Author: mrn
Date: 2009-08-13 02:51
Ed P wrote:
<<So why do many professionals get so antsy over reeds? It’s because once they’ve tasted the honey everything else is vinegar so they’re not satisfied with simply having a decent reeds, they are always looking for the “perfect” reed because we know what it sounds and feels like.>>
Very true. I'm not speaking as a professional, of course, but I do know what Ed is talking about.
When I was in high school I once took a lesson with a major symphony principal player who was nice enough to let me play on one of his performance-grade reeds for the lesson. I can honestly say that before that experience, I had no earthly idea how good a reed could be. The result was an instant dramatic improvement in sound, control, and overall ease of playing. This was a reed that, remarkably, did what I wanted instead of fighting me. Needless to say, I've come to expect a lot from my reeds ever since then.
What I learned from this experience, aside from what to expect from a good reed, was that it can be hard for a student to tell the difference between difficulties that arise because of lack of skill and difficulties imposed by equipment. Sometimes you can spend hours trying to perfect through practice what might be made immediately simpler by tweaking your equipment (or, in a lot of cases, the fingerings you use). In my case (where the lesson in question was over the opening of the Copland Concerto), using a pro-performance quality reed made a lot of things I was having some difficulty with tremendously easier.
I think part of learning the instrument is figuring out how to use your time to get the best results, and what I learned from this experience is that to get the best results, you have to spend time on things other than just repetitive practice. Time spent working on or selecting reeds is, generally speaking, time well spent. Likewise, I find that studying the music away from the instrument is also time well spent. Both of these activities may actually save you practice time because they can eliminate problems you would otherwise have to iron out through practice. A good, responsive reed or a judiciously chosen alternate fingering can save you having to practice a difficult pp attack or wide-leaping slur an inordinate number of times, for example.
IMHO, clarinetists who really know their stuff know what to expect from themselves vs. their equipment, and they get the most mileage from their time by concentrating on what they know will get the results they want. I think that's really at the heart of what this thread is about.
Post Edited (2009-08-13 03:00)
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