Klarinet Archive - Posting 000386.txt from 2000/02

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: tough concert = reed death
Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2000 22:21:29 -0500

At 10:31 AM 2/8/2000 EST, JBLinear@-----.com wrote:
>I have noticed that when I play a concert that is more tense than usual -
>difficult music, short rehearsal time, demanding group, etc. - my concert
>reed dies more quickly. Sometimes I can tell the difference from the
>beginning of the concert to the end. I am careful about using the "best"
>reed only during the dress rehearsal and only infrequently otherwise. What I
>am guessing is that concert nerves have an effect on the content of saliva
>which in turn has a special knack of killing a reed before its time. Does
>anyone else have this experience? Are there any spit-ologists out there who
>can tell me about this? Anything a person could do about it, such as
rinsing
>the mouth with something to counteract this?
>
It is not at all uncommon in performance situations - playing, singing,
acting, public speaking - to experience "cotton mouth" or "dry mouth." The
more nervous one is, the more likely it is to occur and/or the greater the
severity. The effect on your reed, if related to this phenomenon, is
probably temporary and stems from drying. The added pressure of
performance may also cause you to tighten up more than usual and close off
an otherwise stiff enough reed.

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://homepages.go.com/~zoot14/zoot14.html
ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org