Klarinet Archive - Posting 000049.txt from 2004/12

From: orm1ondtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya)
Subj: RE: [kl] reeds
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 12:17:28 -0500

Curtis, keep your mouthpiece in mind.

Some mouthpieces are shaped to have less open space between the reed and
the mouthpiece, which means that the reed needs to bend much less in
order to touch the rails, and therefore a stiffer reed can actually be
necessary in order not to stay "closed".

There's plenty of opportunity to argue whether a large or small tip
opening sounds "best" for a particular person; but all told, mouthpieces
that play well with #5 reeds are not rare. Most people will say,
however, that forcing yourself to play with an unnecessarily stiff reed
just to show that you "have chops" is foolish.

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