 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Kay S.
Date: 2000-08-27 04:21
What do you recommend for a reasonably priced reed for beginning students? What hardness would you recommend?
I was looking on the recommendations sheet of some of the local band directors, and they had different opinions. Opinions anyone?
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-08-27 11:54
Any reed *EXCEPT* the gimmick Flavorreeds and the plain, orange box Ricos (all their other lines are fine).
I started my two daughters on Mitchell Lurie 2.5 reeds during the summer between the fourth and fifth grades. Other brands are good too. Some of them are Rico Royal, Grand Concert, and Vandoren (but get a 1/2 grade softer as these run hard).
There will also be differences of opinions on the strength. Every teacher will be different. Go with your own band director's recommendation for starters. If you have a private teacher, go with his/her recommendation.
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Author: Bob Gardner
Date: 2000-08-27 14:12
No harder then 2 1/2. A two dollar reed is a lot better then a one dollar reed. I went from a cheap Rico to a Vandoren and there was a world of differance.
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Author: bill
Date: 2000-08-27 17:06
Like Dee said, avoid the orange box Ricos (but Rico Royals are perfectly good). I'd recommend a Rico Royal 2 - 2.5, Vandoren 1.5 - 2, or Mitchell Laurie 2 - 3. They all work fine, just try them out and see what you like the best! You can also try other brands, or check with a teacher. Also, as you get more advanced, you may want to get a reed knife and 400 grit sandpaper, because the reeds are somewhat inconsistent. Happy hunting! ~bill
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Author: Jill B.
Date: 2000-08-29 01:17
I recomed a size 1 1/2 for a beginer. As for the brand...I prefer Vandoren, but they are quite pricey. I would go with the RICO's for now. The orange box one's are a little lesser quality, but good for beginners.
-JILL
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-08-29 02:13
Jill B. wrote:
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I recomed a size 1 1/2 for a beginer. As for the brand...I prefer Vandoren, but they are quite pricey. I would go with the RICO's for now. The orange box one's are a little lesser quality, but good for beginners.
-JILL
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Please do not sentence any kid to the plain orange box Ricos unless the kid is the type that breaks a reed a day. Note that the Rico Royals are fine. The difference in quality is tremendous. The surface is rough (my kids reported that their friends got splinters), the cane is overly porous, and they retain a nasty, chemical processing taste. Skimping on reeds is the wrong place to save money.
If cost is an issue, anyone who has read this bulletin board for very long knows that the better reeds can be mail ordered for quite reasonable prices.
Besides that there are moderately good mid-price reeds too. Marcas are ok as are Rico Royals. There's other moderately priced reeds but I don't happen to know the names.
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-08-31 00:38
How old is the beginner? Has this person played another wind instrument? I ask because a teenaged or adult clarinet beginner with a strong embouchure from playing the trumpet or the oboe will probably do best starting out with whatever reed size is right for the mouthpiece.
Although I agree with Dee that the lowest-priced Ricos are not good clarinet reeds, I think they're a reasonable choice for the first box of reeds for the youngest beginner. Very young kids aren't kind to their reeds and won't sound better on more expensive reeds, IMHO. It takes awhile to build up enough knowledge, sensitivity and control to perceive a difference. During that earliest period, a kid might break, split, chip, spindle, mutilate, etc. so many reeds that it wouldn't make sense to spend a lot of money on them. I also think the promise of better reeds makes a good incentive for a child to work toward making progress in that steepest, earliest part of the learning curve. Rewarding the progress with a box of reeds grown-ups use gives the child a tangible milestone.
I've never tried playing on flavored reeds, but after *smelling* a box of them in all their synthetic fruity splendor, I'm perfectly happy to take Dee's word for it that they don't play well! Still, if I had a kid reluctant to practice, and if the flavored reeds seemed to catch the kid's interest, I'd buy them. There again, "graduating" from the childish, flavored reeds to the more sophisticated, adult reeds could make a nice milestone.
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