Klarinet Archive - Posting 000633.txt from 2002/06

From: Richard Bush <rbushidioglot@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Fiddling with reeds
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2002 12:37:56 -0400

Next time your teacher takes a pen knife to one of your reeds,
ask him why he's removing material from a particular area.
Obviously, he knows what he's doing because you've experienced
improved reed response. Couldn't or shouldn't this be a part
of the lesson, particularly since you're expressing interest
in it?

Joseph Wakeling wrote:

> Following my experience with a "buzzy" reed, I thought it might be worth
> asking:
>
> What are the procedures that people go through in order to prepare reeds?
> (As in, reed rebalancing, etc.?)
>
> I have heard a variety of opinions on the importance of reed refacing, etc.,
> from one writer in the Cambridge Companion to the Clarinet who says he has
> his own reeds specially made for him in order to minimise the amount of work
> required, to a friend who, asked about reed alterations, said bluntly, "No,
> never done it. Maybe I'd have got somewhere if I did." (Said friend is the
> principal of one of the major London symphony orchestras!)
>
> Then again, having had my new teacher in Switzerland take my clarinet from
> me, scrape at the reed lightly with a penknife, and return it to me, only to
> find that the reed was remarkably more responsive and better sounding, I'm
> inclined to think these things might be worth finding out about... so, what
> should I know and do? ;-)
>
> Cheers,
>
> -- Joe
>
>
>
>
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