So, it's been awhile.../Have you got it down yet?

My lovely bride informed me that I haven't updated in a few days. Well, it's been hectic. We had a VERY long spring break (at least that's how it felt) and have been back to school for a week. I've been busy people!

Well, we've had an interesting last couple of weeks. We were in a conundrum over what to do with our Tax Refund money. We were going to Disney, then not, and now we're going again! Heather had this intense feeling that the money wasn't for us. Well I prayed and journaled and read over tat until small group last Thursday when a friend of yours was talking about a mission going to do in Ethiopia working with orphans. apparently, when she got the fundraising info she only had like a week to raise $1700. Bleh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, as she continued to explain that she's not freaking out or anything like that and that she had about half of what she needed I heard God say "Give her the rest of the money!" So there you go, that money wasn't for us!

Then Heather felt as though she should gift a missionary couple who just moved back here after 10 1/2 years in Russia, so we did that. Then she planned to stock up on grains and stuff like that (cuz we're crunchy you know!) and then we still had some left over, THEN we decided to take a shortened version of the trip to Disney we had planned.

It felt good to get so much mileage out of that cash, especially since almost all of it was going to Disney before we did any of this. Yay God!!!

We've only got like 25 days of school, or something like that. People keep counting down. Not the students mind you, the teachers! I really hate that. I mean, I never really did that very much, but when I sold shoes I had an older co-worker who had been in retail for like 40 years and one night we closed together and as we were counting down the last couple of minutes before we figured we'd be released he said "It sucks counting your life away." Needless to say, I don't do that anymore. I'll count down to trips, but not endings. That's crappy. Bleh!

Now, we've got just a few more weeks of school and we've got drama all over the place. Apparently, it's all top secret so I can't tell you, or I'd have to, well, you know... Who knows what'll happen next year.

When were had resolved not to go to Disney I was thinking about getting a new mouthpiece. Even when I knew I had the money for it I couldn't resolve to get the stupid thing. What's up with that? I play a Selmer D (actually 2 of them, but you know that if you've been reading ;o) and I just couldn't bring myself to try something new. I no resolve and no peace about it. I even had an offer from a prominent mouthpiece maker to be one of his first customers of a new line he's making out this new space-age-like plastic rod that I thought would be cool, but I couldn't pull the trigger.

Well, in the meanwhile I hadn't played since the Thursday before Spring Break and I didn't play again until the Thursday after Spring Break, so that's two weeks. But, when I didn't crack the case, I sounded great! I even had a revelation on a note in the "Sopranissimo" (that's my term for notes that only I and a few other freaks play on Bass Clarinet.) I was actually shooting too high for a Double A. Dang people. I mean, now I'm in Lenny Pickett territory everyday (no joke, just watching the video below makes me want to practice that like right now) and I not even "trying" to get up there. I think this is one of those instances where I got behind the right mouthpiece at the right time.




I can hear all the dejectors. "EEEEWWWWWWWWW, factory cut mouthpieces are nasty and inconsistent." Um, yeah, but they're close enough and I don't think Selmer's going under anytime soon since they're owned by Steinway, who, in fact, is the largest instrument company on the planet. Plus, even if they did, there would be 4 gagillion mouthpieces on the market anyways and a million people willing to copy the ones I have. So there, haha you mouthpiece snobs.

Now, I'm not getting down on mouthpiece snobs. If you're a mouthpiece snob, I understand. I teach this unbelievable Clarinetist who's a junior in H.S. and plays on a Richard Hawkins. I don't think she's giving that puppy up, and I don't blame her. Besides, I'm a ligature snob. I have two vintage Harrison/Hurtz gold plated Bass Clarinet ligatures. You think I'm giving those things up? Yeah right! I'm even thinking of getting the Rico "H" Bari Sax version only because they bought the patent from Harrison's widow.

I also have a kid who is younger and just got a brand new Leblanc Rapsodie Clarinet. Very nice horn, it totally heavy like a tank, I love it. It's just like my basses, those babies are rock solid. He's loves that instrument, but it didn't instantly make him better. It's just gonna make it easier to do what I want him to do. No we see the problem.

I ain't never gonna buy nothin' that I feel like is going to "make me better" because I know better. Maybe I'll invest in some different ligatures or different reeds because they alter response, but I'm certainly not going out to get a new horn or whore myself out to a bunch of new mouthpieces. I can play doggone it! I don't need that stuff to make me better. I can handle a slight change in things here and there as an experiment, but I not expecting a miracle.

I keep thinking back to all the work I did in High School to get to where I am. I can't recreate that work with a new ligature, mouthpiece, or instrument. And that's why I couldn't commit to a mouthpiece. Everybody acts like their mouthpiece is going to instantly change the way you play. BALONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is NOT! Learn to how to play and you'll know how to play. The one thing that drives me the most crazy is when people who have professional "cred" act like a particular piece of equipment "allows" them to play things. It does not! Maybe the reason it "allows" you to do certain things is because the confluence of circumstances for YOU means that that piece of equipment "allows" you to play something you're actually not that good at. Heavens no, we wouldn't want to admit weakness would we?

I've been toying with Double A (as I said before) for 10 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was in college when I stumbled on this note and now that I need it I've been getting back on it again. (It's happens 3 times in the Smith "Fantasia" and it's the last note and I refuse to play it down an octave.) As soon I got it to speak regularly yesterday I changed reeds, then, I changed mouthpieces and then I changed ligatures and I used the 2 reeds, 2 mouthpieces, and 2 ligatures I had in all combinations I could and kept playing the note to make sure it wasn't a fluke. That's how you know you've got it down. I even played it on a Rovner, by far my least responsive lig, and it still worked. Lenny would be proud.