Klarinet Archive - Posting 000106.txt from 1995/12

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: changing reed conditions
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 1995 01:32:03 -0500

Yes Bill, what you describe is indeed very common. The way you describe
your theory about the reed changing in relationship to the mouthpiece lay
during the course of practice, a possible explanation might be that your
reed is simply closing up. If a reed becomes too saturated with
moisture, or if it has been extensively broken in over a period of time, it
begins to lose it resiliency and no longer bounces back from the mouthpiece
rails as effectively as it used to. There are things you can do to
minimize this effect prior to using the reed on a regular basis ("polishing"
the front and back surfaces to seal the pores, for one thing). When a
reed begins to close up on you in the middle of a rehearsal or
performance, it's handy to have a plastic card (i.e. a library card or
credit card) in your pocket. By carefully inserting it between the reed
and the tip rail of your mouthpiece, you can gently "encourage" the tip
of the reed away from the tip rail and revitalize its vibrational
properties (don't bend it too far though, lest you damage the reed
fibers). If you have time, it's helpful to simply remove the reed from
the mouthpiece and extract the excess moisture from the cane in order to
alleviate the water-log effect.

Neil.

On Tue, 5 Dec 1995, Bill Fogle wrote:

> I am a non-professional clarinetist and new to reading the posts of this
> group. I have a comment/question that I hope may be of interest to
> readers. I note that certain (but not all) of my reeds *change* playing
> characteristics during a playing session. This change is sometimes very
> marked, sometimes subtle. [Some reeds retain the same characteristics for
> the whole practice]. I would say that the main "characteristic" is
> response, but also sometimes tone emission. My suspicion is that this is
> a change in the physical properties of the reed in relationship to the
> mouthpiece lay during the course of practice. I would like to eliminate
> or reduce this phenomenon because, well, I find it irritating during
> playing. Does this happen to commonly?
>