Klarinet Archive - Posting 000584.txt from 2004/11

From: "Karl Krelove" <karlkrelove@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] HOW TO handle new REEDS?
Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 14:49:02 -0500

Willy,

Here are answers to some of your questions:

> -Some players put the new reed in warm water for several minutes?

And some players use tap water (not warm) and some just wet the reed in
their mouths for varying amounts of time. Since you'll get a different
answer from nearly everyone you ask, try it each way and see what seems to
make the reeds most comfortable for you to play on. Just one warning - too
long a soak, especially with a very new reed, will waterlog it and
drastically change its playing qualities. But you can find out how long too
long is also by experimenting.

> -Some players play on the new reed only a couple of minutes every day?
> For how long? What is the "gold standard" in timing?

No "gold standard," or a million of them, again depending on whom you ask or
whose book you read. A few experiments and a willingness to toss a few reeds
into the trash can will answer the question as well as anything else.

> -Is there a need to wash, to clean, to desinfect the reed ater playing?
> IMPORTANT: Are your opinions purely intuitive or evidenced-based?
>

I've never washed, cleaned or disinfected a reed after playing, and I think
I play pretty well for a school teacher and have never been severely
(morbidly) ill. There are others on this list who may have different
experiences and, therefore, different answers. Once again, experiment. The
worst that will happen is that you'll ruin a reed (with the cleaning agent).

> 2/Do all new reeds need an improving or finishing?

This depends on how fussy you are about the sound and response of the reeds
you play. Some players play every reed (or nearly) in a box with little or
no adjustment and just accept and adapt to whatever sound and response the
individual reed produces. Other players look for a reed that, within limits,
feels and sounds a particular way. Reeds to play their best ought to be
balanced - each side responding in the same way - unless you play in a way
(for instance off center, with an asymmetric mouthpiece facing, etc...) that
works better with a reed that is deliberately left heavier on one side than
the other. Balance, by the way, becomes more critical the closer you come to
the limit of hardness that your mouthpiece and embouchure will allow - with
very soft reeds it probably doesn't matter as much.

The other part of this answer is that a reed after a few playings often
doesn't respond as it did when you first took it out of the box. So reeds
that play without adjustment may need touching up later - perhaps more than
once - as the wetting and drying of regular use continues.

> What is the "best"
> system available today? Ridenour ATG Reed Finishing kit? Reed Wizard ?
> Reed Mate Company? Other? Where to buy them?

All of them. You left out reed rush (grows naturally or available in plastic
boxes for $5 or so), a reed knife (maybe $25) and sandpaper (a couple of
dollars for a package). Reed Wizard and Reed Mate are expensive, as is the
ReedDuall, which you didn't mention (based on the same principal as a key
duplicator at a hardware store). Players get excellent results out of all of
these methods and many swear the other methods are all rubbish. It really
depends on what you learn to do and also on how clear an idea you have in
your mind of what you want the reed to feel/play like when you've finished
with it. If you know what you're trying to get, any of these methods can
produce it. The more expensive systems, starting with the ATG kit (which
I've recently started to use with, I think, a good deal of success) simply
claim to take some of the guesswork out of the process.

> -Can one learn to improve the reed by himself or a special training is
> mandatory?

It helps to have someone show you who already knows how by at least one
method - it just saves you some early experimenting. But in the end it will
depend less on how you learn than on how clearly you know what you want to
accomplish.

I don't mean any of this to be snide. All of these questions are subjects of
constant attention and discussion among players. It's just that there aren't
any single, simple, easy answers that you'd get any number of experienced
players to agree with.

Karl Krelove

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