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Hm, I guess that is possible. But you would think that when they replaced the pads when i got it fixed, they would have amde sure all were sealing correctly.

See, when they fixed it up, pretty such th eonly things that stayed were the body and the keys. All the pads, all the corks and i think most of the screws and springs were replaced because of age and rust. Which is why i wondering why it would be flat for both my mom and me, 30 years apart.

I wish i could afford a new mouthpiece. I'll look around though, because im going to a music store today. but at this point i either get food for 4 days at the anaheim trip or a new mouthpiece.

So i made clarinet section leader for next year. i'm pretty excited.

Anyway, i doubt it, but would a wooden clarient be good for marching band? I've heard that it wouldn't be because they are more weather prone then plastic ones, but if you guys know otherwise, it would be cool if i could use the better sounding clarient. My plastic one has a really good sound too, but the wooden one is darker and richer.

wooo! i'm a 4th year clarinet(:
and as for the post above me, I agree. I have a wooden and a plastic, and i use the plastic for marching season(:

lol, i dare you to try to repad your clarinet like that. 50 bucks says it won't seal properly.

i've talked with my local repair guy. he's helped me understand what needs to happen to replace a pad. i've never had to replace a pad on my clarinet that i use, but i've put a few new pads on my other clarinet and it sealed fine.

We have preferred music stores in my band. Beavers band Box is a no. They are unreliable and repairs don't last very long. Cicago Music Store and Instrumental Music center(IMC) are preferred. They tend to have good repairs, good isntruments, and they are both quite cheap. Chicago is the one i go to for repairs. IMC estimated fixing my wooden clarient at around 2k, while Chicago did a complete revamp of it for only 200. Beavers said aroudn 2k as well.

My school has actually got a repair guy that does it for the woodwinds extremely cheap, like 10 dollars for a complete repadding. He came to teach our band classes proper isntrument care at the beginning of the year and we all found out that our isntruments were not too cared for(it was woodwind horror movie dayXD) Every woodwind in both bands had some kind of leak in their instrument, or a failing pad of some kind. He taght us how to fix minor stuff on our own, like minor leaks or loose screws, and said he would do major stuff like repadding or key replacements for extremely cheap. He repaired all our school woodwind instruments, which was cool. And he is strictly woodwind.

I will probably find someone to teaach me when i'm a bit older though. I plan on going on to be a band director, so it would prbably be a good idea to learn to repad clarinets.

Do you think playign on a wooden clarient would make you play better on a plastic clarinet? Because I've been playing on my Normandy for the longest time and recently switched back to my Vito, and i noticed i had a much darker, chocolaty sound then when i went to my wooden one. I know you can improve no matter what isntrument you use,b ut when i was working on just my Vito, it didn't seem like i was progressign nearly as much in my playing skill.

(It coudl also help that i've pushed myself harder all year. I got top half of the clarinet section in regionals and then auditioned for allstate, which was a first for me even though i didn;t make it. And then i auditioned for drum major,w hich i worked hard for, but I messed up alot during my conducting audition and leanded section leade risntead. So I've been practicing extra hard on my scales and such, as well as finally accomplishing the school fight sng, which goes up to High...G(4 above staff))

Clarinets! heart
I've been playing for 5 years
Marching FTW!