Klarinet Archive - Posting 000175.txt from 2001/09

From: rgarrett@-----.edu
Subj: Re: [kl] Mouthpieces and reed longevity
Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2001 09:08:31 -0400

At 01:28 PM 09/06/2001 +0100, you wrote:
>It might not work for everyone. For example, if you use a very open
>facing, it wouldn't be necessary.
>
>I use quite a long, close facing, so small perturbations in reed
>position and small warpings of the wood tend to make a larger
>difference.

Tony makes a very important and excellent point here. For those who may
not know, a medium tip is often thought of as around the 1.10 - 1.13 tip
opening. I'm not sure what Tony uses - perhaps something closer to a 1.04
or 1.01 - but he will have to share.........

Anything greater than a 1.12 tip, and the issues surrounding reed longevity
start to disappear - to a certain extent.

But I think we are talking about two different things to some extent. Reed
life as compared to useful reed life. As Clark pointed out - the concavity
of a table can have some effect on reed life. As an aside, I don't happen
to think that reed life is shortened by asymmetrical facings - as others
have suggested. I've played on an asymmetrical facing sfor the past 20
years, and my reeds last much longer then they ever did prior to that. I'm
not suggesting that asymmetrical lengthens the life - just that I have yet
to see any evidence to the contrary.

All that having been said - I asked a few of my students what they thought
if they were to read a description of a mouthpiece that suggests that reeds
last longer. No disagreement here - they all thought they would be able to
purchase less reeds and they would last weeks longer! Kids these days.

That was my point about discussion of reed life vs. mouthpiece
design. There is no question that reed playability is affected to some
degree by mouthpiece design. But it is a fairly universal concept - one
that is akin to a suspension system of a car affecting tire wear (just ask
Ford and Firestone). Some suspensions increase the life of a tire - just
not by any significant amount (more than 1000 miles).

Best wishes,
Roger Garrett

>Another trick that is sometimes helpful in ensuring that the
>reed is closing properly against the mouthpiece is to remove the
>mouthpiece, block the bottom with your wetted palm, and suck. The reed
>is drawn against the mouthpiece, and springs back again with an audible
>'plop' after a few seconds. Repeating once or twice can stabilise a
>possibly slightly warped reed. Sometimes this works well in combination
>with the phonecard technique.
>
> > I only want to say that I am a little puzzled with Tony Pay`s analogy
> > to the violin wood (body).
> >
> > > The wood in the body of a violin has been 'messed' quite
> > > considerably.
> >
> > That`s not quite a correct comparison is it, if I may. Wood and reed
> > cane are not the same are they(?), nor can they be compared.
>
>Well, cane is wood:-)
>
>What you do with the phonecard (and the technique above) is change the
>equilibrium position of the reed. Vibrations around that equilibrium
>position are another thing.
>
>All I meant about the violin is that the wood of the body has been
>manipulated extensively in manufacture -- bent, and so on. It hasn't
>got like that *naturally*. And as we know, how it vibrates is crucial
>to the excellence of the violin.
>
>Manipulating the physical form of an existing reed, by wetting and
>bending it rather than cutting away bits of it, is therefore not a
>particularly outrageous thing to do.
>
> > I think I know what Tony <means>, but if this is actually so, can Tony
> > please send me some of his 200 year old reeds. :<)
>
>Not yet:-)
>
>Tony
>--
>_________ Tony Pay
> |ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
> | |ay Oxford OX2 6RE GMN artist: http://www.gmn.com
> tel/fax 01865 553339
>
>... Tis but a flesh wound...
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------

Clarinet Professor
Director, Symphonic Winds
Illinois Wesleyan University
School of Music
Bloomington, IL 61702-2900
Phone: (309) 556-3268
Fax: (309) 556-3121

"If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me,
this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very
best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until
the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't
amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, 10 angels swearing I
was right would make no difference."
-Abraham Lincoln

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