Klarinet Archive - Posting 000633.txt from 2004/11
From: Tony Pay <tony.p@-----.org>
Subj: Re: [kl] HOW TO handle new REEDS?
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2004 17:26:36 -0500
On 22 Nov, "Larisa Duffy and David Dow" <duffyl@-----.ca> wrote:
> Players who have a great deal of trouble getting reeds to work or play may
> have major embouchure problems. In fact, alot of players and students tend
> to blame the reed on all their trouble, woes etc.
I find myself -- don't you? -- that sometimes I have problems in one area,
sometimes in another.
Sometimes I realise I should work on reeds, sometimes I realise I should
practise more.
But, being able to decide which of these I should do at any moment is an
important part of whatever is good about me as a player.
With students, I do often want to say that they should choose their reeds
more wisely; and I do often want to say that they should practise more with
the reeds they have.
It depends.
> When studying in France with Guy Desplus he felt "the Reed should not be
> something one spends more worry over then the time spendt on practicing."
That's true, unless you're someone who needs to spend more time over it than
over practising -- which can be the case.
Actually, Guy Deplus (sic) is a good friend of mine. I don't like to see him
quoted out of context. He would know as well as I do that there are some
people who practise uselessly on setups that will *never* give good results.
> ...many players spend inordinate amounts of time switching from reed to
> reed rather then investigating in methods which may their reeds work...or
> work better..
That at any rate is true.
[snip of good advice, in my opinion, by Otensamer]
> Harold Wright who was Principal of the Boston said "All reed adjustment
> should be done by knife." He disagreed with any buffing of the reed and
> polishing the vamp with the fingers.
Other excellent players disagree. So why do we accept his 'should'?
I suspect that he was just saying what he did, and *others* turned it into a
'should'.
Either that, or he was an arrogant arsehole -- I have no way of knowing.
And even if he was an arrogant arsehole, his being so wouldn't have stopped
him being a good player.
Because, what counts is the result.
BTW, in writing this, I'm just waiting for the post that claims, "Tony Pay
says that Harold Wright was an arrogant arsehole."
(Whatever, y'all.)
> This he felt "Hardens and deadens the cane Prematurely." This is a method I
> have adopted...I have always felt polishing the reed with the fingers makes
> MY reeds play with an airy sound...
So what, if others don't find that?
> this may not be the case for others...
Oh, OK.
> I simply balance the reed in the areas where I feel the reed is to
> thick..removing cane from below the tip or the balancing of the rails with
> a Herder knife...
>
> I never use sandpaper either....
Wow. Does that mean we shouldn't?
I sometimes do.
But then, of course, I'm not on your level.
> Maybe Tony would be so kind as to tell us how he gets his reeds to work...?
I have made suggestions for others in previous post to this list. But I
certainly wouldn't be so presumptuous as to claim that any of them are
*necessary*.
I don't know how presumptuous Harold Wright was, because I'm only hearing
about him second-hand. But, I have to say, people in his position,
particularly in America, have often been presumptuous about such matters.
Finally:
Do you understand that that I have nothing at all against you posting what
*you* find works; but everything against you posting what *other people
should do* -- whether endorsed by legendary US clarinettists or no?
The most important part of 'what works' for us is that our judgement of that
workability depends on our view of the musical context, not on some
here-today, gone-tomorrow authority.
Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd tony.p@-----.org
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE http://classicalplus.gmn.com/artists
tel/fax 01865 553339
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