Doctroid's Page of Scientific Mysteries

Edited the next morning to clarify a few points.

I did it again. Bought a clarinet on eBay. I can't possibly pretend I need another one -- I have three soprano clarinets already, and I've only used one of them the past several months. This one I bought pretty much out of curiosity. It's a Mazzeo system clarinet; I've never seen one in the flesh. I figure buying one for $17 (plus equal postage) is a pretty good way to get a good look at one. After which, who knows, maybe I'll resell it. I might even be able to make a tiny profit.

We're coming up on our last band concert of the year, in two weeks. The next week there's a pot luck dinner, and then we're off until March, the anniversary of my joining. I've had a good time, and my playing's improved. Not that I'm not still a tyro, but I've made a little progress.

I'm enjoying being in the third clarinet section a lot more than I ever expected. I started playing clarinet in the fifth grade, and partway through sixth grade my teacher switched me to bass clarinet. I played alto clarinet in seventh and eighth grades, and then bass clarinet again in ninth through twelfth.

I really enjoyed that. Most of the band parts were rather dull, a lot of oom-pah oom-pah and not much else, but I just really liked the big, fat sound of the instrument, particularly in the bottom octave, and though it takes more air than the soprano it accepts a looser embouchure, so I found it more fun to play.

I was back on soprano clarinet for a year or two in college, but by then I was thinking of myself as a bass clarinetist in exile. The bass was always my favorite clarinet, and I got much less enjoyment out of the soprano.

When I got interested in playing again a couple years ago, I started looking for a bass clarinet on eBay. I found one eventually, but in the meantime picked up an alto and a couple sopranos when I could get them too cheap to pass up. When I contacted the director of the LaFayette Concert Band I told him I had soprano, alto, and bass clarinets, and hoped he'd ask me to play bass. Instead he wanted me on soprano, and I was a bit disappointed by that.

But if he offered to let me switch to bass today, I'd have a hard time deciding whether or not to take him up on it. (Not that that's likely -- we have a bass clarinetist, and don't need two in a band our size.)

I've re-learned something I'd forgotten, which is that even the third clarinet parts tend to be more interesting than the bass parts. And, not unrelatedly, it wasn't just time away from playing that accounted for my limited skills: they'd been stunted by my time on bass. Not that playing bass isn't an enriching experience, but it didn't help my embouchure any, nor my dexterity, nor my facility in the altissimo register. Bass clarinet is great fun to play, but playing soprano is good for me. And also fun. My teenage disdain for the soprano is gone.

I do hope to find an opportunity to play bass clarinet again at some point. And I'd love a chance to try out a contra clarinet, although at this point I can't afford to buy even a cheap used one. Right now, though, I'm happy on third clarinet. Second would be great too, someday, when and if I hone my skills well enough and an opening exists, but third is fine until then.

Meanwhile, back on eBay, I'm paying attention to the occasional Bundy eefers...

At last night's concert I was the third clarinet section. Jeff was the second clarinet section.

Normally that would be six people, not two. I may even have been audible at times.

No bass clarinet either. Nor was our trombone soloist there, so we replaced "Gloriana" with "Shenandoah". Also we played "In Storm and Sunshine" after the Holst "First Suite" because our conductor spaced on the order... we corrected him and he was going to do "In Storm and Sunshine" but he'd already introduced the Holst and we had it out, so we ended up doing it that way.

That's it for the summer concert season. I think we're going to have a concert in September sometime, and other than that I think there are no concerts until December.

Tonight's concert went pretty well. We played Program B, omitting "Gloriana" (trombone soloist was away), including our first performance of "Slava!", and putting "In Storm and Sunshine" after the Holst (a mistake on our director's part, though it made sense given that otherwise the omission of "Gloriana" would have put two marches in a row.)

I played the Ridenour again. And I'm glad I practiced last night, because while doing so one of the screws fell out and the left hand ring stack started to come off. I had a heck of a time finding the screw -- turned out it was lodged in the lower joint keywork. I put it back together and all seems okay, but I'm glad it didn't happen in mid concert. Remind me to keep an eye on that screw though.

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Thornden Morris started up in late 1980, and apparently has practiced on Tuesday nights throughout its history. In most years they practiced every Tuesday, except when low attendance or other circumstances forced a cancellation, and except during a winter break that in recent years has gone from Thanksgiving week through New Year's.

