Klarinet Archive - Posting 000133.txt from 1994/04

From: SCOTT MCCHESNEY <MCCHESS4641@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Grand Concert Reeds
Date: Sat, 16 Apr 1994 21:35:11 -0400

> I was privilaged (?) to meet with the Rico rep at Coyle the other
> day, and he handed me a box of #3 Grand Concert reeds. Now I realize that
> Rico is the creator of the dreaded Mitchel Lurie that we all have to wean
> our students from, but I would like to know what you all think of them.
> For about $1 a reed (after discount) I was pleasantly surprised. Too soft,
> really, to be of much long term use, but, hey, for a buck they're not too
> bad!!

I never played on them, but when I worked in the music store, our "resident
Clarinet expert" played on a few of them and she hated them. Couple of things
about her:

(a) she was a Bass Clarinet player, and didn't like playing soprano all that
much;

(b) she was HIGHLY opinionated.

I never got to play on them; I was too much of a "peon" to rate. She said they
were much too soft to do any good, and she said the tone was pretty fuzzy and
nasal. Apparently, she felt they made her sound like a beginner. She swore by
Vandorens when she played Soprano (which was VERY little), Vandorens on Bass,
and I think Hemke when she played Sax (she was really a Sax major who had to
pick a double, so she chose Clarinet. She plays for a living as well as
working in the store.)

I always took her opinion with a small grain of salt. So, if she hated them,
they probably weren't all that bad, just not suited for her.

-- Scott