 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Bill
Date: 2016-05-12 04:29
Hi. I'm an ==>amateur<== clarinetist and collector of vintage clarinets who has been around forever (a guy with an orchestral chair once called my posts "ubiquitous"). As such, forever humble, I have an embarrassing but earnest question.
I can't figure out how you do the 45 degree slant thing where you can tell if one side of a reed (apparently the opposite side) is more responsive than the other.
I need a video, or something. How do you *damp* one side of the reed by holding the mouthpiece in the corner of your mouth (or something)? I mean, *huh*? As long as the mouthpiece and reed are in my mouth, no matter the angle, both sides seem to be vibrating.
One of those football diagrams would help.
Thank you.
Bill Fogle
Ellsworth, Maine
(formerly Washington, DC)
Post Edited (2016-05-12 04:30)
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2016-05-12 05:26
Play with the standard embouchure. Then twist the clarinet 45 degrees (clockwise or counterclockwise) so that one edge of the reed is clamped against your lower lip and the other vibrates freely. Then twist it the other way.
If the two sides are unequal, you need to balance the reed.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2016-05-12 07:18
Just think about it though, if you move the clarinet off to your right, the left side of the reed is damped to a much greater degree with the left side of your lower lip (the full tip vibrates as you say, it's just that the left side in this example is "damped" more than the right side). Of course then it is the opposite going the other way.
You are comparing the sound of one slightly less damped side to the sound of the other.
..............Paul Aviiles
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Author: Bill
Date: 2016-05-12 19:36
Thanks for the responses, especially the Ridenour video. I was swinging the clarinet like a pendulum, left to right, not twisting (or turning) it as Ridenour does. That is what the video showed me.
Thanks again!
Bill Fogle
Ellsworth, Maine
(formerly Washington, DC)
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2016-05-13 03:08
Quote:
Thanks for the responses, especially the Ridenour video. I was swinging the clarinet like a pendulum, left to right, not twisting (or turning) it as Ridenour does. That is what the video showed me. Gotta love trying to teach yourself from the internet! Big difference in words vs a video! When I first read this thread, I thought you were trying to test side by side response by putting the clarinet at a 45 degree angle from your body! You were doing a left right axis, I was thinking up down axis, and realistically, the clarinet needed to stay pointed and it needed to ROTATE on it's OWN axis! Oooof!
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Bill
Date: 2016-05-14 05:10
I still don't get it. Hysterical. It's like not being able to ride a bike.
Bill Fogle
Ellsworth, Maine
(formerly Washington, DC)
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2016-05-14 05:19
Are you saying you remain confused or are you remarking in retrospect as to the humor of how angle of rotation--that which gets adjusted here--was originally confused with--as we refer in the woodworking world--"the angle of the saw blade?"
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2016-05-14 15:38
I've done both, it is roughly the same thing. I let my students choose which method gives them the best results.
...............Paul Aviles
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2016-05-14 19:20
..not sure what attributes about a reed are gleaned from anything other than twisting it around its midline length axis...?
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2016-05-14 21:00
It's roughly the same idea just approached differently. When you rotate, you are basically saying that you are pushing down hard enough on the edge nearest your lower teeth to keep it from vibrating. The side away from the "squeezing" effect is allowed to vibrate freely, and you compare the two after flipping the system around.
Same with the 45 degree off to the side (which is the method shown to me first). In that scenario you are actually damping the tip (or closer to the tip) of the non vibrating side with your lips. But again which one works better for you is the one you should use.
..............Paul Aviles
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Author: Bill
Date: 2016-05-14 23:39
What works for me is to turn the mpc and reed to the side horizontally (as if the clarinet bell were the pendulum of a clock). For some reason, turning it vertically (like a screwdriver) just doesn't work for me. However, when I turn the mpc and reed horizontally, I have trouble figuring out which side of the reed needs adjusting.
Bill Fogle
Ellsworth, Maine
(formerly Washington, DC)
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Author: WhitePlainsDave
Date: 2016-05-15 00:09
If you have trouble figuring out which side of the reed needs adjusting (if either), the technique your using either doesn't work for you or is probably being approached the wrong way. And while I respect Paul's alternative, I'm more comfortable in the "rotation angle school."
Perhaps one of your issues goes back to the title of this thread. By no means do I turn the mouthpiece to 45 degrees. In fact at 45 degrees the reed would be halfway perpendicular to the floor; it's far far too much rotation.
I, and most turn the mouthpiece about 10 degrees in either direction--the point is that if you turn the mouthpiece 10 degrees clockwise, playing the reed will dampen it on its (your) right side, so the left side can blow, and its resistance determined. Note in your mind how freely the left side blows.
Now repeat this for the other side. Note which side gave you more resistance, if any. That's the side that needs to be made to blow easier.
Never rotate beyond the need to dampen a side.
Let's suppose the right side feels harder. One method I try is moving the reed on the mouthpiece, especially to correct subtle strength differences.
In such a case you might find that I've moved the reed to the left slightly (or vice versa). Were talking a couple of hair's thickness movement here.
In fact if the reed is somewhat soft I may move it up to the sky ever so subtly too.
Other methods involve removing material from the reed. One such, which you can search here is the ATG method (a purchasable kit with instruction video.) Another involves the use of abrasives on the harder side, even as it sits on the mouthpiece.
Do understand though that like medicine, too much of these techniques can be no good either, reducing the reed's strength too much--as useful as these can be to, in right dosage, in make a reed better playing.
I'm not a big fan of physical examination of the reed up to the light to deduce its thickness as a product of its translucence. YMMV but thickness is only a surrogate I think, for strength. Even intra-reed cane varies in ways that thickness isn't the final word for strength: playing is.
At around 1:41 note how Kathy Williams-Devries (someone whose content I respect) only very slightly twists the mouthpiece.
https://youtu.be/Nb-XzJwZgZU
(I own ATG and use/recommend it. I do not profit from its sale.)
Post Edited (2016-05-15 17:20)
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