Klarinet Archive - Posting 000184.txt from 1994/12

From: Neil Leupold <Ndt123@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Re[2]: Practice Reeds
Date: Sun, 11 Dec 1994 13:51:54 -0500

I disagree that using "practice" reeds is bad practice, and to say that you
won't improve if you play on a less-than-consummate reed is also too
generalized a statement. If you're playing Barmann scales, you really don't
need a reed which affords you good articulation -- or at least you can still
use that reed for just slurring them. With the cost of reeds these days
(sorry, Clark, but even your prices are steep for me, the student, although I
do appreciate the fact that they're lower than Irwin or any other retailer in
the area), combined with eratic weather and bad cane, I will most certainly
play on a reed that is not entirely responsive in one area or another,
KNOWING that I'll need to switch to a better one later if I want work on a
particular exercise or technique. Another thing (and this may sound odd at
first): Playing on reeds which offer one problem or another HELP me in
developing a particular kind of control over my air column, in that I already
KNOW that I must not compensate for a reed's inadequacies by radically
shifting my embouchure in one way or another, but must keep it stable and
continue to allow the air to do the work. Also, a bad reed does need to be
broken in, just like a good one, so playing it a little bit at first is
necessary in my opinion, even if you end up putting it away for an extended
period of time afterwards.

Neil.