Klarinet Archive - Posting 000009.txt from 2000/09

From: "Karl Krelove" <kkrelove@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Storage Solution
Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2000 12:06:27 -0400

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gary Truesdail [mailto:gir@-----.net]
>
>(snip)(I knew this girl
> hadn't cleaned her
> mouthpiece since school started nor had she removed the
> ligature). The crud off
> her reed filled the petri dish over night while all other petri
> dishes hadn't
> shown any growth.

Well, we weren't talking about never cleaning the reed or the mouthpiece.
The point under discussion was whether to store the reed on or off the
mouthpiece. A side discussion began (and I don't think got very far) about
storing the assembled mouthpiece and reed in a plastic "baggie" to preserve
a relatively constant humidity level in the reed. Students who never clean
the reeds at least to the extent of removing them from the mouthpiece,
wiping them off and re-wetting them and who never swab, rinse or otherwise
clean their mouthpieces may well have lots of bad stuff growing. I, at any
rate, didn't think that was what we were talking about.
>
> If I ever left a reed on the mtpc it would kill the response.

I leave mine on all the time and don't have this experience.

> Of course, if you
> forget to remove the reed you probably have forgotten to losen
> the ligature.

I haven't forgotten any such thing. I didn't tighten it much in the first
place. The thing is only there to hold the reed still, not to meld it into
the rubber.

> The continuous pressure from the ligature would compress the
> bottom fibers of
> the reed leaving an imprint of the mtpc opening.

Two objections to this statement:
1) the pressure would depend on how tight you make the ligature in the first
place. I'd be willing to bet (with no real evidence to support me) that my
Gigliotti (plastic) ligature would strip its threads before I'd get enough
pressure to do anything much to a piece of cane.
2) I do this all the time and don't get the imprint you're saying is
inevitable.

> this causes the
> reed to be
> closer to everything below it on the mtpc and causing awful
> things to happen to
> the tone, response and resistance.. How can you guys get away
> with this and not
> have any negative effects.

Somehow, we apparently manage. Besides, without having measured the
distances you're citing with a reed before and after having left it on
overnight, you're theorizing with no real evidence beyond your own
imagination. We all do this from time to time in making decisions for
ourselves, but it's another step to take so absolutely global a position as
this based solely on mental imagery.

I usually don't respond in so aggressive a way to a post I disagree with,
but I would really hate to have the inexperienced student members of the
list read your post and think it's the only possible, or at any rate
reasonable approach to this issue. I actually recommend to my students (and
some even accept the recommendation) that they keep the mouthpiece and reed
together with a cap in their case. With proper care of the reed before and
after each use, it needn't cause any of the problems you've suggested are
inevitable and, in my experience, prevents a couple of others, like broken
reed tips and warpage across the back of the reed.

To each his own.

Karl Krelove

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