Klarinet Archive - Posting 000474.txt from 2001/12

From: "Karl Krelove" <kkrelove@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Reed Storage
Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2001 00:04:55 -0500

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robert Moody [mailto:LetsReason@-----.com]
> Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2001 12:14 PM
>
> 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!".

Robert, nobody has asked you to "swallow" anything. There was a question
asked and people (including me) responded based on their own experiences.
>
> 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.

For my part, I don't need to wait more than a minute or two for an old reed
and less for one that's newer.

> 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.]

Why would you want to do this in the first place? Just wait - it'll be
ready.
>
<large snip>
>
> In any case, I'm not sold at all on the "don't store your reeds flat"
> promotion going on.

Who was promoting anything? Several of us gave opinions based on our
individual experiences. As far as I can remember, nobody on the list in any
of several incarnations of this topic over the years has ever done a
controlled study of reeds under the different conditions that always wind up
being discussed.

> 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.
Well, I wasn't "promoting" leaving it on the mouthpiece (although that is my
practice for the one I used last before I put the clarinet away for the
night). I mentioned storing the reeds in a holder built to keep them up on
an edge. I can give you a theory for why this might work better than your
way, but my only "proof" of the theory is in my day-to-day experience going
back 35 years (the other 5 don't count - I was too young to know anything).
If storing them flat on glass doesn't cause problems for you (and there are
several list members who agree with you), that information has value for the
original questioner. So do the experiences of the "opposition." Thus
confused once she realizes there is no "proven" right answer, she will know
that this is a question she will ultimately need to answer for herself.
Unlike some other frequently asked questions like, "What reed (or
mouthpiece) should I use," or "What's the best clarinet to buy," (both of
which we know have absolutely firm and universally accepted answers).
>
> 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.

Your tone here is the real basis of my bad reaction to your post. Whether or
not your experiences differ from mine, mine (and those of others) are no
more worthy of this kind of smug sarcasm than are yours.

> LOL.
And this is the rest of the reason for my tantrum (I read this, I hope
correctly, as Lots Of Laughs)!
:-)

Karl

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