[Dixielandjazz] Re: Dixielandjazz Digest, Vol 19, Issue 25

[Butch Thompson]

On 7/16/04 2:00 PM, "dixielandjazz-request at ml.islandnet.com"
<dixielandjazz-request at ml.islandnet.com> wrote:

> mutes for clarinets.

  A clarinet "mute" would have to encase the full length of the instrument,
because the sound doesn't emerge from the bell of the horn as it does in
brass instruments.  Much of the clarinet's sound emerges from its tone holes
along the length of the instrument, and a halfway decent sound man will mike
the clarinet somewhere midway between mouthpiece and bell.

The bell, in fact, makes the air column long enough to play the lowest note
-- on the B-flat clarinet, it's concert D in the low register (or A, a
twelfth higher, when you open the register key).

Years ago, I arrived at a gig to find I had somehow forgotten to put my
horn's bell in the case.  The bandleader, earning his keep as usual,
fashioned a "bell" out of an empty beer can, which solved the problem by
lengthening the air column.

None of the above negates the possibility that somebody may once have
designed a lampshade-shaped accessory for the clarinet.  In fact, this would
save some time and effort for those who like to fashion lamps from old
clarinets.   
-- 
Butch Thompson