Klarinet Archive - Posting 000608.txt from 2002/10

From: Tom.Henson@-----.com
Subj: RE: [kl] Re: Wacky reed problem
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2002 11:24:31 -0400

I know I'm a little late to post to this thread, but a way to see if she is
closing the reed up by putting too much pressure on it in combination with
the facing, just remove the reed when this problem occurs and lay the reed
on a flat piece reed glass. If the reed is warping or bending inward against
the tip you will see an small gap between the reed and glass somewhere near
the vamp of the reed. If you can push down on the vamp and the reed moves up
and down ever so slightly, then the reed is indeed warping inward.

Then Walter's scenario is much more likely the cause.

I have experienced this, and instead of changing mouthpiece I looked for a
reed that better matched the facing. The reeds that were causing me this
problem were not a major brand, but were partly hand made in Germany.
Knowing this, I can now work around this problem a little and still use the
reeds, but have to be careful about too much pressure on the reed.

Tom Henson

Walter commented:

"Here's an idea from a mouthpiece guy. Maybe the hand-me-down Borbeck that
worked well for you is unsuitable for your student's jaw/lower lip
placement, and as a consequence she is putting too much pressure on the reed
where it is not supported by the facing. Depending on her jaw configuration,
she might be putting pressure on the reed way ahead of the 'fulcrum" point
where the reed leaves the mouthpiece?, thus "clamping" the reed dowwnward."

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