Volume 33 Number 3 June 2006 - International Clarinet Association

y Edward Palanker
PHIL ROVNER OF
ROVNER PRODUCTS,
TIMONIUM, MARYLAND
Phil Rovner and I met at Towson
University where we were having
the American Single Reed Work -
shops in the early 1980s. He introduced
himself to me and asked me to give my
opinion of his new ligature design. At the
time I was using the Gigliotti ligature so I
was already using an unconventional looking
ligature. When I tried Phil’s ligature it
was love at first play. It gave me everything
I liked about the Gigliotti plus a
warmer and more flexible tone quality. It
seemed to let my reed play more freely,
dampening out the highs and playing darker.
I’ve been using one ever since, al -
though I have changed styles from time to
time. Phil always sends me, as well as several
others, his new designs to comment
on, and when I think it’s better than the
Axis Milling Machine, computer controlled
one I am using at the time, I tell him and
make the switch.
I offered to help him get other professional
clarinetists’ opinions of his new ligature
and sent one to orchestra players
around the country. It was interesting to
hear what many of them said, and I warned
Phil that clarinet players are a conservative
lot. That has seemed to have changed over
the years. Back in the early ’80s almost
everyone used a silver metal ligature. Al -
though we got many positive comments
and some players soon began using it, I did
get some negative ones as well. Many just
said it looked too strange to use, and I told
him, “I told you so.” My two favorite comments
were from a principal player on the
West Coast who said it looks like it should
work, but it simply doesn’t. Another principal
player from the East Coast said he
really liked it but feels he needs to play on
the equipment he was hired on. That’s why
he was hired. Needless to say, within a few
years it really caught on, and he began selling
thousands of them. They became especially
popular with educators because they
would not break or bend out of shape if
dropped or stepped on, as so many young
students are prone to do and as he produced
more he was able to bring the price
down. I’m amazed how many ligatures
there are on the market today. When I was
a student in the late ’50s and early ’60s you
could only find a few types. Now there are
dozens. Of course, Van doren reeds came in
boxes of 25 then too. WOW!
* * * * *
EP: Tell us about your background as a
single-reed player. Who did you study
and perform with and are you still an
active performer
PR: I studied with Ignatius Gennusa on
clarinet, Joe Allard and Albert Hollo -
way on saxophone, Earl Esslinger on
saxophone and clarinet, Britton Johnson
on flute, Mark Thomas on flute, John
Thompson on keyboard and theory, and
Rudy Massey on arranging. I’ve performed
in many big bands, played club
dates, nightclubs, theatres, and the 29th
division military band. I’m still active
performing miscellaneous gigs.
EP: I understand you are also an engineer.
What’s your background in that
field
PR: I attended McCoy College of the
Johns Hopkins University in Mechan i -
cal Engineering and took courses with
ICS and RCA in Electronics. Some of
my engineering work experience in -
clud ed ACF Electronics, General Elec -
tric Co., Martin-Marietta Corp. electronic
division and the Bendix Corp.
radio division, to name a few.
EP: How did you get the idea to make a
new type of ligature, with the innovative
material you use
PR: My early experience on saxophone
was first on alto sax. When I took up
the tenor sax, I had great difficulty playing
it well. While working on an engineering
project in 1973, in which a rubberized
fabric was being utilized, I had
the thought that maybe a ligature made
of that material would help me to play
the tenor better. The first one had the
same basic configuration as the “Dark”
model, and it improved my tenor playing
significantly. Because of its design,
it was easy to implement, and it helped
to free up my saxophone performance.
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