 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: RosewoodClarinet
Date: 2005-04-18 00:40
This is a story which I had at the music festival last summer.
I made a clarinet friend from other school in the US. I was so surprised that he complained about my reed being too hard. I was playing Greg Smith Mouthpiece (still playing his mouthpieces now) with Vandoren, either V12 3.5 and Rue Lupic 56 3.5, and also Rico Grand Concert Select Thick Blank 3.5. I have never thought that my reeds would be too hard with this combination. The friend was playing open-facing mouthpiece from Vandoren (not 5JB) with Vandoren V12 3 reeds.
Yes, he complained about my reeds. He asked me to show my horn to him. I gave my horn to him. He adjusted the placement of the reed and gave back the horn to me. It was such a huge surprise to me. The reed was set at VERY low place like I could see little of tip rail of mouthpiece at vertical position between the tip and my eyes. I do NOT useally set reed that low, and I am pretty sure that I am not playing hard reeds. It was like playing no.3 reeds on my mouthpiece. He said sounded better that way. I thought that it did not work at all. I am still not sure why he did this.....
I know that Greg Smith would suggest using Vandoren V12 3.5 reeds at his website.
So, my question: where does everyone set your reeds? Yes, set on the table of mouthpiece, certainly. And, where? lower like I described above or ......
I usually tend to choose lighter reeds from these 3.5 reeds with a good vibration and I set these reeds at the top of tip rail or tiny slightly higher depeding on how reeds feel. I am not playing hard reed, I think.
Lately, I opened boxes of Rico GCS Evolution 3.5 and GCS Thick Blank 4. I do not intend to play hard reeds, but these reeds work as well as V12 3.5.
This is getting a dilemma or nightmare.....any thoughts, any comments, and any advices are welcome and appriciated. Thanks.
RosewoodClarinet
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Author: bflatclarinetist
Date: 2005-04-18 00:50
I kind of have this problem too where it sounds really good the first time I play it then I fiddle with the reed and the sound is bad now hahaha.. But I place my reed so that there is a thin black crescent.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2005-04-18 01:02
I set them where they work. Sometimes very slightly above the tip, sometimes very slightly below the tip, and sometimes even with the tip. Some reeds even need to be a hair off to one side or the other.
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Author: senior
Date: 2005-04-18 09:36
They are to line up square on the mouthpiece and a hair line lower than the tip. Every teacher, instructor and book will tell you the same thing. It is hard enough getting good reeds without having to guess where they have to be put. I test my reeds befor putting them into service. If they do not play where they are supposed to be, then I balance them until they do. If I can't get the reed to balance when lined up like I said above, then it is discarded. My time is spent playing the clarinet, not guessing where to put the reed.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2005-04-18 10:53
senior wrote:
> They are to line up square on the mouthpiece and a hair line
> lower than the tip. Every teacher, instructor and book will
> tell you the same thing.
Nope. The good teachers, instructors, and books might give you that as a position to start (though many if not most will tell you to put the reed a hairline above the tip since the reed will have to curve), but if anyone says "that's all you ever have to do" then they've been extremely lucky all their life.
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2005-04-18 11:34
If it works for you, who cares what anyone else thinks?
Advice is worth what you pay for it...
*****
Shocking, is it not, to find a clarinet player that knows everything already.
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Author: dummer musiker
Date: 2005-04-18 11:35
I adjust my reed to where it plays, sounds, and responds the best. Each reed is different. Sometimes even alittle of to one side or the other.
"There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats."
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Author: RosewoodClarinet
Date: 2005-04-18 14:13
I am too sensitive to others, yes it is true. But, I see so many clarinet people at my school looking at my horn. They seem like trying to find something making my sound good. This was what my teacher said..... I do not know what to do.
RosewoodClarinet
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Author: William
Date: 2005-04-18 14:16
The only rule regarding reed placement that we can all agree on is that the thick end should be put on the bottom of the table. Beyond that, whatever it takes to make a reed playable is fair game--a little higher, lower, off to one side or the other, scrape (or not), salvia only or water, flatten the back (or dont worry about it). There is no one rule that can be applied here--except as stated above. Hey--wait a second, maybe with a closer tip opening..........................
Bottom line--do whatever makes the reed play for you (that's what most of us do).
Post Edited (2005-04-18 14:17)
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-04-18 16:13
Well said Wm - I tend to be quite fussy as to centering the reeds on the tables, then adjusting vertical position with only a thin black line and "curvature-centered" to the mp tips [sop, alto, bass]. Only on occasion do I need to readjust for good playing, sometimes for insufficient soaking. Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2005-04-18 17:40
No two reeds work best at a particular position. There's only one thing to make sure of--that the reed is high enough that there is no gap (particularly at the corners) when it closes against the lay.
I make my reeds a bit narrow, so that I can jog them back and forth to find the best position.
Ken Shaw
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Author: BobD
Date: 2005-04-18 17:45
I place the reed squarely on the mp and then with the ligature loose I bring my right index finger down on the reed/mouthpiece tip with slight pressure....then tighten the lig. This results in the reed tip being "just a hair" below the very tip of the mp tip. Higher seems to present real problems, a little lower can be OK at times.
Bob Draznik
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Author: Shorthand
Date: 2005-04-18 18:12
I would say that if you're placing a reed off to one side for best response, you're probably better off making an adjustment to even it out than trying to live with it like that.
Otherwise, the forward or backward thing is pretty much as you like it.
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-04-18 18:28
I don't let my students press on the tip of the reed or even close to it as that causes the reed to colapse a lot easier due to crushing the reed tip fibers.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2005-04-21 00:34
Shorthand wrote:
> I would say that if you're placing a reed off to one side for
> best response, you're probably better off making an adjustment
> to even it out than trying to live with it like that.
>
> Otherwise, the forward or backward thing is pretty much as you
> like it.
I used to spend time adjusting reeds but decided that it was very much faster just to position the reed where it would play. We are only talking a hair's difference.
Rather than fuss with reeds, I'd rather spend the time practicing. These days it is rare for me to bother to adjust a reed. And I still get compliments on my tonal quality.
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