Klarinet Archive - Posting 000365.txt from 2002/12

From: "William Semple" <wsemple@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] FW: [kl] Legeres [Reeds]
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002 07:32:31 -0500

I've been experimenting with the Legeres. My sound with the Legere is
slightly "lighter," less rich, less vibrant. LESS DARK!! Ha ha ha. I also
cannot manipulate the reed as easily to achieve subtle sonic differences. I
get great results in the clarion register, but can't fully master or depend
on the reed in the chalumeau, which tends to sound fat or guttural. Also, in
response to a staccato, the sound can go from sounding fairly pure to
flabby. I have some thoughts about why. (See below).

I know my sound well, and the reed captures about 90% of it. There are
moments that I can't really hear a difference between the Legere and my best
V12, except in ways only someone who has played with cane reeds for
forty-four years should be able to hear. But not on every note. If I put it
in a Van Doren box, it would be one of my second but playable choices. Which
isn't bad at all. The reed is very placement sensitive, and has a tendency
to slip unless the ligature is tightened just so. I must move it around five
or six times a session.

I have not experienced some of the other problems expressed here, such as
warpage. I have not boiled the reeds, preferring to play as they come. I
also discovered that in my case, I am using the same strength Legere as my
Van Doren. (I almost said VD for short, but I am sure even Van Doren
wouldn't like that acronym). 3.5/3.5. I have a 3.75 and a 4.00, and will
work into these. That may fix the chalumeau issue.

All of the above said, the beauty of the Legere is its consistency. Pick it
up and play. I can practice on the Legere forever, keeping my precious stock
of cane reeds for more critical work on performance or when I pull out my
carefully tuned reed and for some reason, such as humidity, it doesn't play.
Then the Legere will be there.

I still am working on learning this reed and will report whether practice
makes perfect. I suspect there are subtle differences required in technique
to take best advantage of the Legere. I am finding that its vibration stops
more quickly than a cane reed, for example, requiring a lighter "mud" (to
use Tony's phrase) in my tonguing, which indeed helps my work with the cane
reeds, because it is remarkable how little one needs to apply to any reed to
get it to stop speaking.

My father and Paul Schaller experiments with plastic reeds for years. They
never found a truly satisfactory result (I don't believe). The Legere is a
huge step forward.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Daniluk, Bill" <bdaniluk@-----.com>
Subject: [kl] FW: [kl] Reeds

> If you like V12s, try Vintage XL (Australian) - I think they compare to
the
> V12s as the V12s compare to standard Vandorens. Though it would be hard
for
> me to consider switching back to cane from Legeres
> BD
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wayne P Hill [mailto:thanos563@-----.com]
> Sent: Monday, December 09, 2002 5:16 PM
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: Re: [kl] Reeds
>
>
> <<I prefer V12's but recently tried Gigliotti Plus
> (www.clarinetworld.com)and
> liked them even better.>>
>
>
> What's the difference between V12's and the Gigliotti's? I was under the
> impression that the V12's where his brain child.
>
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>
>
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