 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ashley91489
Date: 2008-06-11 16:02
Sometimes I get a reed that is difficult to break in and I get that airy, soft sound from it b/c it's too hard. Aside from shaving it or cutting it down, how can I get it to break in quicker so it's playable and has a good tone w/ good projection?
Vandorens are usually the worst for giving me this problem. I switched to Mitchell Luries then back to Vandorens on the rec. of my clarinet prof. but I really seem to prefer to ML reeds. Good even tone, projection, and easy to break in.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2008-06-11 16:15
If you have to appreciably remove a good amount of cane to make the reed play, there is a good chance you are also changing the basic profile, design and template of the reed. Thus after all the carpentry, it no longer resembles a (insert reed brand here) reed.
Initially out of the box, reeds should play at your desired strength, or just slightly harder.
If, after a few days of short playing increments (break-in) your reeds are still too hard, fuzzy, unfocused and unplayable, I would venture to say that you have the wrong strength...GBK
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2008-06-11 18:34
Ashley, there is no one answer to this problem because everyone has their own “break in” method. I can only tell you what I do, you can see if it works for you but you have to know how to adjust your reeds to do it.
Day one, I play each reed in the box for a few seconds, I always soak them in water for about three - four seconds up to, but not including, the bark, only the vamp. I never let the bark get wet, ever.
Day two, I do the same but play each for about 10-15 seconds, then I seal the bottom of the reed on the “back” of sand paper. If the reed is “very” hard I may first sand the back on 600 paper first.
Day three, I do the same and then play each reed for about 30 seconds and make an adjustment, you know, clip if it’s soft, balance or take off just a bit if it’s hard. If it’s very hard but good sounding I may sand it again on the 600 or 400-420 paper, then I seal it again.
Day four, I do the same as day three but play each reed worth playing for several minutes, make adjustments as necessary and discard those that I reject.
Day five, l choose which reeds are performance quality and which are practice quality, the others get the wall test. I may make a slight adjustment again because I only do slight adjustments each day if necessary. Sometimes a reed just has to be played for a while. No reed has ever passed the wall test, for some reason the tip always breaks. Must be a strong wall.
As I said, everyone has his or her own method, that’s mine. You have to learn what to do to adjust a reed to be successful. ESP www.peabody.jhu.edu/457 (Listen to some Mozart)
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Author: Ryder
Date: 2008-06-12 00:39
Ed,
Can you please explain why you "never, ever" let the bark of the reed get wet? Oh, and how long do you soak it on the first day? I'm not sure I understand clearly what you said.
thanks for sharing
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2008-06-12 01:26
Ryder, I’ll try to explain why I do what I do though I know it’s controversial and many will disagree with me because of tradition. Tradition can be a terrible thing when one is not willing to try something new. First question, I never soak a reed for more then a few seconds, just enough to make it wet, 3-5 seconds. I never understood why so many players work at closing the pores on a reed so it won’t soak up water and get water logged and then soak their reeds for minutes or longer at a time. Seems kind of contra productive to me. Close the pores and then soak your reed to get them soaked?
The reason I never let the lower half of the reed with the bark get wet is because of this. I want my reeds to sit flat on the mouthpiece. We all know that wood of any type warps. One only has to go to a lumberyard and try to pick up a perfectly straight piece of wood. When wood gets wet and then dries it tends to warp easier, the more often it goes from wet to dry the more likely and more it will warp. A reed cannot sit flat if it is warped and leads to the reed leaking. In all the years I’ve been doing this, over twenty now, I have never had a reed not seal on the flat portion of the mouthpiece, the part that the lower half of the reed, by the bark, sits flat on the mouthpiece. All my colleagues complain about their reeds not sealing properly during the winter when the air is especially dry but I just smile and say, I never have that problem. Of course that isn’t the only thing I do to assure my reeds from not warping. I keep them in a Vitalizer bag, #58, and keep my room humidity controlled somewhat. Before Rico came out with those I used to keep dampits in my case with my reeds in the winter months when it’s dry. I didn’t need them in the summer months. This has worked for me for decades now so I know it works. Even when I made my own reeds I never soaked the blanks. I treated them the same as I do with commercial reeds. Only wetting them enough to play and never letting the bottom part of the reed, or blank, get wet. Another advantage of doing this is that since the bottom half of the reed was never wet in the first place, it won’t “dry” out while I’m playing so the reed does not change during a rehearsal or performance, it remains constant, never changes. The trick is to adjust and break in the reeds this way so you feel comfortable. It works for me, and may work for anyone else that has an opened mind and is willing to try a proven method that is not “traditional”. ESP www.peabody.jhu.edu/457 (Listen to a little Mozart)
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Author: Ryder
Date: 2008-06-12 01:47
Thanks Ed.
Tradition is a funny thing. I've got a few packs of un-opened Zondas laying around so i'll give your method a shot. Do you know how much volume those Rico Vitalizer packs are intended to keep humidified? I ask because I store my new reeds, and aging reeds in a plastic ammo box. It has a rubber seal so its pretty air tight. I want to keep it humidified.
