That's the beauty of Rovner ligatures - you can use them in reversed position. Two metal bars come close to the reed, and add some brilliance to the sound.
Thank you both for your interesting videos. I can remember the Luyben ligature being around then Phil Rovener bringing out his one screw ligature with fabric in the design. Both of these ligatures were trying to imitate the string literature of the German clarinet. And I would some of your viewers experiment with a shoelace to tidy Reed onto the mantelpiece. I don't know how many minutes piece ligatures there are on the market now. One thing I don't hear talked about much is the position of The ligature by moving it up or down which can dramatically affect the vibration of the reed. We had a little while ago the optimum ligature with interchangeable metal plates which I think is very good. Silverstein produces the latest darling of the ligature world No doubt there will be many more ligatures to come yet in 2021. It's leading me to think about the great clarinet players of the past Frederick Thurston Reginald Kells. ,Gervase De Peyer, Jack McCaw Bernard Walton etc and all the other great all-time players. Would they have been even better players with one of the new style ligatures. Who knows. Thanks for your analysis and your videos - God bless - Best wishes for 2021. - Bill - UK
I have around 35 different ligatures..the oldest is perhaps Lauben(white plastic) from around 1985..and have ended up with German string ligature combined with Bonade Silver. For classic the string ligature is very good. For contemporary I use mostly Bonade. I play on a Wodkowski SW4 mouthpiece.
As John McCaw said in a masterclass in 2001 a bad ligature can ruin a good mouthpiece. More important how quick you can set it up and how easily they stay in pleace while moving fast from between A and Bb clarinets.
Absolutely, especially that last point about staying in place. We've found some of the new very expensive models (no names!) fundamentally just don't work when it comes to this point. The player grabs it to change and ends up with a handful of screws, cords and bits of expensive alloys!
I have been using the Versa for 3 years . One other advantage that was not mentioned is that it comes with 2 metal plates that slide in and out of the metal base. One is thicker than the other allowing for a slight color change. Also, as mentioned in the video, when placing one or both of the fabric flaps over the metal base, there is a color change which allows the player 6 different combinations of sound i.e. 3 configurations with each of the metal plates. I also use the versa on my soprano, alto and tenor saxophones.
@@RandyHouk Randy: It depends on the sound you want to produce. The sound without the flaps projects more in my opinion. A very bright sounding reed can be made to play slightly darker with one or both flaps on. It is totally up to you, your sound concept and the reed/mouthpiece.
@@AlvinsThoughts My Versa just arrived. Not yet fitted to the mouthpiece. It feels a bit heavier than my metal Daniel Bonade ligature. It came with the thicker metal plate installed so that would be the heaviest combo. No access to a scale currently. 😕
Hey so ik this is a longshot to get a reply but would it be a good investment to get a rovner versa clarinet ligature after using just the one you got out of the box? It's a decently expensive upgrade and I was just curious how much I would get out of it for the price.
We'd say that any of the 'upgrade' ligatures like the Rovner Verso (and others) would generally give you a decent level of improvement over any standard stock ligature. It's likely the Rovner (as an example) would hold the reed more securely and evenly, plus it may offer tonal and response benefits. So, in summary, yes it's usually worth upgrading!
Shop all Clarinet Ligatures via: www.dawkes.co.uk/clarinets/accessories/ligatures-and-caps/bb
You two are great reviewers. Liz plays so well and her comments are insightful without a word wasted. More Liz reviews please!
Rovner Star 2:09
Rovner Light 2:58
Rovner Dark 3:38
Rovner mk3 4:31
Rivner versa 5:58 7:28
Oops - just realised I've been using my Rovner in a reversed position. Very useful. Many thanks.
That's the beauty of Rovner ligatures - you can use them in reversed position. Two metal bars come close to the reed, and add some brilliance to the sound.
Thank you both for your interesting videos. I can remember the Luyben ligature being around then Phil Rovener bringing out his one screw ligature with fabric in the design. Both of these ligatures were trying to imitate the string literature of the German clarinet. And I would some of your viewers experiment with a shoelace to tidy Reed onto the mantelpiece. I don't know how many minutes piece ligatures there are on the market now. One thing I don't hear talked about much is the position of The ligature by moving it up or down which can dramatically affect the vibration of the reed. We had a little while ago the optimum ligature with interchangeable metal plates which I think is very good. Silverstein produces the latest darling of the ligature world No doubt there will be many more ligatures to come yet in 2021. It's leading me to think about the great clarinet players of the past Frederick Thurston Reginald Kells. ,Gervase De Peyer, Jack McCaw Bernard Walton etc and all the other great all-time players. Would they have been even better players with one of the new style ligatures. Who knows. Thanks for your analysis and your videos - God bless - Best wishes for 2021. - Bill - UK
I have around 35 different ligatures..the oldest is perhaps Lauben(white plastic) from around 1985..and have ended up with German string ligature combined with Bonade Silver. For classic the string ligature is very good. For contemporary I use mostly Bonade. I play on a Wodkowski SW4 mouthpiece.
She makes such a great sound!
As John McCaw said in a masterclass in 2001 a bad ligature can ruin a good mouthpiece. More important how quick you can set it up and how easily they stay in pleace while moving fast from between A and Bb clarinets.
Absolutely, especially that last point about staying in place. We've found some of the new very expensive models (no names!) fundamentally just don't work when it comes to this point. The player grabs it to change and ends up with a handful of screws, cords and bits of expensive alloys!
Why don't you move barrel and the mouthpiece from a Bb clarinet to an A clarinet? As such you don't even touch the mouthpiece..
I have been using the Versa for 3 years . One other advantage that was not mentioned is that it comes with 2 metal plates that slide in and out of the metal base. One is thicker than the other allowing for a slight color change. Also, as mentioned in the video, when placing one or both of the fabric flaps over the metal base, there is a color change which allows the player 6 different combinations of sound i.e. 3 configurations with each of the metal plates. I also use the versa on my soprano, alto and tenor saxophones.
Thanks for mentioning the flaps, Dr. Rufino. Having just opened the box of my new Versa, should I start with the flaps above or below the metal base?
@@RandyHouk Randy: It depends on the sound you want to produce. The sound without the flaps projects more in my opinion. A very bright sounding reed can be made to play slightly darker with one or both flaps on. It is totally up to you, your sound concept and the reed/mouthpiece.
Is Versa heavy?
@@AlvinsThoughts My Versa just arrived. Not yet fitted to the mouthpiece. It feels a bit heavier than my metal Daniel Bonade ligature. It came with the thicker metal plate installed so that would be the heaviest combo.
No access to a scale currently. 😕
I have used a Dark for years. I really like the simplicity. I also have an Eddie Daniels with the adjustable metal piece that goes against the reed
I can only use the dark, it's the only one that doesn't slip away from the cl4 which is more conical.
I like using their prototype Eddie Daniels with the two side flat metal plates
Hey so ik this is a longshot to get a reply but would it be a good investment to get a rovner versa clarinet ligature after using just the one you got out of the box? It's a decently expensive upgrade and I was just curious how much I would get out of it for the price.
We'd say that any of the 'upgrade' ligatures like the Rovner Verso (and others) would generally give you a decent level of improvement over any standard stock ligature. It's likely the Rovner (as an example) would hold the reed more securely and evenly, plus it may offer tonal and response benefits. So, in summary, yes it's usually worth upgrading!
@@dawkesmusic I appreciate the reply and thank you for taking time to answer.
I use German silver one screw and 2 screw ligatures from the 1920's, that are vintage.