Klarinet Archive - Posting 000345.txt from 2003/05

From: Oliver Seely <oseely@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Reeds
Date: Sun, 18 May 2003 18:40:45 -0400

Thanks, Martin, for the good press (for a change) about Rico. My teacher
used to tell me that Rico reeds were made from bamboo grown on the banks of
the Santa Ana River here in southern California. I was doubtful about that
when I was 13 years old, but one doesn't question one's teacher at that
age. Still, the Santa Ana River channel was a lot less polluted then
too. I'll give them a try.

Oliver

At 05:42 PM 05/18/2003 -0400, you wrote:
>On the subject of reeds.
>
>This week I have had the fun job, of demonstrating the Rico Grand Concert
>Evolution reeds, to the students at three of London's top Music Colleges.
>The Royal Academy of Music, The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and
>Trinity College of Music.
>For these seminars I was joined by Jean-Francoise Rico, from the South of
>France, and Robert Polan, European Director of Rico from Sun Valley California.
>
>These reeds have been in development for about ten years. Many
>clarinettist around the world have been working on them including Ricardo
>Morales, David Campbell and myself.
>
>For the demonstration I had an assistant join me from the audience who had
>to open an unopened box of reeds which I would then play on one by one,
>having never played them previously. Almost a case of professional
>suicide, except for the superb consistency offered by these reeds.
>On each of the reeds I then played excerpts from the Brahms sonatas,
>Tchaik 6, the opening of the Ireland fantasy sonata, Weber II opening,
>Spohrs concertos tonguing upto the top C's.
>etc..
>
>Quite fun on reeds you haven't selected, before an audience of clarinettists.
>
>The point being made, that you can spend ages working on reeds, which
>frankly don't work in the hall you are playing in. But having consistent
>reeds, that work straight out of the box, you can quickly find a good reed
>for the hall you are in. Problems come using reeds that are green, and
>terribly inconsistent in strength. Naming no names.
>
>Over the two days, going through many boxes of reeds, I only found one
>reed that I could not perform on, and that one needed just a little scraping.
>
>I believe the strength of these reeds come from the quality of cane, and
>the cut, leaving more wood in the heart of the reed.
>
>Kind regards
>Martin Powell.
>PS. I am not being paid by Rico to write this e-mail.
>
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