Klarinet Archive - Posting 000151.txt from 1996/03

From: niethamer@-----.BITNET
Subj: Re: V-12's on Gregory Smith M.P.
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 1996 23:35:59 -0500

David Gilman wrote:

> Two years ago, I was playing no. 5 reeds (Vandoren Trad. and Glotin). I
> liked the tone color I was getting, but I had no dynamics and little
> endurance. Whenever I tried a softer reed, I was afraid of squeaks, and
> I couldn't stand my sound. My teacher let me make the transition
> gradually, but I did have to force myself to use softer reeds. Now, I
> can articulate, change dynamics, phrase, and change colors better than
> ever. Plus, I have more tone to work with. It was a difficult
> transition, but very worthwile.
>
> As to why I needed so much resistance at one time, I don't know for
> certain, but I suspect the main reason is that I have the kind of ears
> that pick up the higher partials in an instrument's tonal spectrum very
> efficiently. That's why it was such a shock try softer reeds in the
> first place: I just heard too much stridence at first. But eventually,
> you learn to control that stridence. And now, when I play a no. 5 for a
> test, it sounds dull. I guess it's all a matter of what you're used to.

I found this post in response to Emily Marlow interesting. I think we
have here the traditional dilema of stability vs. flexibility. To grossly
oversimplify, harder reeds give more stability, and softer ones more
flexibility. I grew up in an era when "real clarinetists" played Vandoren
#5 reeds (no fancy flavors like V-12s or German cut). My set-up is still
pretty hard by most standards, though I've lightened up over the 16 years
I've been in the Richmond Symphony.

One of the problems with instantly lightening up your reed strength is
that one still tends to play with the old exertion and energy - thus
squawks and an overblown spready sound. There are some solutions, though.
Long tone practice will pay dividends in air and embouchure stability.
Another technique I've found helpful is something I learned from Leon
Russianoff - "blowing without playing".

The technique works as follows: Rest the clarinet on your left shoulder,
and with a flute-like embouchure, blow out while fingering the passage in
question. Then immediately play the passage normally. This should help to
get the right balance between air column and embouchure, and help to keep
the embouchure from getting too tight on the reed. In many cases, I think
players use a hard reed to resist the excess pressure of their embouchure.

David Gilman also asked:

> I'd like to find a mouthpiece a bit more open, but I haven't found
> anything that really grabs me yet. Do you think the Greg Smith is
> really worth the extra $$?

I'm not sure what David means by "more open" - literally more open at the
tip, or just something that doesn't feel quite so resistant. But I've
been playing a Greg Smith mpc since mid January, and I've been very happy
with the results. The tuning on my clarinets (Yamaha 72s) is excellent,
and the sound is even and resonant from low E into the altissimo. I've
been doing a lot of reed making for this mouthpiece, some to amass some
reeds made specifically for this mpc, and some to try out the repair job
on my ReeDuAl. The mouthpiece has been easy to fit with reeds that work
well in the orchestra. The response from colleagues has been very
favorable. I'm not an equipment junkie, and furthermore, I hate to get
involved with equipment that can't be replaced readily at a reasonable
cost (thus I'm not tempted to search for the elusive Kaspar or Chedeville
at great expense). FWIW, I think this mouthpiece is well worth the cost.

David Niethamer