A More Positive Note

Tonight was the first time in 3 months that my new Buffet R-13 clarinet could actually be assembled and played!

I had really enjoyed playing Cheryl's clarinet in (see Allan's blog post) BC because it is a professional quality Selmer. I had even started playing some of my older clarinets and found them to be "not too bad".

But when I started playing my new clarinet I found that it has a brighter, bigger sound than any of them and is very, very easy to play (similar to Cheryl's Selmer).

Now it can be played for 15 - 20 minutes per day and must have its bore oiled weekly for a month then once a month through the winter before the wood will be adequately seasoned or cured to tolerate conditions with high humidity.

This is a very good start though! I thought I would never look forward to fall with the furnace having to start up, but this year it was necessary to dry the clarinet out to the point that the swollen wood would shrink enough for the joints to be assembled normally.