Klarinet Archive - Posting 000084.txt from 2006/09

From: "Clark W Fobes" <claroneman@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Bass clarinet reed strength
Date: Fri, 08 Sep 2006 13:47:18 -0400

Much of my career in San Francisco has involved playing bass clarinet and
contra bass clarinet. I also make about 200 bass clarinet mouthpieces per
year for students and professionals, so this subject is of great interest to
me.

The thread really has two parts. First, the initial question was what reed
strength is suitable for beginners. No beginner is going to be playing up to
the altissimo register, so requiring him/her to play on a firm reed is
really not an issue. I think it is PREFERABLE to start a beginner on a reed
that is supple enough to allow them to get air through the horn WITHOUT
using inordinate jaw pressure to bring the reed to its proper focal point.
In fact, this will promote a better embouchure for bass clarinet which
should be less firm than a clarinet embouchure. A properly designed
mouthpiece will not close off with a softer reed. Unfortunately, most of the
student priced bass clarinet mouthpieces are absolute crap, so teachers,
spend a little bit extra and get a decent mouthpiece for your beginners.
ALSO, I believe that any kid who moves to bass clarinet should have at
least 2 years of clarinet training. Bass clarinet IS difficult and should
not be the initial instrument for a beginning woodwind student.

The second part of the thread has to do with the proper reed strength
for advanced players. The suggestion that someone should use the same reed
strength on bass that they use on clarinet is absolutely ludicrous. I
suspect that most players in this county play on medium faced clarinet
mouthpieces that require about a #4 reed (let's use Van Doren as the
standard). This being the case a #4 bass clarinet reed is much to hard for
most bass clarinet mouthpieces. There are some makers who make very close,
short facings that might require a #4 reed, but this is a flawed design in
my opinion.

I occasionally coach people on bass clarinet and the most common problem
I see is that they are trying to play with too hard of a reed and with too
firm of an embouchure. You will never achieve sufficient resonance or
flexibility this way. I use a #3 Van Doren reed on my CF or RR facing and I
can play easily into the extreme altissimo. This is a matter of having an
acoustically correct mouthpiece - not a stiff reed. Also, with a very firm
reed, the pitch is often too high and one will play particularly sharp in
the throat tones and when playing pianissimo. There is a huge benefit in
playing a softer reed and using less lip/jaw pressure. With this type of
approach one has much more flexibility in changing registers, a better
legato, clearer articulation and a more robust lower register. Perhaps the
hard reed concept is a result of a macho mentality among bass clarinet
players that they must be able to play loud to project. Projection is a
function of a presence of overtones, not simply volume of air.

Just my 2 cents,

Clark W Fobes

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