Klarinet Archive - Posting 000023.txt from 1997/12

From: Roger Garrett <rgarrett@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: New topic...when to transcribe?
Date: Mon, 1 Dec 1997 16:50:37 -0500

On Mon, 1 Dec 1997, Da Shouryu-man wrote:
> C) Your reeds suck. This is a VERY common cause. On the Contrabass
> Mailing List, there is a least one new guy who pops up every month whining
> about how half the reeds he/she buys don't sound really good, or are
> 'bad', etc. This is due to the fact that many people don't know how to
> break in reeds properly. Nearly every reed larger than an alto sax reed
> for every single reed instrument will have to be sanded to be broken in,
> because due to their large size, they warp so that the back of the reed is
> convex, and therefore doesn't sit completely against the facing of the
> mouthpiece, and plays like crap. There is a long and tedious process as
> to breaking these in so they play well, and it must be used on all reeds
> bigger than alto sax/alto clarinet reeds. Otherwise, you won't get
> optimum sound.

Actually, the break in is not so long for Bass......just the sanding of
the back to be sure the warp is gone. An important consideration is that
when reeds start to wear out, they make it sound/feel as though the horn
is leaking somewhere......very important to remember this!

> Or, a common thing for people who switch from soprano to
> bass, is to carry over the same strengths. It doesn't make a difference
> if you play on a 3.5 on clarinet or a 6, you should almost never play on
> anything harder than a 3 (Vandoren strength, since strengths seem to vary
> from brand to brand) on bass, unless you want to sound like a duck with
> bronchitis.

I disagree with the contention that one never plays on anything harder
than a 3. I play on size 4 Vandorens, and they are a bit soft at times
for me. Lawrie Bloom plays on 4's.....anything less than a size 3 on a
standard C* mouthpiece will be too soft for a good quality, full-bodied
bass clarinet sound....especially for projection in the low range.

The harder the reed, the more you'll have to alter your
> embouchure from register to register. And altering the embouchure will
> mean that your tone will be inconsistent. Yuck.

I don't think one alters their embouchre for harder reeds...just wear out
sooner and sound worse.

> I realize that I may come off as being a little cocky and self righteous
> with this, but I have put a lot of time and effort into being a good
> bassist.

Doesn't matter to most of us if you sound that way as long as you realize
that there are a LOT of people who have put a lot of time and effort into
being good bass clarinet players......gee...and some of us have even
played in a major symphony orchestra on it!

Roger Garrett
IWU

   
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