I never thought about adjusting the reed while its not soaked, possibly over-soaked. Thats a new perspective for me to look at. It sounds funny not to have the reed well soaked, but when I think about it, it makes more sense. If you adjust an over soaked reed, its gonna change when it dries!
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2008-06-12 02:12
Ryder, You’re exactly right, it’s going to change as soon as it dries so you have to not only wet it to the same extent you did when you adjusted it but you have to keep it that way while you’re playing. In a two hour performance or rehearsal, that’s not only not practical but also pretty much impossible. The reed begins to dry out, so it has to change somewhat. I’m not suggesting dry, just not very wet, except of course for the bottom part as I stated earlier. You keep the vamp wet as you’re playing of course.
I keep up to two reed cases with eight reeds in each case in a plastic sealed freezer bag. Rico even make a reed holder that holds eight reeds in them that has a vitalizer inside the reed holder. I like the 58 but some players like the 73; it’s up to you. I have to say that I am an uncompensated Rico artist but that has nothing to do with I use since they don’t pay me for doing anything. ESP
www.peabody.jhu.edu/457 (Listen to a little Mozart)
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Author: Arnoldstang
Date: 2008-06-12 03:48
Try this... hold the reed shut with your thumb for a minute and try the reed again. Repeat if necessary.
Freelance woodwind performer
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Author: Ryder
Date: 2008-06-12 04:04
Arnoldstang,
Are you reffering to the reed not sealing on the face of the mouthpiece?
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2008-06-12 04:35
Give the reed one strong bite, and then more if necessary. Oh, you said break in 
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Author: Arnoldstang
Date: 2008-06-12 16:21
Responding to Ryder....no....nothing to do with whether the reed seals or not. It just closes the aperture a bit. Try it and see if it works for you. One player I worked with suggested that as reeds are played more they tend to bend towards the facing....ie old reeds have less aperture than new ones. Bending the reed and holding it shut might speed up this process and make a new unwieldy reed playable without taking off lots of cane. It might be temporary. I'm sure there are truckloads of clarinetists who would be adamantly against this procedure however I think using this technique judiciously is not such a bad idea. If the reed is way too heavy then this technique is not the answer. I don't use this technique on every reed. Way too much said....try it and see.
Freelance woodwind performer
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Author: Tara
Date: 2008-06-12 21:44
Ashley,
If this subject is of great interest to you I would recommend Larry Guy's book "Selection, Adjustment, and Care of Single Reeds". He goes through (in detail) his methods of break-in, etc.
I, personally, don't have the patience. But it is an informative book.
Tara
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2008-06-12 22:20
Tara, You should never have to spend more then a minute or two a day on each reed during the break in period, much less the first two days. I do a box in two minutes the first day, maybe three the second day and maybe five to six total the next few days each until the box is broken in and the reeds are separated into playable, wall test and good. ESP www.peabody.jhu.edu/457
(listen to a little Mozart)
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Author: Chris J
Date: 2008-06-13 09:54
I am a wholesale convert to Tom Ridenour's ATG "system".
If it doesn't play out of the box, then try and make it work from the outset and then break it in for longevity or for whatever reason.
An unbalanced reed might get a bit better with wetting and gradually increasing the play time, but likely to last not very long compared to one that you can get to play well by adjusting the inherent material of the reed from the outset.
Plenty to search and see in the forum on this
Chris
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Author: GBK
Date: 2008-06-13 18:44
Ed Palanker wrote:
> I never understood why so many players work at closing the pores
> on a reed so it won’t soak up water and get water logged
> and then soak their reeds for minutes or longer at a time.
> Seems kind of contra productive to me.
> Close the pores and then soak your reed to get them soaked?
Finally... Someone who does exactly what I do. I was beginning to think that I was the ONLY one who thought that way. ![[wink]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie3.gif)
In my mind - sealing the pores of the reed vamp is counterproductive and makes the reed much more difficult to absorb water. Thus, I've seen many clarinetists who find it necessary to initially soak the reed for minutes at a time before beginning to play.
I do not seal the vamp, or underside of the reed either, letting the pores seal naturally over time. However I will periodically check to make sure the underside of the reed is perfectly flat, and not swollen towards the window of the mouthpiece. Any swelling of the underside of the reed is removed with one or two passes with the back (dull side) of my reed knife.
Like Ed said, reed warping has never been an issue for me either...GBK
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Author: Tara
Date: 2008-06-14 00:23
Hi, Mr. Palanker... I agree with you, and I actually do not use any of the methods listed in this thread- I just thought the book might be up her alley!
If I like the reed, I like it. If I don't, I don't. This "method" has been working just fine for me.
Tara
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2008-06-14 03:40
GBK, I do seal the pores on the bottom of my reed, I just don't let the lower half of the reed ever get wet. That way the lower half, with the bark, helps prevent the entire reed from warping because it does not go from wet to dry and stays stable. But we do agree of most everything. Take care, ESP www.peabody.jhu.edu/457 (listen to a little Mozart)
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