 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Daniel
Date: 2001-04-03 16:51
Could anyone tell me where exactly i should put my reed on the mouthpiece? when viewed from the side should it be exactly in level with the tip of the MP or slightly below or up? Also i am playing a B45 MP and should the ligature be in level with a faint border line or below that?
I am having difficulty just now with the third register and upper high register( B andC), especially toguing them. My teacher said that could be because i've got braces on my teeth, but i am determined not to let those railtracks bother my playing... i hate them so much! i am using Van trad. 2.5 and would like to try 3's for better tone in the third register. what other reeds would you recommend for improving tone in the third register?
thanks in advance.
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Author: Mike Irish
Date: 2001-04-03 17:30
I have my reed placed on the face of the MP with just a sliver of the MP showing above the reed tip..... hard for me to explain the amount of distance, cause I have never messured it ( i am sure some one has and could tell you... )
An idea for Mark, ( maybe ) is if there is a spot in this site, to maybe show close up views of the reed/MP properly mounted.... and also with the ligature also....
now I believe the position of the lig, also makes a dif in the sound... some ligs are designed to pivit just a bit also to "fine tune" the sound to desired grade.....
Something else, maybe, show proper support of the clar, and maybe embrouchment and such.... would ( I feel ) make a grand addition to the wonderful site......
I know I battled my director a number of times on placing the screws on top of the MP even with the conventional lig, I felt it provided more even presure on the reed..
but dont get your grade knocked down by battling the teacher....
I hope I helped some anyways....
Mike
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Author: bob gardner
Date: 2001-04-03 19:28
I believe that you put the reed in the spot that plays best for you. It may be a little above, a little below, or even with the top. Move the reed around a wee bit at a time, and if the air flow is great leave it be. If you meet resistence them move it. What is important is air flow not position.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2001-04-03 22:01
The reed may be mounted even with the tip, slightly above the tip, or slightly below. Each individual reed should be mounted to get the optimum response out of that reed on that day. Watch experienced players. They will put the reed on, blow a few notes, then sometimes adjust the position, blow a few more notes and so on before they really get into warming up
The same philosophy applies to the ligature. Position it where you get the best sound out of your setup on that day. In general, though the top scribe line is the recommended upper limit although even this could be "violated" under some conditions. The lower scribe line (if there is one) would be the recommended lower limit.
Here's some rough guidelines.
If the reed acts as if it were too hard.
1. Move the reed slightly lower
2. Move the ligature slightly lower
If the reed acts as if it were too soft.
1. Move the reed slightly higher
2. Move the ligature slightly higher
If the reed simply seems sluggish, try mounting it very slightly to one side and then try very slightly to the other side. A sluggish reed is sometimes unbalanced side to side and offsetting it when mounting can compensate for this problem.
These tips also help you make good use of all the reeds in a box. You are not dependent on every reed being exactly the same.
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Author: Mindy
Date: 2001-04-03 22:08
It really depends on how hard your reed is. Sometimes when my reed is too SOFT I put it a little higher. It all depends on how it feels with you. To hard to Soft???? It all depends. You put your ligature a little bit under the line on your mp. I hope this helps
Mindy
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Author: rdsafads
Date: 2001-04-03 23:06
no...if the reed is too hard, you push it up a little bit.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2001-04-03 23:15
rdsafads wrote:
>
> no...if the reed is too hard, you push it up a little
> bit.
Incorrect. If a reed is too soft you must push it up a bit to get a thicker, stiffer part of the reed beating against the tip of the mouthpiece. It's just like when you take a reed trimmer to a reed that is too soft. You are trying to get to the harder portion of the reed.
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2001-04-04 02:19
Straight alignment of mouthpiece to the center of the clarinet is not necessarily the correct position since each player has a tendency to rotate the horn to the left generally. Besides, each player has his own teeth shape. If you experiment to rotate your mouthpiece and find its best position(it might be symetrical position to your mouth/teeth formation), you will find how easily reed vibrate with the same reed/ligature placement. It might be more important than where ligature and reed should be placed.
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Author: Jim
Date: 2001-04-04 03:21
Hang in with the braces. Some discomfort/ inconvience etc. now will pay off greatly in the future in terms of dental health, appearance, chewing and perhaps even your embouchure.
