Klarinet Archive - Posting 000870.txt from 1995/10

From: Donald Yungkurth <DYungkurth@-----.COM>
Subj: Reeds
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 10:04:13 -0400

Neil Leupold wrote:

>In a recent posting, Alan Stanek applauded the suggestion >to simply play on
the reeds that work and throw away the >rest. "For those clarinetists who
spend uncountable hours >fussing with reeds, please don't offer to help me
change >any lightbulbs," he writes.

>Alan, are you implying that time spent learning how to >adjust reeds is
pointless? Did Stanly Hasty have it all >wrong when he required all of his
Eastman students to >make their own reeds? Surely there is merit in knowing
>how to shave here and sand there in order to balance a
>potentially usable piece of cane. I've pulled reeds out of >the box that
seemed to play perfectly on the first try, but >even those reeds need some
adjustment as they >acclimate to the effects of moisture and vibration.
>And many (if not most) of those in the box which are not >readily playable
can also be brought "up to speed" with >some educated adjustment to the right
areas - and >without an overwhelming expenditure of time. I've
>NEVER encountered a reed straight out of the box which >played beautifully
right away and then stayed that way >for several more weeks without some
conditioning and >adjustment. How many boxes of reeds to you go through
>in a month with the philosophy of "play only the best and >chuck the rest?"

My philosophy and experience about reeds closely parallels Neil's. For years
I was of the "sort out the good ones" school of thought. I finally got tired
of having only one usable reed and not knowing where the next good one would
come from. From reading I was aware that many fine players recommended
adjusting reeds and suggested how this could be done. My first efforts at
reed adjutment were reasonably successful.

The reed that did everything right, except for staccato, could be improved.
The reed that played well except in the altissimo could also be improved. So
could the reed that squeaked.

Years later, after retirement from my day job (really my only job - I've
played two gigs for money in over 40 years) I took lessons from one of the
clarinetists in the Rochester Philharmonic. He taught me, along with a lot
of other good stuff, about the importance of conditioning my reeds, in
addition to adjusting them (actually *prior* to adjusting them).

Conditioning the reeds through three or four wet/dry cycles while they are
being tested and sorted can stabilize them so that they don't die on you
after a few days. Part of the conditioning process is flattening the back of
the reed so that it conforms to the table of the mouthpiece. Since I have
been doing this, it hasn't been a problem to have a number of good quality
reeds available and to practice with quality reeds. A reed that has played
well and apparently has "died" can usually be brought back to life by a light
sanding of the back to correct minor warping.

The bottom line for me is that, while conditioning and adjusting take
additional time, compared to sorting out the good reeds, the benefits far
outweigh the time spent. I now play on reeds of better quality that can be
depended on to have a significant lifetime.

Unlike the comment by Alan Stanek about, "those clarinetists who spend
uncountable hours fussing with reeds", I don't find my methods to take
uncountable hours.
>From the time I start working with a batch of new reeds, usually six, I spend
about four hours with those reeds, spread out in four sessions, over a period
of a week. At the end of the four hours/week, I will have four or five good,
stable reeds, each of which I can depend on for many weeks of use.

I have been using V12s for about three years and probably get at least 75% to
be useful and have a significant lifetime. As they come out of the box one
or two out of ten might play well - for a while!

It might well be that I am simply doing what the manufacturer should do for
me if he aged and conditioned the cane properly prior to making reeds, the
way they used to. This view of commercial reeds may have some validity, but
for me there never were any "good old days" when reeds were great and
dependable right out of the box.

Don Yungkurth (DYungkurth@-----.com)

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org