Klarinet Archive - Posting 000252.txt from 1994/05

From: Karen Noel-Bentley <karennb@-----.CA>
Subj: Re: Reeds. . . a general observation for your comments
Date: Sun, 15 May 1994 14:09:17 -0400

On Fri, 13 May 1994 Stan Geidel wrote:

> Now that I am in my second career as an administrator in an academic library,
I
> find I have no time to devote to reeds. I simply try out the reeds as they
come
> from the box. I ENCOUNTER VIRTUALLY THE SAME RATIO OF USABLE REEDS VERSUS
> UNUSUABLE REEDS THAT I EXPERIENCED WHEN I DEVOTED HOURS AND HOURS
> TO WORKING ON THEM. THE BIG DIFFERENCE IS THAT I'VE GIVEN UP WORRYING ABOUT
> THEM. And, it's my belief that since I no longer worry about them, I
> concentrate simply on PLAYING THEM. To me, concentrating on PLAYING reeds
means
> developing flexibility. I feel this has made a signifcant difference for me
> in that I no longer need to find the reed that suits me; I can successfully
> play reeds of differing characteristics.
>
> Your comments, please!

As a student, I have also spent hours working on reeds, and I have
arrived at the same conclusion. I now open a box af reeds with the
intention of getting some use out of all of them. I break them in very
slowly, balance them and do whatever else I feel needs to be done to make
each reed play to its potential, then arrange them into a hierarchy. Some
reeds I use only for practicing (practicing on less-than-perfect reeds
forces me to work harder to produce a beautiful sound). Others I use for
rehearsals and/or concerts.

This has helped me to develop flexibility both in my playing and my reed-
work, and has saved me money, because each box lasts quite a while. I'm
also much less uptight about reeds than I used to be.

By the way, I have been trying Glotin's latest line of reeds, called
GAIA. I don't think they're available in North America yet. There's a
store in Montreal (Twigg Music) that orders them from France. These reeds
seem much more consistent than Vandorens, with better cane and a good
cut. They also seem to last longer. I highly recommend them! If you
decide to try them, keep in mind that the numbers are different than
Vandorens. Gaia 3 1/2's are similar to Vandoren 4 1/2's, and Gaia 3's
seem to lie somewhere between Vandoren (V12) 3's and 3 1/2's.

Has anyone else tried these reeds?

Karen

   
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