Klarinet Archive - Posting 000183.txt from 2003/10

From: ormondtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya)
Subj: Re: [kl] Macho Reed Selection, or Why I use a Number 37 Reed....
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2003 22:03:01 -0400

Matthew=A0Lloyd wrote:

> What is wrong with buying the strength you
> want to end up with?

You have hit a nerve there, Matthew. "Macho' can be a
sometimes-ridiculous goal of its own. If it weren't off-topic, I'd
tell you about the schnook who obstructed the parking lot for five
minutes today, such that nobody else could move, because he couldn't
handle his 'monster' pickup..... and he actually *strutted!* away
afterwards as though he had done something praiseworthy.

On the other hand, when all the reeds in my drawer were the wrong
strength because the local store didn't have my favorite in stock, I
once made 3-1/2's out of some reeds that were lying on the bottom of my
drawer. They probably ranged from 2 through 5. This was quite
educational for me. It forced me to focus my attention on the 'feel'
of each reed as I scraped or clipped it, and as I thought about the
relationships between length and responsiveness --- can you actually
make a decent 3-1/2 out of a 2?, out of a 5?, does a certain reed work
on one mouthpiece but not on another?, etc etc. Until then, I had done
some balancing, but not much more. It's this "educational" aspect of
trying such things that, imo, is worth pursuing.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org