Greetings!
 This has been a very busy summer for
all of us at Muncy Winds and we have enjoyed every minute of it. The University
of Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium was as blast a usual. Pam and I had a great
experience traveling to NYC and hearing Stanley Drucker's final performance
with the NY Philharmonic, ending on a high note performing the Copland
Concerto. I taught a class and evaluated equipment problems of each student at
the North Texas Clarinet Academy in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Pam and I took a
tour of Rico International in Sun Valley, CA and checked out the new the Rico Reserve Classic
reeds. I presented an equipment class at Baldwin Wallace College listening to
the talented students of Daniel McKelway, Associate Principal Clarinet of The
Cleveland Orchestra. We have been on the move this summer doing our best to
assist our great family of friends and colleagues. We look forward to doing more
in the future.
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GIVING BACK
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 What We All Should Do
I have learned after 22 years in the
music business that musicians are some of the most generous people in the
world. Daniel McKelway, Associate Principal Clarinetist in The Cleveland
Orchestra is no exception. He is in fact one of the most generous people that I
have had the privilege to know. When Baldwin Wallace Conservatory needed a bass
clarinet Dan stepped up and offered to pay for half of the cost of the
instrument. At a price of over $9,500.00 that was a very impressive gesture.
I asked him why he offered to make such a generous contribution to the
Conservatory. He indicated that the Conservatory had been very good to him and
that the students needed a quality instrument so they would have the proper
tools for him be able to help them advance in their musical pursuits.
 When I learned of his generosity, I knew that I must try to do something to
show my support too. (It is funny how generosity becomes contagious.) We had just
received 9 Buffet 1193 low C bass clarinets, an instrument that requires more
than a year to receive after ordering. I decided that I would drive up to
Cleveland with all nine instruments, almost $100,000.00 of bass clarinets and
allow McKelway and his students to select the instrument of their choice and
throwing in a free equipment class to boot. What I received was far greater
than what I had to give. The good feeling I received meeting these talented
students and knowing that McKelway not only has them on the right path
musically, but with their lives as well. He is a musical role model as well as
a life role model.
This really should be no surprise to me. McKelway and I both studied with the same
clarinet teacher and life role model as well. Robert Listokin, another generous musician
that taught us more than the clarinet. He taught us how to live our lives as well. That's what music is. A way of life.
Click Here for more information and
availability of the Buffet 1193 low C bass clarinet.
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RICO INTERNATIONAL
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 Reserve Classic
After Pam and I toured the Rico International factory in Sun Valley, CA I discovered that they have greatly improved their manufacturing process as they have implemented a new and very sophisticated process incorporating automation. Human hands no longer touch the reed even as they are put into the package.
The newest clarinet reed to be introduced, Reserve Classic, has been designed in collaboration with Mark Nuccio, Acting Principal Clarinetist of the NY Philharmonic. These reeds are certainly worth trying.
Click Here for more information on the Rico Reserve Classic
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