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Klarinet Archive - Posting 000015.txt from 1995/09

From: niethamer@-----.BITNET
Subj: Re: E + F# above the staff
Date: Fri, 1 Sep 1995 22:26:34 -0400

On Fri, 1 Sep 1995, Tom Ascher wrote:

> I've found that reeds out of the box are unfinished and unrefined when it come
s
> to high notes. Using 600 weight sand paper, gently smoothing the entire vamp,
> then using the same weight, thinning the very tip seems to make the high notes
> easier to start and hold with less "bite" and more gentle blowing.

In fact I too find high notes on new reeds to be "raw" sounding - hard to
focus, and somewhat more strident than when the reed is broken in. One
has to be careful about sanding too much heart out of the reed, though,
because after the break-in period, they may be too thin/soft to give the
proper resilience for good tone and pitch in the altissimo.

> Practicing blowing, rather than "biting" when starting and holding the high
> notes gives good results, but the ability to do this seems very much
> dependent on the instrument, mouthpiece, and reeds as mentioned.

What a great answer! While it is dependent on the mpc/reed combo, this is
the approach I'd encourage.

=========================
David Niethamer
niethamer@-----.edu
dbnclar1@-----.com
=========================