 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-04-20 02:13
This really took me by surprise. As I sat down to practice into my second week of experimenting with Legere Quebec Cut, I pulled out the trusty Kroepsch exercises (one or two line ditties covering most of the basic Romantic technique in all keys). The ones with the particularly wide skips have always been a bit dicey for me and represent where I still take time to try and smooth things out. To my GREAT surprise, the experience on the Legere reed was almost (really!!) like playing these exercises for the first time. Not that they were difficult, but that they were so much EASIER !!!!
I am a pretty inquisitive person and would really love to KNOW why this is. At present all I can do is speculate that the evenness of the material eliminates "nodal" issues either side to side (balance) and/or throughout the material allowing it to respond CORRECTLY for each octave much quicker.
Until now I'd only been obsessing about the overall timbre and the response in swift articulation (still requiring adjustments on my part) but this really pleasant surprise.
I am also more than I little taken aback that I have not seen anyone mention this before. This seems like a particularly important feature. One that would be a big marketing advantage. Maybe Legere should make more of this particular intrinsic characteristic of their product !!
............Paul Aviles
P.S. glissandi are also facilitated by the Legere material. I found myself sliding effortlessly up and down basically stoping wherever I wanted along the smear. Since I find the glissando more of a novelty it didn't affect me quite as dramatically but it is also worth noting.
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Author: ThatPerfectReed
Date: 2014-04-22 23:55
..have to see if I can reproduce in Quebec, other Legere models, and Forestone. Rose Etude #1's got some really "wide skips" too....at the opening to Rhapsody in Blue's also great for "glissing"
Perhaps the consistency of the material (and maybe I'm just resaying that which you've implied) across the reed means that the same thickness can be equated with the same resistance...something that isn't necessarily the case with cane, as we remove material to create even balance, more then even physical symmetry.
Mouthpiece and player specifics may form "part of the mix" too.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2014-04-23 01:01
My thoughts....
I think it's because the legere is manufactured to be a very well adjusted reed throughout.
Most times, when people adjust a reed, they adjust only the tip, or maybe only the corners, or in other words, neglect some part of the reed. So this causes a very playable reed, but we compensate with our embouchure as we start to go all over the scale without realizing it.
With wide leaps and a not perfectly adjusted reed, one of two things might happen to try to compensate for the reed. Either, a deliberate embouchure shift (rolling the bottom lip down or up the reed, or perhaps tightening or loosening the embouchure pressure depending on whether leaping to a higher or lower note), or a process of thinking "Oh please, oh please, oh please..." while focusing on keeping that fast airstream.
Tom Ridenour has talked about how to properly test a reed and I agree with him. Get your stable good embouchure......
ALL IN ONE BREATH
Blow a good forte chalemeau "C". Maintain air pressure, do NOT move your embouchure and add the register key. A "G" should pop out. Keep everything the same and lift off your index finger. An "E" should ring clearly. Add your right hand C#/F# lever. The "E" should change to a clear "A". If you can cross all those register breaks with no change in embouchure or air pressure, it's a good reed.
Try this with the legeres, and try it with cane reeds. Betting the legeres do a better job than your out of the box reeds, or even reeds you may have adjusted if you neglected to take into account adjusting the heart, back, wings, center, tip, etc.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-04-23 01:32
Yeah I don't buy the "mouthpiece/player" idea because I have switched immediately to cane on the same mouthpiece and clarinet (and as far as I know I am still the same player).
As far as Alexi's thoughts on the adjustments for cane (rolling etc), even if I were, I am doing what I am doing on both the cane and then the Legere with pretty dramatically different results.
I am still awaiting a softer Quebec to try and solve timbre and response issues. Once that is out of the way, I will introduce the Ontario cut and see about that. So far though my suggestions to "all ya'll" who DO NOT like Legere yet is to put one in with your new box of reeds; as you go through, assign a number (ranking) to the Legere as well. I'm sure it plays significantly better than the stinkers in the box of reeds. Also make sure you look at the material with wide skips in it. You will NOT be disappointed.
.........Paul Aviles
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Author: donald
Date: 2014-04-23 02:49
The reed has to change its mode of vibration minutely for each adjacent note- but greatly for wide leaps. A perfectly symetrical reed will do this more efficiently and easily than a reed that is not so. Most cane reeds, unless you are 1) very lucky, or 2) an expert adjuster, will not be perfectly symetrical even though they may play well.
It seems likely to me that this would explain what you have found. [given that Legere reeds have very accurate dimensions]
I think that this is related to what Alexi was trying to describe.
And for those who doubt that (even "good") reeds might be asymetrical- I can vouch that in the 16 years I have owned an accurate reed measuring device, I've only a handful of times measured a reed that was symetrical. Almost every time I've balanced a reed- just using measurements- it has become more responsive and improved the tone quality (though this has also sometimes resulted in a reed that was too soft- which i save for students)
dn
Post Edited (2014-04-23 03:52)
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Author: ThatPerfectReed
Date: 2014-04-23 04:29
Paul: I was referring to other people's mouthpieces and chops; not yours on cane versus Legere Quebecs.
Post Edited (2014-04-23 04:33)
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2014-04-24 02:57
Quote:
As far as Alexi's thoughts on the adjustments for cane (rolling etc), even if I were, I am doing what I am doing on both the cane and then the Legere with pretty dramatically different results.
Excellent point. If it's habit and not conscious, you'd be adjusting regardless of what reed you use.
I think in that case it's just an overall uniformity of cut and density throughout each reed making it respond evenly throughout whether you are making a small leap or large one.
Alexi
PS - this thread piqued my curiously (again) and I've ordered some more legeres to try out with my mouthpiece again.
US Army Japan Band
Post Edited (2014-04-26 03:48)
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Author: Alexis
Date: 2014-04-24 13:22
Is complete ease desirable?
To me large intervals are indicative of extreme expression, and there should be some element of struggle.
My experience with synthetic reeds has been that while the timbre is nice, it unifies the sound too much across the range, so that high sounds high only in pitch, and doesn't have the richness of timbre so characteristic of the register.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-04-24 15:15
Yeah, the timbre thing. Right now I am in it pretty deep trying out different strengths vs. different cuts to see if I can work it out. After a little over two weeks I can say that a careful focusing of the "sweet spot" in the sound helps get richer tone colors (in any range) but it does require a fair amount of conscious effort (more than I am comfortable with right now).
HOWEVER, I disagree with the premise that something (anything about playing) needs to be difficult to achieve a desired effect. It is all up to us to CREATE the effect that we want. This reminds me of an old George Burns quote, "Acting is all about sincerity, if you can fake that, you've got it made!"
...........Paul Aviles
Post Edited (2014-04-24 15:19)
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-04-24 17:56
I got a rather lengthy response from the makers of "EasyPlay" mouthpieces. In it they refer to having a very sophisticated CNC production for their mouthpieces that includes computer modeling of the response curves WITH the Legere reeds.
hmmmmmm.......
They make a purely French mouthpiece (retail about $250) that can be used with cane reeds but is designed to be Legere friendly.
http://www.playnick.at/index.php?cmd=s&id=146
My experiments may eventually lead down this path.
...............Paul Aviles
Post Edited (2014-04-24 20:49)
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