 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ursa
Date: 2014-01-12 15:54
Esteemed Colleagues:
I am on the hunt for a synthetic reed that can stand up to the rigours of extended playing at very loud dynamics. I've auditioned the following synthetics:
Fibracell: These seem to lose their springiness 45 minutes into a performance. When this happens, my intonation trends towards unmanageable flatness.
Legere, standard: These become fatigued after about an hour of use. Response in the altissimo register becomes increasingly unpredictable. Eventually, the reed just stops responding altogether.
Bari, and Bari Star: I've tried both in medium strength, and they just don't respond for me on any performance-worthy mouthpiece.
The one leading synthetic that I have not yet tried are the Forestones. Has anyone had trouble with them not having the guts to make it through a long session of loud playing?
Incidentally, my cane reeds of choice, the Gonzalez F.O.F. in strength 3.0, have no trouble at all staying alive during such grueling conditions. I just wish I could find a carefree, totally predictable synthetic replacement for them.
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Author: kilo
Date: 2014-01-12 21:22
The Legere Signature might be an option. I've never used one on clarinet because the Quebec cut works fine for me but I have used them on sax and they seem a bit stiffer, as if they might hold up longer. I know some people really like the Hartmann Fiberreeds — the carbon fiber model is touted for its performance in the high registers.
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Author: William
Date: 2014-01-12 21:38
I have noticed that Hartmann carbon fibre reeds soften "on the gig" much faster than my Forestones which I currently play on all of my clarinets and saxophone mouthpieces. Their initial tone quality is quite good, but tends to deteriorate to a rather dead tambre after a half hour of use. Forestones also soften a bit, but maintain a better presence of sound throughout an entire orchestral of wind ensemble gig. Hope this helps a bit.......
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Author: kilo
Date: 2014-01-12 16:47
As far as the standard Legeres go, the makers actually recommend that you only play them for an hour or so. I wonder if you could just have a few with you and slap a new one on when the one you're playing gets tired?
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Author: Ursa
Date: 2014-01-12 17:06
Kilo, now that you've mentioned it, I do recall that the leaflet that comes with the Legeres suggests resting them after a certain amount of playing. Thanks for refreshing my memory...
I also find the standard Legere reeds a bit too dark in timbre. Are the Quebec Legeres more resonant or brighter than the standard Legere?
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