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Author: paul
Date: 1999-01-20 18:22
I am in the midst of my little experiment with three Legere reeds, a 2.5, 2.75, and a 3.0 versus cane reeds. I am an adult novice playing mostly drills and music from intermediate level drill books, averaging between 4 to 6 hours a week of practice. I have a Buffet Festival Bb Soprano clarinet with a Vandoren B45 mouthpiece.
Here's the update, now about a month into it. The Legere reeds tend to be easier to control, but they cut off more frequently, especially with the 2.5 reed. I don't hold the Legere reed responsible per se'. Rather, I believe it's more a function of the reed's strength in itself. I believe a natural cane reed would do the same thing. I am learning how to make the Legere reeds as responsive as natural cane. I am getting better at making the resulting tone from the clarinet sound exactly the same, no matter what kind of reed I use.
I still like the ridges on the Legere reeds because they give me the feeling I need for better embouchure to reed control. I personally believe that the Legere reeds have helped me play with significantly better control between all three registers, with the most significant improvement going up and down the clarion and altissimo. My register break is much better than before. My altissimo is much better than before.
To sum it up, I believe (pure opinion folks, so beware) that the Legere reed can be helpful for training students of the clarinet to learn reed control. I also believe that if the Legere reed holds up as well as any other plastic reed (lasting long enough to justify the cost) that many students just might be able to find room in their crowded horn cases for a Legere reed of the proper strength for their playing ability and musical needs.
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Author: Rick2
Date: 1999-01-21 01:14
I just received my Legere reeds in the mail today and tried them out a few minutes ago. The tone is a little sweeter than with a cane reed, but I find the Legere reeds to be hard to control I worked on my exercises today with both kinds of reeds and I constantly squeek with the Legere reeds, especially in the clarion register notes using the tone holes, but when I switch back to cane, the problem is gone.
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Author: Brent
Date: 1999-01-21 14:45
I find the opposite to be true. With the Legere reeds i have no concern about squeaks or hitting a harmonic i don't want. What i run into difficulty with is getting shades of response, especially when i want to play very softly--i don't feel that i can control the volme as well as with a really good cane reed.
Still a useful tool...
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Author: paul
Date: 1999-01-21 17:31
This sounds so familiar. I too had the same problem. Again, I have a fairly weak 2.5 Legere reed that tends to squeek a lot. The 2.75 and the 3.0 don't squeek. The Legere reed takes some getting used to, as a typical learning curve "thing".
Don't worry too much. In about a month (that's what it took for me), you'll be able to switch between reeds without too much fuss.
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Author: paul
Date: 1999-01-21 17:39
Check the strength of your Legere reed. I found that the 2.5 can go way down and way up on volume with a much wider response than any cane reed I have in my private stock of Vandoren V-12 #3 reeds. Actually, I should be totally fair and break in one of my Vandoren V-12 #2.5 reeds to test against the Legere 2.5. The 2.75 and 3.0 Legere reeds seemed to need more air support and (again, early in the experiment) don't seem to have as much dynamic range. I chalk this apparent difference to my novice level of expertise more than the reed itself. I am comparing the Legere 2.75 to a highly tailored (rush tapered) Vandoren V-12 #3.0 and the Legere 3.0 to a pretty much untailored (almost right out of the box) Vandoren V-12 #3.0.
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Author: Rick2
Date: 1999-01-21 18:55
I'm suspecting that this might be a stiffness issue, with the reeds I received maybe being a bit to soft for me. I seem to recall having the same problems when I tried Mitchel Lurie reeds of the same rating as my Rico Royals. The ML's run a bit softer, so maybe the Legere ratings are more equivilent to the ML ratings. IF so, then I would be using too soft a reed.
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Author: Rick2
Date: 1999-01-21 18:56
I'm suspecting that this might be a stiffness issue, with the reeds I received maybe being a bit to soft for me. I seem to recall having the same problems when I tried Mitchel Lurie reeds of the same rating as my Rico Royals. The ML's run a bit softer, so maybe the Legere ratings are more equivilent to the ML ratings. IF so, then I would be using too soft a reed.
I don't think these things should require a month to adapt. That would be somewhat of a disinsentive. I will compare to my ML's and post results tonight.
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