 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Filettofish
Date: 2014-11-29 01:30
Hey everyone. In my weekly lesson today I heard a gem of advice from my teacher, thought you all might be interested in hearing it and agreeing/disagreeing/sharing opinions. On the subject of reeds, my instructor said "Your job is to make the reed sound good, no matter how bad it is." He then went on to detail the ways his oboe professor drilled him in college. He said, the oboe professor had a coffee table covered in reeds, and as an exercise he would have his students pick a random reed off the table and play on it the whole lesson. He inspired me to become less concerned with the "search for the perfect reed" and more concerned with controlling the instrument.
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Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2014-11-29 03:37
I agree somewhat, but using a terrible reed is not pleasant. Playing the clarinet or any instrument should never be a tension-causing experience.
About a year ago, I had a student who was struggling with a solo. She got frustrated because nothing was going right, even though she played it very well the week before. Her reed wasn't great, and I suggested that she change it. The improvement was immediate.
The best solution is to learn some basic reed adjustment techniques. There are different ways to do it, but sandpaper and reed rush can do wonders.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2014-11-29 04:07
Agree"ish" is a good way to put it.
Sounds similar to a guitar teacher story where the teacher made the students play on an instrument set up with stiff strings set far off the fingerboard. The idea was "if you could play under less desirable conditions, then you'd play even better when things were set up right." Problem is that some students would just give up in frustration with this physically harder set-up.
Some reeds are just dogs, some are just maladjusted. I'd say you can get a majority out of a box to wind up in rotation, but there is no point in forcing yourself to use the one or two in a box that don't respond worth a darn.
...............Paul Aviles
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Author: fskelley
Date: 2014-11-29 04:24
1) Whether clarinet, another musical instrument, a car, or a set of surgical instruments, it is never good to require everything to be in perfect condition and adjusted to one's liking- for any of us to be able to competently do what we need to do with the item. (That's pretty convoluted. Perhaps one of you can say it better. Be my guest.)
So it is good, even necessary, to have a reasonable zone of tolerance for such imperfections. And I would agree with helping students build such a zone. Many of us do spend too much effort trying to perfect our equipment, and not enough effort on us.
2) But there are limits. MacGyver might do surgery on himself with a broken watch crystal and a ball point pen, but most of us hope the equipment is complete and in order when it's our turn in the operating room. And even if a clarinet student can make a terrible reed sound OK, that's an experiment best done only rarely, perhaps to build confidence for the inevitable emergency or lack of planning.
And it really does matter how tightly your clarinet seals. Is it good to be able to play without squeaks and grunts even on a leaky clarinet? Life seems too short for such... maybe that's my age talking.
Stan in Orlando
EWI 4000S with modifications
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2014-11-29 05:16
When an oboe student at Curtis brought Tabuteau a particularly good reed, he would ask to see it and immediately smash it against the wall. Then he would demand that the student play the lesson on his worst reed. You need to be able to get good results out of bad equipment. That way when your reed dies just before an important solo, you'll get through.
When a student complained to Arnold Jacobs about his battered, leaky tuba and lousy mouthpiece, Jacobs would grab it and play beautifully.
When I was learning to be a commercial artist, I was jealous of those who could afford an astronomically expensive set of Kern mechanical drawing tools. When I got better, I did lots of work with an elementary school compass and a plastic ruler. I once rounded off the corners of a square by tracing around the circumference of a nickel.
YOU make the music, not the reed, the mouthpiece or the entire clarinet.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Barry Vincent
Date: 2014-11-29 09:26
As an Oboist as well as a Clarinetist ect I'd be very worried about some of those Oboe reeds spread out on that table. There are some Oboe reeds , that if you persevered on them long enough would send you to an early grave. That's why I make my own Oboe reeds and get them to as near perfect to play on as is reasonably possible.
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Author: Joarkh
Date: 2014-11-29 16:20
I must say I don't like this attitude that "if only you're good enough you can make anything sound great". I won't rule out the possibility, but in my experience it's not true. Besides, it can be utterly demotivating for students who take this to heart.
Most professionals I know are always searching for good reeds to play on, and my professor is reproaching me if I come to a lesson with a bad reed.
And what's the point in tormenting yourself to play on a bad reed when you can use a good one instead? Someone already mentioned the undesirable psychological effects of playing with equipment that clearly constricts your music-making. In my opinion it's just as important to take care of the associations we have towards the experience of playing the clarinet.
So what I would like to say, is this: Of course there's a great advantage in being able to make almost anything sound good, but I don't see the point in making this a maxim and therefore looking for the worst reed to practice on. I always try to find the best reeds for performances, but still be prepared to perform when it turns out to be less than ideal. The reed will sometimes be a hindrance, but I don't see why we need to make it even worse.
Joar
Clarinet and saxophone teacher, clarinet freelancer
Post Edited (2014-11-29 23:31)
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2014-11-29 22:44
You try to make your reeds play as well as possible and then it's up to you to play as well as you can on what you have. When you're on the job no one else cares about your reed. It's your job to sound good no matter what. Period.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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