Klarinet Archive - Posting 000468.txt from 2001/12

From: "Robert Moody" <LetsReason@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Reed Storage
Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2001 16:55:33 -0500

Okay, call me a naive trouble-maker, wait...I think someone already did
that!...but in any case, I am having difficulty swallowing the latest thread
on "don't dry your reed flat!".

I have NEVER, EVER made issue to prevent my reeds from laying on a flat
surface to dry and have actually done the opposite. On the simple, and
generic side of things, it does wonders for the tip, to bring it back into
playing status when I'm wetting it. If I leave the reed on the mouthpiece
(loosening the ligature) and return to play on the reed the next day, it
takes significantly longer to wet and get that reed ready to play than it
does when I place that reed on my glass overnight (refering to the tip
warpage). [For those semantically inclined souls...significant to me is
near 10 minutes difference or more. And it's not even that, it is the
effort required if I want to play on it "until" it is "ready to play"...if
that makes any sense to some of you.]

I regularly have reeds that are in my "ready to use" group for 4 to 6
months. For example, I can go through a semester of work at school and
never have to change the entire set of four "ready to use" reeds. Issues I
have with reeds stem much more from weather/climate than storing them on
flat surface. Depending on how much the weather changes, or I travel to
different climates through the year, I generally do not have to buy more
than 4 or 5 boxes of Vandoren V12 reeds each year. I usually have to get
two 3.5 strength boxes of reeds and three 4 strength boxes. [Situations
vary, so this is just an average...sometimes less, sometimes more.] Out of
those boxes I play the reeds for about 15 minutes (again, these are AVERAGE
numbers)-a-piece and sort out the "playables", and then place the others in
my rather hefty collection of so-called "The Untouchables". They are a
great reservoir for students (whether mine or other college kids) who just
need a reed quickly sometimes. [I am told that Iggy Genusa used to throw
his "Untouchables" out the window and his students used to collect them off
the sidewalk. LOL.]

In any case, I feel that I've had pretty good success in those ways. I
cannot change the weather or climate any more than just choosing the best
variables I can. But I have always been taught, and have always followed
the practice of "wiping the reed" and placing it on a flat surface to dry.
Rarely does an issue with warpage come into play on my currently used reeds.
[In fact, I cannot recall that last time that issue came up.] And for those
who may not know, I am one of those in-between people who rotates some four
or so reeds with regularity, getting to know the group well, but not
sticking religiously to any *one* reed. I can tell when a reed is "heading
out" of the group and I begin considering some of the peripheral reeds in my
larger collection to replace him or her. ;-)

In any case, I'm not sold at all on the "don't store your reeds flat"
promotion going on. Even people who leave their reeds on the mouthpiece are
effectively storing them flat (except for the tip). At the moment, only the
issue of mold has any merit in my eyes concerning storing reeds on a flat
surface.

I await with curiousity as more evidence is presented to convince me that I
can *improve* my system by flipping my reeds over from now on. LOL.

Robert

[I find it almost I ironic that as I reed...er...read over this post that I
kind of sound like what I was butting my head against with the "voicing"
issue a couple months ago. "Hold fast to what has worked...don't do
somethine different! Heresy!" LOL ]

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