As of the end of 2006 Kate and Connie have "retired" (in quotes because they still want to turn up for some events) and Heather has retired (no quotes) from the team. Given the remaining low numbers, Thornden stopped practicing in September and in February decided to practice only during April, dance out on May Day, and do nothing else in 2007.

Tomorrow -- a Wednesday -- Thornden resumes practicing.

Things that have happened: Rebecca Jordan, formerly of Lemon and Capers Morris, now lives near Watertown. She came to the April practices and danced out on May Day. A woman talked to our squire after May Day expressing interest in learning morris dancing. The team decided to ask Rebecca to teach everyone the Duns Tew "tradition". Finally, the new woman, one of the, um, "old" women, and I all have other commitments on Tuesdays. So, Wednesdays starting tomorrow it is: new day, new dancer, new dances. The team still needs more recruits if it's to survive much longer, but right now it aten't dead.

Last Tuesday the band played in Apulia Station. Program A, but with "Triple B Rag" instead of "Fortress". Heather and Kenny attended. I played the Ridenour clarinet, which seemed to work fine.

This afternoon the Binghamton Morris Men dance in Binghamton, for once -- a couple of nursing homes, I think.

So we played indoors again, in a church in South Onondaga, in a space more suited to a woodwind quintet than a band. We didn't outnumber the audience by much.

South O is a strange place. It contains the school district's junior/senior high school and one of the elementary schools, a fire department, two (I think) churches, a cemetery, a store, a gazebo, and houses. Quite a few houses, at least quite a few compared to how many I always expect to see when I'm going through. But hardly anything else. It's the closest hamlet to where I live, and yet I rarely drive through it. It's south of us and we commute north; even if we're heading south we turn east before getting to South O. It's on one of two plausible ways to head to Skaneateles and points west, but we use the other more often. Even less often do I set foot in it. Possibly the last times were in 2000 or 2003 when house shopping (and we may not even have gotten out of the car), before that 1995 at a birthday party at the fire barn for Heather's grandfather, and before that June 1995, again at the fire barn: our wedding reception. And before that, the aforementioned gazebo was one of three I took shelter from the rain under on my 1987 bicycle trip to Ithaca for my first morris ale.

Anyway, we played. Seemed to me we did a little better the week before. Or maybe it was just me -- recovering from a cold doesn't make things any easier. Of course I had to pick our quietest piece to have my one coughing fit in. I brought the Ridenour along but decided to play the Evette & Schaeffer this time. It was Program B, but we omitted "Slava!" and "Triple B Rag" due to lack of time. Program A (omitting "Fortress" due to lack of practice) ran a little short last week, so apparently there's going to be some revisions to both programs coming.

Next week's concert is the annual appearance in Fabius, except this time actually it's Apulia, and by that I really mean Apulia Station.

Splitting hairs here, tonight was the second performance but the first concert by the LaFayette Concert Band since I joined. We were due to play outdoors at the LaFayette Library, but after watching the lightning approaching we moved it to the elementary school cafetorium. Turns out the rain and electrical activity stayed away, but I suspect we would've had a lot of flying music and not a few airborne music stands had we stayed out.

Anyway, we played, reasonably well I think, and the audience liked it. Program A, omitting "Fortress".

Next week: Beautiful downtown South Onondaga.

I've played my first performance with the LaFayette (NY) Concert Band. For three months we've been rehearsing a folder full of music; on Monday morning we played... none of it. We sat alongside the route of the LaFayette Memorial Day parade and sight-read marches. Without a conductor -- he was sitting back in the trumpet section. His main instruments are euphonium and bassoon, I believe, but the trumpet section was heavily depleted that day, so he sat in.

It went okay, though my sight reading skills clearly could be better.

The parade may have lasted 20 or 30 minutes. I didn't see much of it, being busy looking at the music. There was the LaFayette High School marching band (we shut up while they went by), some baton twirlers, Boy Scouts... your basic small town parade, I guess. Oh, and a couple fire engines that suddenly broke formation and went elsewhere in mid-parade.

First of the real concerts is in two weeks.

Here's what the LaFayette Concert Band will be playing and when. (More or less. Some dates are still uncertain, and I'm sort of guessing which date has which program. Also, there will be revisions to the programs.)

