Reginald Kell, an original

Reginald Kell was a hero to all young clarinetists, and while we did not necessarily end up with his conclusions in performance, Kell served an innovative and musical purpose.

The idea of taking Reginald Kell and decimating his clarinet playing and interpretive skill is oversimplified and in rather poor form.
Whatever Reginald Kell did was interesting and musical, and while it may not have been accurate he played with a certain sense of style which got your attention, especially mine and every clarinet student at the time.
Kells playing taught all of us much even if was only after discussion. The Stravinsky as played by Kell was wildly innovative, imaginative, though not accurate at all. Accurate to what? To exactly what actually was printed on the page of whatever edition you had.
So too, were all of his recordings, his wild liberties creating the stuff of what is real discernment on the part of the honest clarinetist.
It seemed to have been discussed only amongst students, not so much with teachers who dismissied him out of hand.

As far as the Stravinsky Three Pieces are concerned I studied them carefully with both Rosario Mazzeo and with someone even closer to Stravinsky, Mademoiselle Nadia Boulanger. She was the teacher of Aaron Copland and many others and one of the great teachers of and in music . She was extremely close to Stravinsky.
There are no jokes about anyones playing in the composition of the first piece, in which every breath and pratically every eighth is meticulously given.
Mademoiselle Boulanger taught me to play it all in time and she characterized the first movement as almost “a series of variation on, “the Volga Boatman” With that in mind it simplified its meaning as being distinctly Russian, which it is, and to be played exactly in tine, save for the last statement, as I recall.
The second movement also in strict time as Stravinsky marked, but with that little dance in the middle section having its own forward rhythm, to be played in a quiet playful manner.
Finally, the last allegro is in the most strict time possible, breaths and all, except for the last measures, all leading to the Bb, tenuto, and then playfully to the grace at the octave, as has been stated here.

Reginald Kell was a great inspirational figure of his time and his contribution was that he showed us that total accuracy comes first.(It became preferable to his purple phrasing) and when that is achieved, perhaps then within those parameters. leeway is possible. But only then.

Sherman Friedland

Leblanc LL

Hi everyone:

I was looking at a horn , a Leblanc LL, full-boehm that was being advertised as a big-bored instrument, which I thought was incorrect.Since Mr Ridenour worked for Leblanc and designed many of their finest instruments, I asked him and this is his response,
——————————————————————Tucson Bob is only half-right. The LL was a large bore clarinet, as I recall, but it only weighed in at around 14.8mm �� that’s designer talk for medium-large. It was not designed to be their large bore instrument, which went up to 15.00 mm.
The LL, like all other larg(er) bored clarinets, it had sharpness problems in the right hand low register that were unsolvable. Of course, if you only play jazz that’s no biggie.
One caveat to this whole matter is the cognitive dissonance between what Mr. Leblanc designed and made the clarinet to be and what Vito sold here in America. Vito had the habit of reboring the clarinets here for various reasons �� none of which were good or valid. It was not uncommon for the boring to not go very well, since they used the wrong style reamer for wood. It was also not uncommon for the worker, whether by accident or design, to grab the wrong sized reamer. The result of this butchery was that the bores ended up with a poor finish, were often not concentric, and the wrong size. A bore that was intended as a 14.8mm bore commonly ended up as a 15mm bore, and on and on.
This made the clarinets tune terribly and Lee Gibson bitched about this incessantly in The Clarinet magazine in the 70s and 80s. I saw excellent clarinets, such as the LX, rebored from their original 14.6 to 15.00mm by the morons up there in the factory. It took me a while, but I finally got the reboring stopped in 1990 and it was then and only then that Americans actually got to play what Mr. Leblanc had truly designed and not something that had been mutilated at the US factory in Kenosha.
Of course, the clarinets I designed were not rebored….I saw to that.
I say all of this because the LL in question may or may not have been rebored. The odds are that it was, but there is the slim possibility it may have escaped the Kenosha Guillotine. If the bore is smooth and shiny it is probably what Mr. Leblanc actually designed. If it is rough and has boring ring marks (we are not talking subtle here) it has probably been gone over by some factory worker in Kenosha named Igor.
tom

A student asks, what to buy, wood or plastic or ????

