Klarinet Archive - Posting 000450.txt from 1997/11

From: Martin Pergler <pergler@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: Water on back of reed?
Date: Wed, 12 Nov 1997 00:00:23 -0500

On Tue, 11 Nov 1997, Fred Jacobowitz wrote:
> Martin,
> Why does it bother you? Does the sound get fuzzy (watery, if you
> will)? It has been my experience that reeds don't tongue well if they are
> UNEVENLY wet or dry. That is, if there are dry spots on an otherwise wet
> reed.Is this what you mean? moisture by itself really shouldn't do
> anything to adversely affect tonguing.
[...]
> If one is still a relatively inexperienced player, they often have
> too much saliva and that causes the excess moisture. This problem tends to
> disappear as one gets better on the instrument. This is only a _POSSIBLE_
> explanation and I don't really have enough information from you to say
> more.

Fair enough, I should have been clearer. The problem is definitely
uneven moisture, even "standing water" on part of the back.
Here's the reed back after I take it off:
__________________
| X The X's are an irregular region with standing
| XXXX | water (saliva?)
|______________X___/

I'm not sure what you mean by "too much saliva". How does one control
that? As to relatively inexperienced, yes and no. I'm an enthusiastic
amateur who has been playing for 8-10 years, mostly self-taught. So I have
many bad habits, some of which I might not have if I had always had
teachers. But teachers and coaches don't claim that I have horrific
mouthpiece angle or anything like that, and I should have gotten over the
first excess-salivation-response-to-unfamiliar-object-in-mouth reaction.
But maybe I haven't. Maybe I never will!

Thanks again, and hope this is clearer! Martin

-------------------------------------------------------
Martin Pergler pergler@-----.edu
Grad student, Mathematics http://www.math.uchicago.edu/~pergler
Univ. of Chicago