Cosmic Setup #2,457

A couple of weeks ago, I was listening to NPR and heard a beautiful clarinet solo that reminded me of a piece by Mozart I played 3 million years ago (well, in the mid-70s) at a state musical contest of sorts. When I played the solo at state, I was accompanied on piano by the very prim and proper organist at my mother's church, Mary Jane Malmstadt, who I think told me she went to high school with Liberace. My first brush with fame (sort of)! And we won a gold medal, so it was a success on all fronts.

Why I entered that bit of trivia, I cannot say (but the thought of sedate Mary Jane in class with "flamboyant" Liberace always amused me). Let's sum up by stating that the solo on NPR started a whole lot of wheels turning in my head, and before I knew it, I was looking at my old clarinet. It was not pretty. It has a patched-up crack, the metal is green with age, the keys are all tarnished, and the pads are shot. But, in need of a good distraction, I decided to pursue someone who could decide whether it was fit to recondition, or whether I should just find a nice kazoo and hang my clarinet up for good.

Well, after looking at a number of sites that seemed geared to concert soloists (not someone thinking about reliving her glory days as a band geek), I found a site that seemed more my speed--and it was on Long Island (homeland of my Linda), which recommended it, too.

I e-mailed the repair guy, he called me back, we discussed the clarinet and costs and all sounded good, so over the weekend I put my old constant companion in the hands of the UPS. Today, the repair guy called me, and while he needs to inspect the crack a little more thoroughly before he can say for certain, he thinks the clarinet can be made to play well again. Wooeee!

And then he proceeded to offer me the complete recondition of my clarinet in exchange for the mouthpiece. While I know my clarinet is just okay, I also knew the mouthpiece on my horn was quite good--but I didn't know it was that good. And, as the repair guy explained to me, since the man who made the mouthpiece is no longer among the living, his work is also quite coveted by clarinet players who know about such things. Well, to wrap up (or die trying), the repair guy is also a clarinetist, and he has been looking for just this mouthpiece for a long, long time. So, he's going to recondition my clarinet for my mouthpiece--and he'll throw in a good-quality mouthpiece (worth about $150) so I can still make music on the dear thing.

Isn't that something? Now, if you're like Linda, you're wondering if I should have kept the mouthpiece and put it on Concert Clarinetist eBay or something. Well, that sounds like too much trouble to me--and besides, I did a little research on it, and if it was in perfect condition and never used, the mouthpiece would be worth $575. Since I played on it through high school and a little while after, I'm guessing it would be worth, say, about what it would cost to repair my clarinet.

So, I'm happy, the repair guy is happy, and I'll be torturing Shwea and Linda with clarinet sounds by the fall. Happy day!!!!!!!!!