Hi Sherman,
I have looked over your website and I must say, it is pretty interesting and it’s a good read!!
I’ve been playing the clarinet for about 2 years now, and I have recently gotten braces. Now that I’ve somewhat adjusted to the disturbance the braces give me, the question is, after I get my braces removed, will I have to restart the emboursure part of the clarinet learning process again?
Next off, I am planning to join my high school senior band (they only offer junior and senior, and senior is offered for grade 11s and up) and I will have to purchase a clarinet….I would like to get a good quality clarinet, not a bad quality one. Now, what I’ve heard is that wood clarinets are supposed to be better than the plastic ones. On some websites, it tells me that plastic and wood clarinets are the same thing. Can you please explain this to me? If I end up buying a wood clarinet, I will have to risk that the clarinet will break right?….so how am I supposed to treat it and do clarinets usually crack?…the wood ones I’m talking about. Would I be better off with a plastic clarinet?
A store in my area has these clarinets in stock. Can you suggest or tell me which ones are good and bad ones? You may also add to this list and I will try and find some stores in my area that offer them.

——————————————————————— Hi Daniel:
Thank you for your request …which is interesting .

First, as to horn, a good plastic horn could be made I guess, but that is not currently the case. I own a Leblanc 20, same as the 250, which is OK but not a fine instrument, ….of plastic.

Any wooden is worse than any platic horn for one reason. Wood is many things, but more than anything it is what I call “seasonal” and temperature and humidity sensitive, making it kind of a night mare.
I have had and seen many students attending college to get Music Ed degrees for teaching who play maybe 5 or 6 hours a day playing expensive french wooden clarinets. They are stuck together as if taffee were in in the horn. The playing fills thm with condensation, much warmer than the ambient emperature, so they bind. While pastic doesn’t, at least not as much, there is a much better material which is the most resistant to cracking, binding and all temperature changes: Hard Rubber.
Go to Ridenour Clarinet Products and look into them, and get in touch with him, he will answer.
The clarinets are very inexpensive and they play better than any instrument I have played. I play on a set of them .

That is your best bet.

As far as playing with braces, your dentist will advise you not to as it works against the clarinet embouchure development, however you can play with braces, and/or many othet things sticking in your mouth.
If you want to play, you will play.

I know.

Look up braces on my site index. I already have one article or maybe more written about playing with braces.

best of good luck. Go for Hard Rubber. You will not be sorry.

sincerely, Sherman

Full Boehm 9* clarinets, a set

Dear Sir, I have access to a matched set of Selmer 9* clarinets, articluated G# full Boehm; and a silver lay Goldbeck clarinet mouthpiece. Any idea of their value and/or demand in market? Owner of mouthpiece studied in Chicago with Anton Quitsow, Chicago Symphony (2nd chair under Joseph Schreurs). Original German lay refaced with French lay by Selmer Co., Elkhart, Indiana c. 1918. Obtains classic resonant tone without employing operatic vocal placement technique. Woodwind store, South Bend, IN wouldn’t venture opinion without physical inspection. Clarinets in new shape. Mouthpiece has small chip in hard rubber coating on right tip that does not affect play or tone. Thank you for any comments. Sincerely, Albert
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Dear A:
Hello:
Regarding the Selmer 9* clarinet, this was not the best of the series including 9, 9*,10, 10S, etc, but certain of the clarinets play more intune than others. A physical and musical inspection would certainly be in order for a precise consideration of their worth.
In addition, the Full Boehm, which played by many including myself, is now not in fashion, only because the adjustment are more crucial, especially with instruments from this period. I can place no value on the mouthpiece though you may find some interest, but with a chip regardless of the consideration , doesn’t seem to be terribly attractive in establishing worth.
Coincerning the set of clarinets, their worth would be established by the physical condition of the instruments, including key finish and wear and the aforementioned adjustments.
The 9*was I believe, a smaller bore than the series 9.
It may have been the first selmer polycilyndrical bore.\

Gerry Mulligan, a short sweet encounter

I was just corresponding with a clarinetist who is looking for a baritone saxophone and remember a story which may be appreciated by some. Actually there are two stories.

