 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Noverbuf
Date: 2009-01-05 21:12
Could you help me please with the following?
I've been studying the clarinet for 3 months and last two weeks I noticed the following problem I encouner now regularly.
I didn't have this problem before and my progress has been more or less stable.
My tone at the beginning of the practice session is very stuffy no matter how much breath support I provide (I know what breath support is and how to apply it as I played alto sax for 1 year before.) I can blow long notes for 15 minutes and still they come out stuffy.
I literally cannot blow through the clarinet. I play Vandoren V12 2.5 reeds.
If after an hour of useless hard blowing practice I change the reed to Vandoren Blue Box #4 and play on it for 10 minutes my embouchure gets pretty tired as I cannot play such strong reeds. Well, I probably can but I haven't developed strong enough embouchure yet to use them regularly. When I play this hard reed it's also not easy but I feel no stuffiness, just airy tone and I need more embouchure effort to control the air flow.
Then I change the reed back to my normal Vandoren V12 #2.5 and the desired tone comes out! No stuffiness, no hard blowing. I'm really confused on results of this experiment.
Can you try to explain this?
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2009-01-05 22:08
My initial thoughts are that the 2.5 reed might be too strong for you (especially being a V12). But after playing the 4, you subconsciously apply much more pressure on the jaw TRYING to get it to work. When you switch back to the 2.5, that pressure is still more or less there so that extra pressure "works" with the 2.5 reed.
However I think if you were to start out with a 2 (blue box) and also pick up a 2.5 (blue box), and tell us how it feels in comparison, I think you might find starting with a 2 allows you to have a pretty good tone right away instead of subconsciously "telling" your jaw to press harder, bite harder, etc. etc.
Do you have a 2/2.5 to try? See if you can snag one somewhere. Worst case scenario, you'll have spent a few bucks on a lighter reed which didn't fix the problem, but at least helped us to eliminate one possible solution. And then based on your comparisons of the two different thicknesses, we might be able to better tailor a solution.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: mrn
Date: 2009-01-06 03:27
It could also be that the 2.5's are way too soft and are closing up on the mouthpiece. Try a 3 or 3.5 and see what happens.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2009-01-06 04:07
mrn wrote:
> It could also be that the 2.5's are way too soft and are
> closing up on the mouthpiece. Try a 3 or 3.5 and see what
> happens.
I thought it might be that too, but I thought that going to a 4, and then coming back to a 2.5 with the instinct of having JUST tried to play a 4, would make this worse if it was closing off the mouthpiece.
But really, going from a 2.5 to a 4 is just too big a leap. I understand that if a 4 is available right next to you, you might be reluctant to go out and make a trip just to buy those inbetweeners, but if the 2.5 doesn't work when you pick up the horn, and it's still stuffy after 15 minutes of long tones, my gut would say it's a tad too hard. But either way, you wanna try the sizes just next to it on either side. A 4 is skipping WAY too far away on that scale. (hehehe. scale! Double meaning! Ah, phooey. Never mind!![[wink]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie3.gif) )
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
Post Edited (2009-01-06 04:08)
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Author: Noverbuf
Date: 2009-01-11 09:30
Hello, Thanks for your ideas. I think the guess that my reeds were too soft was correct. Not too hard anyway if you see my explanation below.
I started with these 4 reeds three months ago and up until recently they served me well and as I mentioned in my initial post the stuffiness problem appeared not long ago.
I rotated the reeds daily playing the next reed every day.
Does three months period sounds long enough for using up the resources of 4 reeds if practicing for 1 and a half hours daily?
I should admit I'm not very familiar with reeds and cannot judge whether they are still good or not to some extent.
I can probably tell if a reed is totally unplayable but the biggest problem is I cannot tell when my reeds wear out or start asking for replacement.
What is a good rule of thumb to know when determining the reed's playability especially in terms of wear? I was thinking of keeping a really good freshly broken in 'reference' reed and compare the rest to it when in doubt.
Sometimes it's really difficult to tell if it's me or a reed or equipment.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2009-01-11 13:03
Noverbuf -
After a lot of use, reeds develop an impression on the bottom in the shape of the mouthpiece window, especially if you leave them on the mouthpiece overnight. Look at the bottoms and run your thumb over it to feel whether there is any unevenness. If so, sand the bottoms flat. The recovery will be instantaneous.
Also, reeds wear out. If you've been playing only a few for several months, they've probably declined gradually. Replace them and you'll be amazed by how freely they blow.
You should also have an experienced player look at your mouthpiece, which may have been bumped against a stand or table.
There are many more possible problems, but they can't be identified without seeing your clarinet.
Ken Shaw
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