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Re: Wetting the reed

Author: kilo
Date: 2007-08-31 13:30

It was always my belief that the only part of the reed which mattered for sound production was the freely vibrating part from the tip to the start of the facing curve and that wetting the reed before playing simply sped up a process which would happen naturally if you just used a dry reed and played on it for a few minutes.

If true, there would be no reason to saturate the entire reed, a few minutes soaking the part above the vamp would be enough. (The literature which comes with Rovner ligs however suggests soaking for over an hour, and by that time the whole reed will be wet.)

But, according to other players, it's not that simple. There seems to be a widespread belief that the entire reed is active in the production of sound — this is why some people claim to have such different results using different ligatures. I've never been fully convinced that this is the case, but for me it's moot since I've happily switched over to synthetics. (I've never discovered quantifiable differences in the performance of different ligatures which can conclusively exclude other mitigating factors nor have I ever seen objective scientific tests on ligs or degrees of wetness in cane reeds.)

Best thing in your case would be to conduct a few simple experiments and report back your findings.

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