It seems to be the wood clarinet boys and girls' version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but with absolutely no humor, when it comes to madly charging all over for the "perfect" barrel/ligature/mouthpiece/bell/accessory etc. Great video!
I agree, with everything, many times fancy expensive barrels seem to be more of a placebo to your ears, you want to think you sound better because the amount of money you spent. There are however, nice barrels for Eb clarinet that allow you to use Bb clarinet reeds, and that is kind of cool.
Can you talk about when you pull the barrel out slightly and what happens with the “donut” of air that is created inside? eg - my selmer recital clarinet came with 2 barrels: when I use the shorter one pulled out slightly (making it the same length as the longer one but with the extra air gap where the tenon and barrel have been parted) it plays better / more in tune, etc than the longer one. Hope this makes sense!
