 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: PulseBeat_02
Date: 2024-01-08 04:38
Hi, I'm a high-school clarinetist playing in an opera. I've always had the issue of my reeds drying up when I don't play for a while. Especially in an opera-setting, where it's very typical for wind players to rest for long periods of time, my reeds dries up before a quiet solo even with the mouthpiece cap on, making it extremely difficult because it isn't responsive. If I notice my reed being dry, I often wet it before I play but that water-logs the reed a bit and doesn't sound good as a result.
As for context (including just in case), I play on a Buffet R13 Clarinet, BD5 Vandoren Mouthpiece, Vandoren Optimum Ligature, and Strength 4 Peter Leuthner Vienna Cut reeds.
Does anyone know any suggestions so I can prepare my reed before a solo? I feel bad for letting down my orchestral players with this super small problem..
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2024-01-08 05:05
For me, if it's just sitting for 30 minutes or more, I'd just occasionally grab the clarinet and put the mouthpiece in my mouth for an instant or two. If it is because you are playing another horn for that amount of time and cannot just grab the sitting horn, you could consider the Legere family of plastic reeds. No matter how you assess them, they are certainly good enough for utility horn work when you absolutely need a reed to fire up after sitting for a long time.
You can also try to add some sort of sponge in your mouthpiece cap that has been soaked in water (add water from your reed bottle, or water bottle etc). I had done this in Texas during the Summer when the weather gets rather hot and dry.
.............Paul Aviles
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Author: lydian
Date: 2024-01-08 06:22
^^^This
As a doubler who may only play clarinet for few bars on an entire 2 hour gig, I pop mine in my mouth every few minutes at least. On outdoor summer gigs, I'll stuff a bit of wet paper towel in the cap.
Of course Legere is the easiest solution if the tone and response work for you.
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Author: LostConn
Date: 2024-01-08 06:42
OP, I'm rather surprised that you haven't already tried synthetic reeds, which are hardly something new at this point. Everyone knows (or should know) that your playing situation is the synth reed wheelhouse: sitting around for a long time waiting to play. I would try a Legere French Cut or Vandoren VK1. Remember that it doesn't have to be better than, or even just as good as, your best cane reed. It just has to be better than a cane reed that's drying out and is a pain to keep moist.
Post Edited (2024-01-08 06:44)
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Author: Tom H
Date: 2024-01-08 09:40
When a solo or difficult piece is coming up, I occasionally take the reed off the mouthpiece, wipe it a bit, and "straighten out" the tip by holding it on the flat part of the mouthpiece with my thumb and "ticking" the back end carefully with my index finger. This is the procedure I use for taking warps out of the tip before starting a concert or practicing. But it also seems to just make the reed play the way I want it to during a concert. I will only do this in between pieces, not during a piece of course. As nellsonic says below, I too always tape over any holes in a mouthpiece cap.
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Post Edited (2024-01-12 09:42)
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Author: Julian ibiza
Date: 2024-01-08 11:23
Hi PulseBeat,
You may want to check out a recent thread " Going from humid to dry..". It is now towards the bottom of the second page ( click " Older topic").
Julian Griffiths
Tel. 34 696 798 853
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Author: Hurstfarm
Date: 2024-01-09 14:33
As well as the thoughts above, using a Silverstein Omnicap does a decent job in stopping the reed drying out quickly in these situations.
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Author: nellsonic
Date: 2024-01-10 00:52
A couple small but obvious things:
1) many mouthpiece caps have small holes on top. A bit of electrical tape fixes that and keeps the reed moist for longer
2) If you use the Omnicap (mentioned above) while playing shows, the white one rather than the black one is much easier to spot when it gets dropped, which happens more easily with these than with regular caps. Also, being rubber they tend to bounce somewhere out of reach when they get dropped. Having a spare cap at the ready is helpful.
Anders
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Author: elmo lewis
Date: 2024-01-12 22:07
Some suggestions: Keep the mouthpiece in your mouth, put your tongue on the reed and leave it there. If your mouth is dry or your breath is dry, avoid blowing air through the mouthpiece as this will dry out the back of the reed.
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