Klarinet Archive - Posting 000303.txt from 1998/04

From: Jacqueline Eastwood <eastwooj@-----.EDU>
Subj: High & dry (climate, that is)
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1998 11:23:31 -0400

I've been watching the discussion about high altitude reed adjustment, and
now have even more questions to pose!

Flagstaff (AZ) is around 7,000 feet elevation (I think) but it is also
very dry. I spoke to our principal oboist yesterday; she has also done a
lot of playing in Colorado (I believe she was a one-year replacement in
the Colorado Phil last year?) Anyway, she said she always makes her reeds
harder; if they're too soft, they "collapse". This sounded rather dire,
but I usually trust an oboist's opinion about reeds, because, as we all
know, they are the most anal-retentive of reed players. My original plan,
as others have suggested, was to have a couple of different strengths, and
have some partially broken in to work on after arriving. Now I am
concerned about which way to go, since Roger G. advocated softer reeds for
Colorado playing. Or would it be different for oboists?

In the Ring Orchestra information packet, they suggest arriving early and
walking around the campus to adjust one's system to the altitude, but the
way they word it, it sounds like we're all in imminent danger of fainting
dead away if we try to blow our brains out on the loud passages!

Jacqueline Eastwood
University of Arizona/Arizona Opera Orchestra
eastwooj@-----.edu