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Author: Cass
Date: 2001-04-04 12:30
I agree with Dee, Bob and others saying you should let the reed "tell" you where it needs to go. Maybe one thing needs emphasizing, these are *tiny* amounts above or below the edge of the mouthpiece. If the reed is down so far you can see the hollow inside of the mouthpiece, that is too much and you will get squeeks. I use a B-45 also and I don;t move the reed up or down by more than about 1/32" above or below the mouthpiece edge. But that small amount can make a major difference in how the reed performs. With the ligature, I might move it more than that, maybe up to 1/16" above or below the marked line. Usually I put it below the line but not much, just enough so the line shows above it.
Also how much I tighten the ligature can change with different reeds. If I don't like the sound I just mess around with any of these things until it's better, one reason I like to leave myself some extra time to warm up with a new reed and I like to practice on a reed at home and break it in before I add it to my "take alongs" in the clarinet case.
One thing I find with band directors, they are less likely to question what you do and mess with you, if you do things in a self assured way like you know what you are doing. Otherwise they will jump in and help. That is fine if the conductor plays clarinet, but I don't want some "help" from some trumpet player who read about a clarinet in a book back in college. So, I don't want to be fooling around with the reed in a hesitant way when I get into the rehearsal. I want to know that reed and what to do with it so he will be leaving me alone.
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Author: DLE
Date: 2001-04-04 14:20
I think ditto to Bob on this one - it depends on the player. Thanks Dee for the info - a great list of tips that we'll all keep sacred I think. I could go on about this for ages, as I've been adjusting the mouthpiece, reed, ligature etc, to compensate with my ever-changing teeth shapes. I suspect that you Daniel, will have even more problems than me since you are wearing braces - therefore the changing nature of your mouth will mean a different position each time (Almost).
But stick with it, and you should get the hang of it - I DID!
All The Best.
DLE.
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Author: Daniel
Date: 2001-04-04 16:22
thanks everyone for the kind advice.
guess i will have to be patient with my braces as you said...
just one more question, how do i improve my tone in the "third"(if that is the right term) register? i am the lead clarinetist in my school's concert band and when we are playing "Les Miserables" the first few movements don't sound like it should.
thanks everyone,
God bless
Daniel
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Author: Willie
Date: 2001-04-04 20:27
I might add too that to check the sides of the reed for contact with the side rails. some reeds and mouthpieces vary in width and the wrong combo can be frustrating. For instance, on my Selmer C used on my contra, I use the LaVoz bari reed as the VanDoren isn't wide enough to seal right. Some have narrow rails, whereas some have wide rails. With narrow rails, you have to pay more attention to reed alignment.
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2001-04-04 23:10
Daniel -
By far the most important thing about reed placement is that there are no leaks, particularly at the corners of the tip, where the surface is usually narrowest.
The B45 mouthpiece is more open than average. Thus the reed has to wrap along the lay by a fairly large amount, and this length is longer than when the reed is at rest in a straight line. Thus you should position the tip *very* slightly above the tip of the mouthpiece, so that it matches exactly when it closes against the lay. The difference is tiny -- maybe 1/100 of an inch.
The second important thing is that the reed must not be wider than the lay. If the edges of the reed lap over the edges of the rail by even a tiny amount, the pressure of your lower lip bends these edges and locks them against the side of the mouthpiece, which kills the response. In fact, the reed should be *very* slightly narrower than the lay -- say the thickness of a pencil line drawn with a needle-sharp pencil. I narrow down almost all of my reeds, using a flat file. When you do this, you can move the reed from side to side by microscopic amounts. When you do, you will find one spot that plays dramatically better than the others.
Vandoren # 2-1/2 seems light for the high altissimo, even on a B45. You should try a # 3. Also, it helps to thin down the very tip (the last 1/8" or so) by just a little, which improves response in the altissimo.
Good luck.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2001-04-05 08:13
Vandoren or other reed tip thickness is not symmetrical.
(I do not know the reason but you can easily know this using micrometer.) This may be the reason why sometimes my reed starts abruptly to vibrate freer when I place the reed tip very very slightly to the right but keeping the heel bottom stringently symmetrical to the table.
(A type of Pyne and Marcellus mouthpieces tips shapes are intentionally made unsymmetrical. How people set the reeds on these unsymmetrically tipped mouthpiece?)
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