Klarinet Archive - Posting 000209.txt from 2001/09

From: Ed Wojtowicz <ewoj@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Mouthpieces and reed longevity
Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2001 22:29:01 -0400

> From: rgarrett@-----.edu
> Reply-To: klarinet@-----.org
> Date: Thu, 06 Sep 2001 08:05:19 -0500
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: Re: [kl] Mouthpieces and reed longevity
>
> Anything greater than a 1.12 tip, and the issues surrounding reed longevity
> start to disappear - to a certain extent.

I am a bit unclear here- are you saying that reeds would last longer on a
tip opening of 1.12+ ?

>
> 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.

It may be that there were other issues present, but for a period of time
years ago, I played an asymmetrical mouthpiece. I had trouble finding reeds
for it and getting reeds to last. Then again, it may be that I was trying to
get something out of this mouthpiece that was going against this
mouthpiece's natural tendency, so the struggle actually was not what it
seemed.

An old teacher of mine once told me that he felt a good mouthpiece was one
that would accept a lot of reeds (given that pitch, response, etc are all
within the accepted parameters). I guess reed friendly might be a good term
for it. To be clear, I think that you want a mouthpiece that can allow you
to do the job with a variety of reeds as opposed a mouthpiece that plays
well only "when I get the right reed".

Ed

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