Klarinet Archive - Posting 000172.txt from 1995/10

From: Karl Krelove <KClarinet@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Question to the expertsd
Date: Sun, 8 Oct 1995 21:34:33 -0400

>> I have a question to Michael D. Moors responce. I thought reed
>>strength was in part to the strength of the players cheek muscles and the
>>kind of mouthpiece one has?? You suggested a 3 Vandorine or 4 ML and I
>>know some people that have played for 25 years and never play anything
>>harder than a 3 1/2 on any type of reed. Your comments are appreciated.

Actually, the ideal reed strength depends a great deal also on the mouthpiece
facing. Most of the mouthpieces that come with student clarinets are similar
and, in my experience, won't usually take anything harder than a #3 or #3-1/2
Rico or Lurie no matter who's playing (including me). Once students move to
better mouthpieces they need to find the best strength by trial and error -
unless they have a teacher who has experience with the specific mouthpiece
who can short-cut the process. Most of my students play quite easily on the
#4-1/2 VanDoren V-12's I use if they are playing on my Gigliotti P, but if
they try to use them on any of the various VanDoren mouthpiece facings they
own (I've recommended 5RV, 5RVLyre and V360 at various times over the years
and M13 recently) they get little more than air.

   
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