Author: Gregory Smith
Date: 2003-02-07 01:16
I posted once about the Morre reed vis-a-vis Marcellus:
Robert Marcellus was responsible for the development of the Morre reed if only in a slightly roundabout way. For many years, Karl Marks Sr. was Marcellus' friend, a former student and as Marcellus told me "his ears" from the audience in Severance Hall, Cleveland (approx.1959-1970). Marks Sr.(of Marks Music fame) was also the sole distributor of Morre reeds after Marcellus encouraged him to establish that sole distributorship when 2nd clarinetist Jim Rettew had a student show the reeds to Marcellus for the first time in 1960 or so. Marcellus thought so much of their potential at that time that in succeeding years he literally gave instructions to the maker in Vienna (Karl Firstl) via his friend and U.S. distributor Karl Marks of Pennsylvania on how to improve them and what resultant changes worked or didn't work. This included any number of things concerning cane quality, length of cut, width of cut, etc. They were not scientificly calculated recommendations but they were general, alterations that Marcellus believed would help the reed and it's basic playing characteristics. And with a few simple rules of carpentry, they could be worked down with rush or preferably sandpaper to produce the most magnificent sound on a Kaspar (Cicero, Chicago and even Ann Arbor) of any reed at that time, or any time.
The V12 style would never have been developed if it were not for it's predecessor, the Morre. The difference being - amongst other things - that it seems Vandoren wanted the V12 to play right out of the box for mass marketing purposes...hence the comparative flimsy quality of the V12's and other imitations in relation to the Morres of the 1960's and early 70's.
The Morre (German Cut 12.5 tip width) that Marcellus used was in it's heyday from around 1962-1973 as he told me (and as I've experienced!!). There were shipments that were dogs every once in awhile even back then but most of the reeds were what he refered to as "lolipops" out of the box, needing very little if no work. If you knew how to work them down as he showed you, they were incredible. The Morres left over today don't even come close to resembling what they were before 1973 or so. The maker went defunct about 10-12 years ago and destroyed his machines and has never revealed the source of his unique cane.
Gregory Smith
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The Clarinet BBoard
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