Date	Time	Place	Program	Notes
Mon 28 May	9:00 am	LaFayette	Marches	Memorial Day parade. We sit and play music, they march past us. All over by 9:30.
Tue 12 June	7:30 pm	LaFayette Library	A
Tue 19 June	7:30 pm	South Onondaga	B
Tue 26 June	7:30 pm	Apulia	A
Tue 3 July	-	Break	-
Tue 10 July	7:00	Rehearsal	-
Tue 17 July	7:00 pm	Canton Woods, Baldwinsville	B
Tue 24 July	7:00 pm	Green Point	A
Tue 31 July	7:00 pm	Tully	B
Tue 7 August	-	Break	-
Tue 14 August	7:00 pm	Canton Woods, Baldwinsville	A
Tue 21 August	7:00 pm	Cardiff	B
Tue 28 August	7:30 pm	Bellevue Manor	A

Program A:

• National Anthem
• J.F. Wagner (arr. Laurendeau), "Under the Double Eagle" (MP3 here by 71st Regiment Band, from Internet Archive)
• Calvert, "She's Like a Swallow"
• Calvert, "Marianne at the Mill"
• De Rose (arr. Beeler), "Deep Purple"
• Kabalevsky (arr. Mitchell), "Galop"
• Fillmore, "Rolling Thunder" (MP3 by United States Air Force Band, from Air Force Link)
• Ticheli, "Fortress" (MP3, from Manhattan Beach Music)
• Ticheli, "Shenandoah" (MP3, from Manhattan Beach Music)
• Simons (arr. Morrissey), "The Peanut Vendor"
• King, "Kentucky Sunrise"
• Grainger (arr. Goldman), "Handel in the Strand"
• Sousa, "Stars and Stripes Forever" (MP3 by Regimental Band of the United States Merchant Marine Academy)

Program B:

• National Anthem
• Sousa, "Hail to the Spirit of Liberty" (MP3 by United States Air Force Band of Liberty)
• Vaughan Williams, "Toccata Marziale"(MP3 here by National Hsin Chuang Senior High School Wind Band)
• Vaughan Williams (arr. Beeler), "Rhosymedre"
• Alford, "Colonel Bogey"(MP3 by United States Coast Guard Band, from TubaEuph.com)
• Barnard, "Gloriana"
• Heed, "In Storm and Sunshine" (MP3 here by Goose Creek Bands)
• Holst, "First Suite in E♭" (3rd movement MP3 by Colorado College Concert Band)
• Bowers, "Triple B Rag"
• Bernstein (arr. Grundman), "Slava!" (MP3 here (1997 tab) by Harmonie Municipale de Dudelange)
• Sousa, "Stars and Stripes Forever" (MP3 by Regimental Band of the United States Merchant Marine Academy)

Corrections and further details will be made as available...

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Recent updates:
17 May Fix table formatting
17 May Add music details
23 May What month is this?, Mem day notes, Apulia concert
23 May Formatting; am or pm
23 May LaFayette interCap, days of week
27 May Apulia time
28 May MP3 links
14 Jun Add Green Point
21 Jun Program changes
1 Jul 3-10 Jul

The Clare Grundman kind, evidently; that being the name of the person credited with transcribing Leonard Bernstein's "Slava!" overture for wind ensemble. Last night I felt it might be a good idea to put in an appearance at both Thornden Morris and Lafayette Concert Band rehearsals, so I left the former early and arrived at the latter late, just in time to jump into "Slava!"; not a piece I recommend as a warmup.

Thornden will dance once again on May Day morning at Thornden Park.

The Lafayette Concert Band will play on Memorial Day and on numerous Tuesday evenings through the summer in Lafayette, South Onondaga, Baldwinsville, Cardiff, Tully (probably), and Fabius (probably).

(In the interests of full disclosure: in reality the altissimo F sharps occur in a passage in 7/8 time.)

Edited edit: If you go to this page and select the "1997.." tab, you'll find a link to an MP3 of the band arrangement of "Slava!", performed by the Harmonie Municipale de Dudelange at a tempo that makes ours sound elegaic. The altissimo F sharps are at about 1:50 - 1:55. I tried putting the link here but they don't allow direct links to the MP3s from offsite.

I'm back from my third band rehearsal. I'm still having a good time, and more to the point, I'm still pretty psyched about playing. More so, I think, than I was in my school days... oh, I liked playing, all right, and I practiced and everything, but it seems to me I wasn't as desirous of playing well back then. Or at least playing better.

