 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: IndigoClarinet
Date: 2005-08-27 18:56
One time a few years back, I flew from Illinois to a college audition in Texas in winter without realizing that the climate change would render my reeds unplayable. I discovered this an hour before the audition. (Admittedly, I should have been less naive and better prepared.)
Anyway, what I should do in such an emergency situation to get a new reed of the appropriate strength to sound as good as possible within 45 minutes and stay stable for at least an hour of playing? Assume the stakes of the immediate moment are high enough that the long-term life of the reed doesn't matter nearly as much as its performance right now.
Prevention tips would be nice too, but I know that's been addressed elsewhere on this board. I'm mostly interested in knowing what I should do after I (for whatever reason) am already in a high-stakes situation with no broken-in reeds.
Footnote: the wild weather swings in Michigan are making life almost as bad as it was then, though my stakes aren't quite as high. I checked my broken-in reeds against glass, and they aren't warped; they all just seem way more resistant/hard to play than they did yesterday. I'm guessing this is related to the fact that it's hot, raining and 95% humidity at the moment, as opposed to the cool, dry, sunny weather we had yesterday, but I admit I don't have enough expertise to judge.
Let me know what you think! Many thanks in advance.
R
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2005-08-27 19:39
Keep some Rue Lepic 56s with you. When properly broken in, they will indeed have a somewhat respectable lifespan. However, of all the reeds I've tried, they seem to be the best at "I need a reed to play well NOW and don't care if excessive playing today will kill the reed forever."
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: hans
Date: 2005-08-27 20:04
IndigoClarinet,
Have you considered a legere?
I'm listening to Artie playing on a plastic reed right now and it sounds great.
Regards,
Hans
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Author: D
Date: 2005-08-27 22:28
I'll add a second vote for the Rue Lepic.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-08-27 22:56
Prevention tips? Carry a few reeds which are too soft and a few reeds which are too hard, with you at all times, to prepare for drastic changes in weather, altitude, humidity, etc...
Or, you can always bring a few Legeres of differing strengths.
However, as you are not concerned about the long term effects from "playing the new reed to death" the best thing to do is to first wet it very slightly, play on it for a minute or two and then let it rest ON THE MOUTHPIECE, uncovered.
Wet it again with saliva, slightly longer than before, play on it another minute or two and again give it a brief rest period STILL ATTACHED TO THE MOUTHPIECE, uncovered.
By the third time of wetting and playing, the reed should have slightly stabilized and MIGHT make a full hour of playing before totally collapsing.
IMPORTANT: Leave the reed on he mouthpiece during the entire "quick break-in process" as you want it to conform to the mouthpiece table as quickly as possible.
As the above advice is certainly not the normal way to break in a reed, it could work with reed that has enough initial resistance to withstand an hour of heavy playing...GBK
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Author: ron b
Date: 2005-08-27 23:29
A climate change that can make a reed *unplayable*? I'll have to take your word for it, I.C., because that's a new one on me. I've personally played in conditions ranging from finger-numbing cold to pouring-sweat heat and never found a reed to be unplayable. Maybe I'm missing a hidden factor mentioned in your post somewhere, but I'd be looking for another cause rather than blame it on the weather. Maybe a case of "High Stakes Nervousness"? The only tried-and-true remedy to an emergency situation like yours that I know of, and has always worked for me, is the "wet-and-blow" break-in method.
- r![[cool]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/cool.gif) n b -
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2005-08-28 00:17
Quote:
Prevention tips? Carry a few reeds which are too soft and a few reeds which are too hard, with you at all times, to prepare for drastic changes in weather, altitude, humidity, etc... I think that's great advice.
Part of the reason that I actually LIKE the variations of reed strengths in certain brand boxes. Cause no matter WHAT, WHERE, or WHEN, I can always find one that's performance ready!
Stinks that you didn't have it prepared at this point, but at least now you'll know for next time!!!
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2005-08-28 01:59
I've had a reed mysteriously become unplayable before. A previously-reliable one. I wet it up one day, put it on, and could not get a sound out. Tried adjusting the position, drying it off a bit, etc. Nothing.
I then gave it the floor test.
It failed.
The next reed I tried played fine, so it wasn't funkiness elsewhere on the clarinet afaik.
Had I not given it the floor test (or had it not failed), I could have investigated why it would not play.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: DavieCane01
Date: 2005-08-28 02:47
Indigo,
I agree with GBK's suggestion. I always advise to keep reeds 1/4 strength softer than your normal strength around for just such an occasion. It should sound nearly identical to your normal for a couple of hours. Then it will cough, sputter, curse you in a foreign language and die.
I've had to rely on this method more times than someone in my position should probably admit to. ![[tongue]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie6.gif) I've never had the time to try GBK's second suggestion. But I do remember my teacher telling me that Bonade never took the reed off the mouthpiece, and when questioned on this point, would mutter something about mushrooms.
Post Edited (2005-08-28 02:49)
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Author: donald
Date: 2005-08-28 06:39
i third that- my "stable" of reeds (that always includes some Mozart and Gonzales reeds as well as a few home made ones and V12s) usually includes some that are too soft or too hard.... when i work on reeds i try to keep in mind that what is just right today might not be ideal tomorrow and so often balance reeds without adjusting to a certain "resistance" or hardness (if that makes sense)
.... earlier this year i found myself failing to maintain a good selection and ended up performing at the Ok Symposium with only a supply of "too soft" dying old reeds to select from.... as we say in these parts "bugger!"
i'll try not to let that one happen again- it's always easier to put a little bit of time in every week and have some variation available. Finding a top performance reed on short notice is not fun (unless you're Neidich).
donald
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Author: RosewoodClarinet
Date: 2005-08-29 03:14
I also do carry soft reed and hard reed. It helps me a lot.
At music festival I recently went, it had such a dry climate. It was totally opposite from my place. I came from humid climate. What happened to me at the festival was most of my reeds felt so much harder I feel. So, I picked soft reeds, which would not work in humid climate. It worked totally fine.....I played the beginning solo and Scherzo movement in Sibelius the 1st with such a soft reed. For chamber music concert which I played Francaix WW Quintet no.1, I played an almost-dead reed, which was much softer than "orchestra reed."
RosewoodClarinet
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Author: RodRubber
Date: 2005-08-30 02:00
A lot of top notch players ive dealt with in the past have "not believed in breaking in reeds" including anthony gigliotti, loren kitt, etc. There have been many times when i have had to find a reed on the stage before a concert, and the reed worked out just fine. A really good piece of cane can stand up to an entire concert, especially if u use a closer tip mouthpiece. On sax, i just slap anything on there, and start blowing, i try to get the nastiest sound i can, because my tone is too classical, and i get made fun of by "legit" jazz musicians!
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Author: GoatTnder
Date: 2005-08-30 16:38
A neat trick I was taught is to press the reed into the window of the mouthpiece with your thumb. Press in hard for, say, 3 seconds. It makes the reed softer, and almost always more playable. But, as you would expect, it really shortens the life of the reed. An hour should be fine. But the next day when you try it, fuggedaboudit.
Andres Cabrera
South Bay Wind Ensemble
sbwe@sbmusic.org
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