Klarinet Archive - Posting 000656.txt from 2004/11

From: <skywinkle@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Sandpaper vs. Reed knife
Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 17:04:23 -0500

Seriously, now, I do believe it is time to show the proper respect! All this talk of mutilating reeds in one way or another! As the composer is to his music, so is the reedmaker to his reeds, namely, the final authority! Would you scape off an awkward passage from a Mozart concerto because it is too hard? I should think not. It is the job of every serious clarinetist to elicit the most from each reed by matching it to the proper mouthpiece. As we all must have at least 300 mouthpieces laying around by now, it should be but child's play to find one that is a match for each reed, eliminating the need for any further balancing acts!

Bruce

>
> From: GrabnerWG@-----.com
> Date: 2004/11/23 Tue AM 09:01:40 EST
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: [kl] Sandpaper vs. Reed knife
>
> David Dow says:
> <<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....>>
>
> Tony Pays says:
>
> <<Wow. Does that mean we shouldn't?.....I sometimes do.>>
>
> Walter says:
>
> Although I am very proficient with a reed knife (I have successfully made
> oboe and bassoon reeds in my lifetime), I find I have much more precise control
> using sandpaper.
>
> I work my reeds, moistened, and placed on a small plaque of plate glass. I
> cut approx. 1 inch squares from waterproof sandpaper of 320 and 600 strength.
> Using the corner of the moistened sandpaper over my fingertip, I can exercise
> fairly precise control over where I want to remove a hard "spot" on the
> reed. Using the glass to support the cane, I can also get a very nice thin tip
> evenly over the entire top of the reed. This is very hard to do with a knife
> without tearing the fibers of the cane.
>
> I used to use the reed knife for quick adjustments. I do not anymore since I
> found it too easy to dig "little holes" in the surface of the reed. I found
> -- for myself -- that I got a much more even and smooth adjustment of the reed
> using the sandpaper.
>
> Should everybody do it this way? Of course not. We're all different and have
> different size hands, different levels of manual dexterity, different levels
> of sensitivity.
>
> If there is one thing I have learned in my "advanced years" in clarinet
> playing...is to ignore authority and do "it," whatever "it" is, in a way that
> works for me....not the way some authority, or even a treasured teacher said
> "it" had to be done.
>
> By cutting myself loose from the burden of authority, I have achieved levels
> of playing which I never was able to before. I also enjoy music and playing
> the clarinet much more than I ever did in the past.
>
> I think this is what Tony is trying, over and over, to encourage us to do.
> Find our OWN ways and techniques to achieve what we need to achieve. Not rely
> on what some long-dead, and possibly misquoted, authority might have said,
> done, or practiced.
>
> Walter
> _www.clarinetXpress.com/music.html_
> (http://www.clarinetXpress.com/music.html)
> Music by Donald Draganski
>
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