Klarinet Archive - Posting 001399.txt from 1998/07

From: Lee Hickling <hickling@-----.Net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Reed question
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 12:52:31 -0400

Carli Boyles said:

>My question is: what would be the best reed
>strength to use as a beginning sax player? I use a 3.5 Mitchell Lurie on
>my clarinet...but have no idea what strength to try out on the sax.
>Could someone please give me a clue...for either tenor or alto sax?

Carli, there's no simple answer. It would depend on the instrument, the
mouthpiece, and most of all on you. I would get a selection of reeds, from
a 2 up to 3 or maybe even 3.5, a couple of each, carefully selected by
holding them up to a strong light, of course. Then see which works best for
you.

You might want to start with a 2.5 or even a 2 on a tenor, while your
clarinet embouchure could permit using a 3 or 3.5 on an alto. I recently
picked up my tenor, which I used to play much of the time, but have hardly
touched for a year or two. I was surprised to find that making it speak
takes a good bit more breath pressure than I've been using on my clarinet
and alto.

You will probably be surprised by how much more quickly a saxophone's
intonation changes in response to little changes in your embouchure.

Other subscribers will probably recommend reeds harder than the above. For
them, and perhaps for you, that could be right. I've been playing the
single reeds for more decades than I like to admit, and I have never been a
hard reed guy - but then I have never had any interest in playing above the
normal clarion/in alt G4 on a clarinet, or above G3 on a saxophone.

Lee Hickling <hickling@-----.net>

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