Been right about 3.5 months since I started playing.  My technical skills continue to improve at a very satisfying rate.  I'm currently about 2/3 through sight reading the Klose cover to cover (at whatever speeds work, so very slow tempos).  Already read through several other easier method books (Rubank has about 4, and I did a few trumpet ones) to get me ready for the Klose.  Klose was a genius, lots of wonderful stuff in that book.

After about 3 months on a 1.5 (BD5 mpc), and repeated attempts to switch to a 2, it finally seems to have worked, I feel no less endurance on the 2 (every previous attempt the 2 wiped me out).  Everything else works better now.  Tone and volume is improved across the board, altissimo is easier (a lot easier), and the instrument is much less prone to squeak.  I don't hate the sound of the throat tones anywhere near as much.  Course I'm getting better at producing tone too.

My tone is now significantly better than the last chair in our local amateur concert band, I'll take what victories I can get haha. :-)

I think am also a really loud player too, (I can go soft easily enough), but as a trumpet player, putting a lot of air into it is easy for me and feels more natural.  I really like that I can get a fairly decent dynamic range out of it and I feel it is important to practice tone production at all dynamic ranges.  The 2 increased the max loudness nicely but I can still go super soft like a clarinet should. :-)

The CSVR is wonderful of course too, it has plenty of projection.

I am however still flat - even with a really short barrel - was hoping the 2 would correct that.

I am going to retry to find a teacher in january, a good one in our area is expected to have some spots open up then.

The folks at Clarinet Perfection asked me for some better pictures and identified it as an Evette-Schaeffer model - and that serial number tracks to circa 1951. So, I guess that makes is more of a "family heirloom" than a "priceless work of art" (which is good, considering how we've treated this thing...).

Okay - back to practicing "Nicholas Variations" with my kid and wondering how my emboucher got so weak in only 38 years...

Thanks!
Keith

Hi, John:

It would be helpful if you could post a picture of your clarinet.  LeBlanc used more than one series of serial numbers.

The profile you see on the badge is that of Leon LeBlanc.  It appears on music folios, case badges, neck strap sliders and many other woodwind-related items from LeBlanc.

I have happily used a Vandoren BD5 for some years. If you experience flatness, I bet it will be around the throat tones E and Eb. (The E can be raised by the addition of the Eb key, but that is a bother.)
With the right reed, the throat tones should not be too flat with the BD5. And they only tend to be flat when playing loud.

I was going to suggest a Chedeville mouthpiece. There must be a new owner for that brand, and he is charging $350 per mouthpiece. I have two Chedeville mouthpieces that I like from the period when the name was owned by Dr's Products. The cost was much lower back then. And those mouthpieces seem not to be flat in the lower throat tones.

Wow, all those pages with advice on clarinetpages.net are way out of date!

I liked Windsong's suggestion: In looking for a Chedeville mouthpiece just now, I saw that some used ones are available for decent prices.

No kidding!?  Well, that is really good.