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Legere Reed Break-In and Warm-Up

Author: paul
Date: 1999-05-26 15:19

As I understand it, the official word is that the Legere artificial reeds don't require either a break-in (if there is even such a process for an artificial reed) or warm-up (ditto).

However, from my own personal perspective as a part time adult novice clarinet player, I can't help but believe that some type of break-in period and at least a casual warm-up of the reed helps, even if it's only to help the person and not the reed itself. Let me explain why I believe this is so.

Right out of the box, the Legere reeds took some getting used to. They have the ridges instead of a smooth facing, and the reed behavior didn't seem to be as responsive as natural cane reeds. Register shifts and wide up/down swings (like from clarion D to altissimo D and reverse) were a challenge for me. Well, as an adult novice, they still are. However, natural cane reeds seemed to react quicker. I also noticed that if I didn't put the Legere reed in my mouth when I assemble my clarinet (as I did with natural cane reeds) to get the reed warm, it tended to not work as well.

All that said, I personally believe that there is a break-in period and a per session warm-up that are both required for the Legere reed, even if it's only me that needs these processes.

Oh, by the way, the Legere reed still builds up a lot more moisture on it than an ordinary cane reed of similar strength. Guess I need more air support to keep the air stream drier than with a cane reed.

I welcome any opinions from fellow Legere reed users on this subject.

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RE: Legere Reed Break-In and Warm-Up

Author: Ginny
Date: 1999-05-27 07:03

Gee, I just stick 'em on and play. The two I have have a bit of a wolf tone on the B clarion note, other than that they are better than the average out of the box Van Doren. Now that I have free time (like closet space, I will fill it with junk) I will start going through all those stinky reeds hunting for the reed that proves its the equipment not the player.

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