Klarinet Archive - Posting 000474.txt from 2000/07

From: rgarrett@-----.edu
Subj: Re: [kl] Reeds (Legere)
Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2000 11:06:32 -0400

At 08:30 AM 07/13/2000 -0600, you wrote:
>| Don't mess around with knives. Why chance messing up Legere's magnificent
>| job of machining. These reeds are really BALANCED. If they seem out of
>| balance your mouthpiece is probably to blame.

I don't know if this is accurate or not. I have three Legere reeds - all
are supposedly the same strength, yet they all play remarkably differently.
I don't think it is the mouthpiece. BTW, I use a Legere to test my
mouthpieces as a last test - to be sure it blows the way it is supposed to.

>I wonder if what causes Legere reeds to fall just short of the very
>best cane reeds is that the material is so consistent in density.

Lots of disagreement on if this is true or not. I personally prefer a
great cane reed to the Legere, but I always keep a Legere in my reed case
for the moment that my cane reeds wig out in rehearsal! They're also very
good for doubling or for warming up in the morning when my cane reeds are
still soaking.

>Maybe the minor variations in density from point to point within
>a cane reed are important for getting the harmonics that you want.
>Along these lines, I wonder what a mouthpiece with an asymmetrical
>facing would do for a Legere reed.

I play on a Pyne "M" mouthpiece (an asymetrical facing) and haven't
noticed any dissimilarities in the way the reed plays between it and the
symetrical facing of the mouthpieces I make. I don't know if others have
had this experience or not.

Roger Garrett
Professor of Clarinet
Director, Symphonic Winds
Advisor, IWU Recording Services
Illinois Wesleyan University
School of Music
Bloomington, IL 61702-2900
(309) 556-3268

A Clarinetist's Revenge is sometimes personified by the following excerpt
from the London Daily News, circa 1926:

"The saxophone is a long metal instrument bent at both ends. It is alleged
to be musical. As regards markings, the creature has a series of tiny taps
stuck upon it, apparently at random. These taps are very sensitive: when
touched they cause the instrument to utter miserable sounds suggesting
untold agony. Sometimes it bursts into tears. At either end there is a
hole. People, sometimes for no reason at all, blow down the small end of
the saxophone which then shrieks and moans."

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