About a year after starting the clarinet, I was in Rayburns Music in Boston, buying reeds as usual and trying to soak up some of that great atmosphere that hung about the place. Ray himself, played the trunpet and was the son of Simon Sternberg, who had played in the persussion section of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. They were both extremely friendly to me, as was the wife of Simon, who used to give me reeds and not charge me. ( a box of VDs were 3.75 for 25 reeds)
On this afternoon, Ray was talking with a young man, and handed him the neck of a baritone saxophone. The only thing I remember was Ray telling the fellow, “Its OK, just send me the bread from the road”.
I asked who the fellow was. Ray said, “Serge Chaloff”, along with Harry Crney and Gerry Mulligan, perhaps the best baritones saxophone players in history. It is something a kid never forgets. I probably listened to “Early Autumn” that afternoon. This was the baritone player with Woody Hermans Band, and the song was so beautiful for the saxophone section.

At the New England Conservatory was a very lovely young woman who studied the clarinet and with whom we were all friends. Donna came by my practice room one day and dragged in none other than Gerry Mulligan, who was just reaching the height of his fame. I was very proud to meet him. He immediately asked me if I wanted to pay some duets. I asked him, on saxophone? “No, I play clarinet”
So we made an appointment for the next morning and in he comes with a clarinet.
We played one of those Bach transcriptions that were published by Rubank back then.
It was an allegro in 2/4 time. He played the notes, kind of fuzzy, but what was strange was the totally Jazz conception he gave to every note he played. If there were 4 sixteenth notes, he would accent every other one. I mean heavily. I stopped
I said, “we don’t play this music like that” ( I was very young)
He replied, “Take off your glasses you fat bastard and we’ll settle this”.
That is all I remember. It was the end of that particular session.
I liked Serge Chaloff and Harry Carney better after that.

best always,
Sherman

Mouthpiece Magic? Do not believe it

Friends:

I have been reading all of these entries everywhere concerning the sound of a mouthpiece and I know you will understand that I do not mean to criticize, however it is my very strong feeling that these inanimate objects do not have sounds, per say. They do have response and resistance, and play certain reeds, but I do believe that we make all of the sound. If resistance is difficult or too little, or the thing will only accept a few kinds of reed, trouble is usually on the way, however I have found that I have learned from the following:
Over the years, I have always recording everything I performed, literally everything,and I have for several years been converting all of the tapes to CDs .
Yes, I do listen, and I wonder over and over again,how in the world did I make such a great sound on that B45, or whatever Van Doren I played for years, and , my gosh that was really horrible, or buzzy or yes, sharp, or whatever. Once, I couldn’t find a reed prior to a recital with both Brahms , and the only thing that played was a German mouthpiece that I happened to pick up. I played the concert , and it was OK, but those things play sharp and there is nothing you can do….but I thought the sound was nice, and it played that reed.
So now, I play a different more selective kind of mouthpiece which actually plays more reeds and seems consistant. This is for me what a mouthpiece can do. But it is we, who make the sound.

respectfully,
Sherman Friedland

The Gershwin Glissando

The ultimate agogic accent (accent by delay) is the opening of the Gershwi Rhapsody in Blue
 

Hi, I am 14 years old and just recently found your site. I’ve been looking
around for ways to learn how to do a better glissando. I need to be able
to do a gliss for the intro to Rhapsody in Blue. I can get a half decent
sound from G to high C, but F and below sounds like a drowning pig. How do
you sustain a glissando for however long people do in recordings? Thanks,
Justin_________________________________________________________________
Hello:
First thing. Get the pig out of the water.

