 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Luc
Date: 2001-02-20 20:28
I'm an adult student of the clarinet and have been playing all of 8 weeks now. I'm trying to learn as much as I can about embouchure and the production of a "clean" sound. I'm using a student plastic horn made by Great Century (anyone ever hear of them?) with a Van B45 MP. When I use a number 2 reed the sound is clean enough, but too bright (almost metallic). When I switch to Van 3's the sound is more mellow but also dirty (airy?). I've heard about breaking in the reeds. What is this and how do you do it? Or is this problem because I've not yet built up enough facial muscle to play on the 3. I do find them harder to play. Any feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks
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Author: Dave Spiegelthal
Date: 2001-02-20 21:04
Typically, I'll break in about ten reeds at a time, with maybe two each of various brands (usually Vandoren, Zonda, Marca, Olivieri, Rico Grand Concert Thick Blank, maybe Glotin and maybe others). To break them in, I soak them standing up in a cup of water with the water just up to the top of the scraped portion of the reed, for 10 minutes. Then I take them out of the water and rub them dry with my (clean) fingers, 'squeezing' gently from the back of the vamp towards the tip, until they feel dry. Then I lay them on a flat surface with the bottom of the reed facing up, and let them air-dry all day. I go through this every day for about a week before I even play a note! But, after a week of this, every reed is broken-in and stabilized. Then I start playing on them and decide which reeds are good and which aren't. Depending on the mouthpiece, the weather, and the quality of the particular batches of reeds, sometimes one brand seems to work better, sometimes another brand will work better.
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Author: Anji
Date: 2001-02-20 21:41
Congratulations!
You are on the right track, you know what sort of sound you are after.
There will be some variation in reeds out of the box, and humidity makes some changes, too.
Dave's break in method really works. Make sure that you lay the drying reeds down on a piece of glass or flat plastic, this fights warping.
I recommend you consider the Legere synthetic reed, as it will alleviate some of the reed related problems in the first several months. They are more stable than genuine cane, but don't last forever. I have several strengths, and they have lasted as long as 6 months in regular playing.
Yusuf Carr-Rickwood is in the same boat as us, and has good results too.
If you stay with cane, check out the Archives here, they have some Care and Maintenance postings.
The B45 is a very open tip, so playing more than a 2 1/2 as a beginner will be a chore.
Most of the sound character comes from the player/reed/mouthpiece interface, so invest the bucks there.
Lastly, if you haven't taken a lesson yet...arrange for a few, this will save you MONTHS of strain.
Best of luck!
anji
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Author: Steve Epstein
Date: 2001-02-20 22:21
Maybe you should try a 2.5 rather than a 3. This wouldn't be as hard to blow and would probably give you a better sound than the 2. At 8 weeks, you probably haven't built up enough embouchure yet.
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Author: Bill
Date: 2001-02-20 22:23
Author: Dave Spiegelthal wrote:
To break them in, I soak them standing up in a cup of water with the water just up to the top of the scraped portion of the reed, for 10 minutes. Then I take them out of the water and rub them dry with my (clean) fingers, 'squeezing' gently from the back of the vamp towards the tip, until they feel dry. Then I lay them on a flat surface with the bottom of the reed facing up, and let them air-dry all day.
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Dave: The bottom of the reed is the FLAT side that comes in contact with the mouhpiece, correct? If this is the case, it seems like the reed might be more prone to warp, than having the FLAT side that rests on the mouthpiece, on the flat surface. Of course, the drying of the reed would be different The Vito reed guard has a flat surface with grooves, that help drying of the flat part of the reed, and there is a rubber to hold the reed down. I understand that your method works, and I just want to make sure I understand the position of the reed for drying.
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Author: Matt S
Date: 2001-02-21 02:05
so Dave how do you stand the Reeds up so that u just soak the scraped part to the tip? J/W Thanx
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2001-02-21 05:28
This is my break-in method after long reading of Klarinet archive and reed books.
1. Flatten and straighten the two sides of reed on a fine sand paper very lightly.
Purpose: Cutting machine may have been not straight.
At this point the bottom surface should not be sanded since it may
be near-perfectly flat already. Unnecessary sanding makes it worse.
2. Wash gently with lukewarm flowing water.
Purpose: to get rid of micro dirt of cane.
3. Soak it in LeedLife(trade mark).
Purpose: to get rid of micro-organism or to avoid future conatamination by them.
Alternatives: 5% H2O2
I guess Gum Dental rinse may work also:it kills germ in oral
cavity, then it can kill reed micro-organism.
p.s. It is not for our health but for reed health. Micro organism is considered
as the main cause of reed death(ill-vibration).
p.s. Japanese traditional reed instrument player uses Japanese green tea
for killing micro organism and wetting of reed. FYI.
4.Insert them into RICO ReedGuard(4 reeds can be inserted).
Purpose:to straighten it up since reed may have warped after packaging.
Wait 2 days to dry-up and straighten-up.
If you like to enhance reed life much, hold them in a mesh bag and
keep it somewhere near ceiling for 2 weeks or more. Longer dry-up,
longer life, I believe.
5.Paint the bottom of reed with transparent nail manicure and dry it up.
Purpose: to avoid water from entering the pores there.
6.Then, proceed to Dave's steps.
7.Additional step: Rub reed upper surface using your nail of pointing finger.
8.Play the reed. If it does not work(squaking etc), there are two obvious
(easily-identifiable) causes:
1)The bottom surface is not perfectly flat. You can found big warp by
putting the wet reed on glass plate and looking it from side.
Micro warp or unflatness can only be corrected by play-sand repetition.
However sanding should be very very slight each time. If too much sanded,
the reed is totally ruined.(I experienced this many times.)
2)Unsymmetrically shaped especially the tip.
Typically Vandoren's reed's tip is a few micronmeters unsymmetrical.
This can be identified by a dial micron gauge. However there is an easier
way.
Try to play the right side of the reed and the left side also. Compare how
the clarinet sounds. You can easily recognize which is thicker side and should
be sanded. Sanding should be very light each time.
Sorry. This may make you crazy. But this my way.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2001-02-21 11:10
The airy sound is almost certain to be due to undeveloped embouchure and breath support. This is very typical of beginners. A number 3 vandoren may be too hard for you right now. I would suggest a 2.5 strength. It is important to match reed strength to mouthpiece. For the B45, Vandoren recommends the equivalent of Vandoren 2.5 to 3.5 reeds. Thus the 2 you were playing is too soft for that mouthpiece. That may be why you were getting that almost metallic sound. Too soft reeds tend to lead a person into pinching on the higher notes.
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2001-02-22 01:04
As a general tendency, almost all reed tips are thicker than what they used to be.
This is recognized by some of pros who measured reed thickness profile using
micor-diameter from 1970's to present. This may mean a light and even sanding
of the tip may improve reed response.
By the way, there are many people who think the reed thicker the better.
But I read an article written by Fujii(ex-Japanese clarinet society chariman) that
Karl Leister uses 2-1/2 to 3 reed.
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