[Dixielandjazz] Clarinet Question

Mon Sep 17 15:44:45 PDT 2007

My favorite clarinet mouthpiece was found in a box of junk and stock 
mouthpieces.  It turns out it's a custom Wells mouthpiece.  It works for me 
but obviously other people didn't think it was anything special.

Frank worked on an Alto mouthpiece for me but died before he could finish 
adjusting it.  He said that it was OK then but that I would out grow it in a 
few months which I did.  I was supposed to bring it back for the final 
adjustments which didn't happen.

When I was in college I learned an important lesson about instruments.  I 
had an old junk trumpet hanging on the wall, painted black with flowers 
stuck in the bell.  A friend of mine who was better than an excellent player 
asked if he could play it.  He put some oil on the valves and proceeded to 
sound incredible on that crappy horn and unknown mouthpiece.

While playing junk horns isn't recommended I learned that it isn't so much 
the horn but the player that produces the great sounds.  If you stop to 
think about it sound goes into the mouth and oral cavity just the same as it 
goes out.  That area works like a sound board that shapes the sound plus the 
accomplished player isn't as likely to use pressure on the mouthpiece 
(brass) to move through the harmonic series of each valve position.

If the facial mask can support it the lips are more flexible and more able 
to produce a good tone without biting or excess pressure in the case of 
brass instruments.  It works precisely the same way with the  Oboe 
(especially), Saxophones and Clarinet along with probably all the other wind 
instruments with maybe the exception of the Flute.
Larry
St.L
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Richoux" <tubaman at tubatoast.com>
To: "Larry Walton" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2007 9:45 AM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Clarinet Question

> Phil and all,
>
> Having owned and played some of those "over-the-shoulder" style  horns, I 
> know why they were obsolete and out of general use long  before the 
> pre-jazz era. I think most of the brasswind instruments  that were 
> available in New Orleans in the 1870s and onwards would  have looked much 
> like horns available in the 20th century (with just  minor detail 
> differences.)
>
> If (as Sue mentioned) the cheap used horns were available to young  New 
> Orleans musicians in the early 1900s they would have more likely  been 
> from the Spanish American War or from the thousands of civilian  brass 
> bands of the 1880s.
>
> I have many pictures of brass bands (military and civilian) from the 
> Civil War/War between the States on through the 1920s - after the mid 
> 1860s very few used any "over-the-shoulder" horns.
>
> Dave Richoux
>
> On Sep 17, 2007, at 1:02 AM, philwilking wrote:
>
>> A small caveat:
>>
>> The French army left Louisiana in 1803. It would have been old U.  S. 
>> army surplus instruments left over from the War between the  States and 
>> the subsequent occupation (1862 or '63 to 1876) which  would have been 
>> available to those with little cash money.
>>
>> I have often fantasized about a jazz band playing those old army  band 
>> "backfire" instruments at a modern venue.
>>
>>
>
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