
I think the Harrison ligature was very good, and its Rico descendant may also be good. The real expensive jobees really affect me in a disjunctive way because their price really makes me feel for the student who just has to have one and betrays his soul for this obviously Faustian deal, at great cost, and for what gain? Yes, I’ve used Bonades, and reverse Bonades with the middle pried out with a pliers, all that stuff.
Not to get off-subject, but mouthpieces are a slightly different item and are really much more expensive as a rule. I used a Van Doren M13
for maybe ten or fifteen years. It is that companies version of the Chedeville. Later , I dioscovered Richard Hawkins and his mouthpieces, which are better versions of the Chedeville. Much better. Now, that’s enough on mouthpieces.
Hope I’ve contributed to your viral collection. Best regards,
Sherman

An Australian has played both: His report:

Dear Mr Friedland,
First, thanks very much for sharing your wisdom on this excellent site.
In light of a recent post concerning the Reform Boehms of Wurlitzer the following details and personal experience may be of interest to your readers.
I switched to Reform Boehms after playing on Buffets – R13 S1 RC and Festival models – over a span of 25 years.

The Wurlitzers, in common with the bespoke instruments of other German makers, are engineered to a very high standard. The keywork, in finish and fit, is superior to any mass-produced French Boehm clarinet I’ve seen – as it should be, considering the cost of these instruments. They’re built for eternity.

The “improvements” are (on the Wurlitzer model !85):
1. A split function register key/throat Bb mechanism. This helps give a better pinch Bb (I still use resonance fingerings), but a more important benefit is that the register tube can be smaller and positioned so that MOST of the the 12ths are a better in tune than on the French clarinets I’ve played. This mechanism is totally reliable.
2. A beautiful-sounding fork Bb fingering, as well as all the usual options for this note on the French Boehm.
3. A very good F#-G# trill (Carmen!) without the articulated mechanism.
4. A mechanism for fixing the rh middle finger B, F#, D# 12ths – the high D# is not flat.

But it’s swings and roundabouts. In the Wurlitzer you have an instrument which is mechanically more complex (and heavier); you sacrifice the very simple, elegant French Boehm design design for what could be considered minimal “improvement”. As I said, it’s swings and roundabouts.

The Reforms have quirks of their own. Most of the 12ths are better in tune; some are not by a long shot and require a great deal of correction. For instance, on my “A” clarinet B, C, and C# at the top of the clarion are very sharp, which is a nuisance, but you learn to adjust.

One benefit over the French Boehms I’ve played is that it’s easier to play wide intervals smoothly on the Reform. It’s also possible to really blow ff without the sound becoming harsh. The altissimo is easier (the F/F# are not flat) and has a more ‘covered’ quality. It’s the bore design I suppose. However, I find the Reform is a bit less flexible than a good French Boehm (a harsh fortissimo could be a quality you want sometimes). Maybe that’s the price you pay for the Reform’s stability. Swings and roundabouts again.
Tonally, with the Reforms your ‘default’ position is German. The instruments tend to sound more focused; more of a laser beam sound, as someone once described it. But it’s where you take the sound from that default position that counts.

After some hard work getting the measure of the Wurlies and German mps and reeds, I played them in orchestra. A very fine clarinetist who didn’t know I’d switched from Buffets was in the audience for a performance of Beethoven 8 and I forget what else. He told me later that I sounded ‘like myself’ but thought I’d had a very good reed on…

As the old saying goes, “’tain’t the gun, it’s the gunner”.
K.Sydney, Australia

Dear K: Thank you so much for your wonderful “reform Boehm” response.
I, and I’m sure every reader will appreciate your candor.
As I see, and as they shall, it seems to be “six of one”, etc.

Thank you very much,
Sherman