Author: morbius
Date: 2013-06-04 17:08
Just so you know, there is light at the end of this tunnel. I now (and have in the past) make my own reeds with a reed dual. It is the only way you can get a quality reed without spending a fortune. Besides the reed strength MATCHING the mouthpiece you are playing on, there are several other factors: the quality of the cane used to make the reed, and the cut (profile) of the reed (and there ARE different profiles). A reed vibrates in two way at the same time: side to side, and in and out. As far as side to side, each side must be symmetrical. You can test this by turning the mouthpiece 45 degrees in each direction, and see if each side of the reed offers the same amount of resistance..... if one side is harder, you can take a very small piece of sandpaper and sand the tip toward the tip of the reed (I use a modelers flat file)... be careful, a little goes a long way.
I also look at "hardness" vs. "softness" a little differently. Reeds have what Ronald Vasquez calls "a point of resistance...a fulcrum, if you will, from which the tip vibrates. This point can vary, depending on the mouthpiece facing and the reed profile. Adjusting this point is VERY important for a reed to work well.
As you can see, for a reed must have pretty precise dimensions, both horizontally and vertically. Mass produced reeds are just not that accurate, and it would be cost prohibitive to make them that accurate, which explains why you get one or two candidates out of a box of 10.
The orange box Rico's were never intended to be any more than a start up reed (as were Mitchell Luries.... as Mitchell himself told me). Further, the clarinet is an instrument that is designed to be played with a certain amount of resistance.... and the operative word here is "certain".... not too much and not too little. The mouthpiece, for the most part, will dictate what the optimum amount of resistance is.
For what it is worth, back in the dark ages when I was in High School, I worked my way up to regular Vandoren # 5's, thinking that the higher the #, the better the player. That, of course was nonsense, but it did do one thing for me: it taught me the value of a pressurized air column, which is the basis of a good sound. As one of later teachers used to say, "the faster the air, the better the sound".... and the evener the instrument plays by the way.
Later, I went down to Gonzalez 3.25, until their quality of cane deteriorated. Their FOF reeds are modeled on the old Morre reed, which is a steeper vamp.
So, to sum up, try different reed brands and different strengths. Learn how to adjust reeds.... it is the ONLY way. Try different cuts.... regular Vandoren, V-12's, Gonzalez FOF, Rico Grand Concert. Learn as much as you can about the different facings of mouthpieces (Vandoren has a HUGE selection). Don't necessarily pick the easiest blowing; you'll never develop a pressurized air column that way, and it will not carry in a big hall.
|
|
The Clarinet BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
