Author: ben1948
Date: 2017-10-10 23:04
I'm playing somewhere in the intermediate level 3 years into beginning to play clarinet at age 66. I take regular lessons, and my teacher says I'd currently be a mid-chair player in an average high school orchestra. I play in a church orchestra, and a woodwind quartet/quintet with players from that orchestra--and I love it. I currently play with a Ridenour Lyrique Bb clarinet, with an M13 mouthpiece, all else stock.
I have tried different Legere reeds at different times to try to avoid the maddening inconsistency of cane reeds, but never liked them well enough to replace cane reeds until the Legere European Signature reeds came out. They were love at first sight for me. To my ear, they sound as good as cane reeds, they are amazingly consistent from reed to reed, and no worries about preparation.
The down side has been that I keep getting splits in the reed tips which negatively affects their sound, often within a week or two--which isn't good considering their cost, and the fact that many people talking about getting months of play out of a Legere reed. These Legeres are wider than previous Legeres and wider than cane reeds, and significantly overlap the facing from tip to heel. I am wondering if the pressure of the ligature might bow the reed upward a bit and be the reason for the splits? I also notice that the facing on the M13 is narrower than on some other mouthpieces. Should I get a mouthpiece with a wider facing? If so, is there a solid mouthpiece for an intermediate player which plays like the M13, which I like.
I asked this question of Legere and basically got blown off.
Ben Withers - began clarinet 2014 at age 66
benjamin.f.withers@gmail.com
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The Clarinet BBoard
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