Seriously, thank you for your note. Are you playing the Gershwin sometme soon? If not, let me tell you that the very best way is to start at the very beginning.
That is to say make sure you have a beautiful low g to begin and a nice intune high c to end.
Sounds too simple? It is not, believe me.
Then, what you do is to learn to play a chromatic scale totally evenly and cleanly between those two notes.
This is very important . Next, you will find that making a gliss from d to open g is rather simple, and you must practice those two notes and then making the gliss between. Then and finally, put it all together and depending upon where you are in your technical skill and your embouchure , you will get the correct result.
Listen carefully to good recordings of the piece. You will hear many
deviations from one to the other. Some principal clarinetists in orchestra prefer not to play the gliss and ask the second player to do it. Sometimes the Eb player will do it.But it can be done, with relative ease.
Please do not forget to get the pig out of the water prior to starting your
practice.
Good luck, glub glub.

Sherman

Ridenour A clarinet

Hi to all.
My experiences with these clarinets of Ridenour is a bit different. In addition to my A clarinet of which I am very delighted to own, I purchased 6 Bb clarinets from 123 Music, called Allora, over the period of a year. I had been interested in a non wooden, but non plastic clarinet for many years, and because hard rubber had been a choice for large university band section years ago,(I think it was Northwestern that bought a slew of them because of their imperviousness to severe weather conditions), and because of the Essay, “The Myth of Grenadilla” by Ridenour, I really wanted to try some of these. To put it succinctly, they were unbelievably consistant from one to the other. There was little difference from the standpoint of tuning on a meter, timbre, after several days of testing. It figured that they had to be quite similar because they very obviously were mass produced from the look of them, the feel of the keys and because China is not yet a place where hand finishing of clarinets exists to any degree. No, they were not stuffy at all, not in my opinion,were unusually free-blowing and for the price, I was knocked out. (Yes, I returned them all, except the A))
The Arioso, I got last of all, from a dealer in Jersey perhaps, and it was prepared badly, though it was practically for nothing; it played as the others but the dealer messed the preparation.
My thoughts were , what a wonderful instrument for a student to purchase and even use for everything in preparation of a career without the terrible expense entailed by the purchase of the french instrument, of which I own a few and have played many over the years. Hence my advocacy of these horns, and my A is discussed above. I have no interest nor relation with the designer, Mr Ridenour, save for the fact that in my set of Opus, I felt as though these were created by a master designer.
My interests lie with the thousands of students crowding into Universities to study clarinet, and the precipice their finances have to climb to get a horn that will always bind, sometimes crack, and in my belief,is not the best horn for many hours a day of long band rehearsals.

Selmer mouthpieces, tendency is to be sharp

Dear Mr. Friedland,
I have a Selmer series 9 which I purchased in 1961 and I have always had intonation problems mostly it plays sharp. I have tried several different mouthpieces to no avail.

I am not sure what mouth piece originally came with it but I am using a Selmer HS** which seemed to help some. I play mostly for my own amusement but my wife has perfect pitch and is always on my case. I had the opportunity to play an R13 some years back she says I sounded much better. I sanded school busses for $2.00 per hr in 110 degree heat one summer to buy that horn so I have tried to make it play better rather than give it up. Any help you could give me would be appreciated
Thank you.
———————————————————————
Hi:
In a long career, including being a clinician for Selmer, I have found the following: Selmer mouthpieces are mostly sharp including the HS series. The C85 mouthpieces are better and can have a nicer sound as well. I played C85120, which I think will bring down the pitch. Or go to the Gennusa site. The fellow who owns that company is a fine mouthpiece maker, Ben Redwine.tell him your problem and ask him if he has a solution.
Both Selmer and Van Doren mouthpieces can be sharp, but exceptionally the M13 Van Doren is built to play a bit less sharp and plays well. Mouthpieces can affect pitch.
What your wife liked was the Buffet which tends to sometimes have a sweeter, but no less out-of-tune than your selmer, which is essentially a better instrument.
good luck,