Anyway, I'm exploring a few things. One is reeds. A year or so ago when I got thinking about playing again, I bought a Legere reed for my clarinet, and I've been using that for my recent playing. It seems pretty good, certainly better than the synthetic reeds of the 1970s, but then again my present abilities are limited enough that I probably have no basis for a truly critical evaluation. Especially since nearly all my prior experience with cane has been with Ricos, the lowest common denominator of reeds. They're cheap, but you know what? They're not even all that much cheaper than the other labels. So I've bought myself some Grand Concert Selects and some Vandorens and am starting to break them in.

I checked myself with an electronic tuner the other day and found I'm playing flat. This is no great surprise given the state of my embouchure. But I have no way to correct for it: everything's pushed in as far as it will go. My Evette & Schaeffer has a 67 mm barrel, which seems a bit surprising; 67 mm is, I think, about as long as barrels get. I posted a query and someone told me the E&S clarinets shipped with a 64.5 mm barrel. Yet mine is marked Evette & Schaeffer, and it matches the rest of the instrument in appearance. Did Buffet sell E&S barrels in other lengths, or was I misinformed? I don't know. Anyway, the Click tuning barrel sounds like a gimmick but seems to be reasonably well regarded and an inexpensive way to confront the problem for now. If I still need a shorter barrel once my embouchure's in shape, maybe I'll look into something a little classier, but for now the Click may be what's called for.

And then there's the general state of the instrument. I think it's in pretty good shape for a clarinet of its age (older than I am) but I'm sure it could benefit from a tuneup. I talked to a repair person on the phone recently, but I'm holding off on taking it in for another week or two -- I want to take a little longer to see what problems I notice, and besides, Thornden Morris will be practicing on Tuesdays in April, so I'll miss at least some band practices next month, and it'd make sense to aim to have my clarinet in the shop at that point.

Down the road, maybe I'll look into lessons. Not in the cards financially right now, though.

I went to a rehearsal of the Lafayette Concert Band tonight -- the community band from Lafayette, NY, that is, not to be confused with the band of the same name from Lafayette, LA. Brought along my Evette & Schaeffer B♭ clarinet. The director, Norm Wanzer, had said he needs 2nd/3rd clarinets more than he needs another bass clarinet. It was the first time I'd played clarinet in a group -- Interröbang Cartel doesn't count -- since the one band rehearsal I went to while in grad school, and before that the wind ensemble at WPI, just about thirty years ago. It probably wasn't literally more notes played in two hours than I'd played on clarinet in those thirty years, but close.

Joining a community band was something I'd been thinking about for a while, but didn't take action on until we moved back closer to Syracuse. There are several of them around, and I'd told myself I was going to visit two or three or four of them before deciding to join one. Tonight I'm thinking of maybe not bothering. I liked the people I met, the director made a good first impression, and I especially liked the repertoire. They have a lot of marches, and I'm not that fond of marches, but most of the rest is classical stuff, written or arranged for band. Notably absent are pieces along the lines of "The Best of the Carpenters" or "Selections from Harry Potter". I commented favorably on that to Norm afterwards; it seems he and I share a lack of interest in playing the fluffy stuff. (What was rehearsed tonight: "Colonel Bogey", Holst's "First Suite", Frank Ticheli's "Fortress", "In Storm and Sunshine", Bernstein's "Slava!", and Vaughan Williams's "Toccata Marziale".) In short, it's pretty much the kind of band I'd like to be in, and it's the closest one to home too. The main drawback I see is that they practice on Tuesdays, which is Thornden Morris's practice night, but Thornden doesn't practice much these days anyway. Also, I'd like an opportunity to play bass clarinet, but maybe it's for the best to focus on the soprano instrument for now.

There seems to be a law that all Syracuse area community bands must have web sites that range from out of date to inadequate to nonexistent, and this site is shown to be less useful than it looks by the fact that it lists as the director of the Skaneateles Concert Band a man who has been dead for over seven years. So it's been a bit of a challenge getting contact information, and at one point on a whim I took a look at the directory of teachers at Jamesville - Dewitt High School, from which I graduated in 1973. Rather to my astonishment, I learned that Ron Nuzzo, the band director at JD when I was there, is now... the band director at JD. So I emailed him, and he helped.

So now I need to look into getting my clarinet into better shape, and getting its clarinetist into better shape.