Klarinet Archive - Posting 000663.txt from 2004/11

From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] Sandpaper vs. Reed knife
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 07:10:17 -0500

Knives don't let the dust accumulate. Nor does emery paper and a finger, though.
Roger S.

In message <B12C7372-3D5C-11D9-BB2D-000A9580FD2E@-----.com>
klarinet@-----.org writes:
> An oboist friend taught me that using a knife, going very slowly, and
> merely trying to make dust as you scrape is a good concept.
> Simeon
> On Nov 23, 2004, at 9:01 AM, GrabnerWG@-----.com wrote:
>
> > 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
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org
> >
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org
>
>

--
Wenn die Welt erst ehrlich genug sein wird, um Kindern vor dem 15. Jahre
keinen Religionsunterricht zu erteilen, dann wird etwas von ihr zu hoffen sein.
-- Schopenhauer.

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