Sherman

Legere revisited, for Dave and Carol

Dear Mr. Sherman
I was wondering if you have any experience
with the “legere” clarinet reeds, and if so, what your opinion is of them? I have been trying them for the past year or so, using them for practicing and find that they seem to work well with my setup. Although they took a while to get used to, they seem to play very similar to a V12 Vandoren reed, although they seem somewhat
freer blowing in the lower register, and produce a focused sound quite easily.
I was wondering what your thoughts of these reeds might be? I know they are not a replacement for a good cane reed, but they do give one the
opportunity to play on a reed that lays flat on the mouthpiece facing and stays open, seeming to make it easier to pick a good cane reed.
——————————————————————— Here is another note from another clarinetist:

What do you think of plastic reeds? I like the consistency and ease of play. I find my sound doesn’t “dip” as I tire as much as it does with a wood reed but I’m beginning to feel like I’m cheating myself a bit. I’m not sure if I’m ready to go back to hunting and pecking for a good wood reed that I need to dump soon after I have it just right because it’s had it.

——————————————————————–

Hi Dave and Carol:
I have had many experiences playing with and on Legere Reeds.ou should look in the index of the site under Legere and you will find a longish article I wrote last year relating the results of a 4 month test of Legere Reeds.
My feelings at the time were not very positive at all,but you should read that article for youself.
As far as the present is concerned I am playing on Legere reeds and finding no difference between the synthetic, (which sounds better than UGH, plastic). That is right no difference.
Why?
When I started my survey, I was playing number 2, 3/4 regular cut on a Van Doren M13 mouthpiece and I found the results quite good, however it was at the time necessary to get “used to” them. I then was sent a number of different cuts, some good, some sort of, a few not good at all. I then moved to Quebec cut Legere, # 3 and I started changing mouthpieces with many different results, none really good, or rather assuring. I did not feel as if I could play on this reed in performance.After several months I went back to cane, with very good results, specifically the Gonzalez FOF, and Zonda, both #3 both with good results.
Then I came across an old Gennusa mouthpiece, one that produced what I call, a darker quality of sound, not as bright or trebly as the Van Doren. I began tryig the Gennusa every few days, liking what I was getting.
Then I sent this mouthpiece to Ben Redwine, current pwner and distributor
the Gennusa mouthpiece. He is a very good mouthpiece maker, and he copied the mouthpiece I had sent him, and, though I have tried others, I keep coming back to Bens mouthpiecew, the one he copied for me from the one I had inadvertantly found.
Just a few days or a week ago, I gathered up my Legeres for filing in the round file.
Prior to extermination, I tried a few and was shaken. Why? Because they, (especially the older Legeres, (pre Quebec cut) played like cane, no problems, intune, all ranges, dynamics, everything I want in a reed.
That is where I am now. I have a hard time believing it, but must recommend this Ben Redwine Gennusa mouthpiece for your consideration and Legere reeds as well.
I wouldn’t have believed it, but I think what I want to leave you with is just play the things; don’t get used to anything. Only one thing, or rather
2. Get the right strength, and yes , it is possible that you may have to change your mouthpiece.
I did, and am very happy, and recooment these reeds .
I also want to suggest tat you go to Richards Hawkind website. He is an excellent clarinetist, makes prisitne mouthpieces and has a number of playing examples on his site. The kind of music I play, Brahms, Stravinsky, etc. All of the examples were played on Legere reeds.
That is about as much as I can say. Go with these reeds. They are the future for the clarinet reed. They just play too well.
It is my understanding that Mr. Hawkins has workd with them at Legere in developing the Quebec cut, and further that he will be going to work with them again at the end of May.
Good luck, and play well.

Sherman Friedland

>This update is written after trying the new Forestone reed for 5 days. It is the best synthetic reed I have played , bar none, including Legere, which requires all kinds of changes prior to getting the right cut, the right strength and then, tthe right mouthpiece. The Forestone requires really none of the above and plays like cane on your mouthpiece with no changes of anything , save the reed itself.May 23, 2009.

SF