Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2018-05-22 05:03
So, just for kicks, I'll throw in my latest experience with this. I have for most of my clarinet life rotated 4-8 reeds and would pick one that felt best for each specific performance repertoire and venue. I very recently began experimenting with not rotating at all.
I do spend three or four days of break-in work with 2-3 reeds, starting with a few notes on each, then 4-5 minutes, then 10-15 minutes, then until the reeds seem to be getting sluggish, letting them dry completely in between sessions, adjusting balance gently as I go.
I then choose one of them and use exclusively. I've so far, since sometime in late February or early March, used two reeds, one for about 6 weeks and the next one until now (and beyond - it's still playing well). The other two I started with the current one and several I started before my experiment began, are waiting until I need a replacement. I'll then pick the best one of the reeds I have, adjust as needed to finally balance it and maybe compensate for the change in weather since March or April, and again play on it until it won't play well.
I've found that this is working for me far better than I expected it to. It avoids the constant fussing as 4 or 6 or a dozen reeds seem to change every time I play on them, I'm spending barely any more time adjusting reeds than I did for the year I tried playing Légères. The reed I end up using becomes very stable. This is only the second reed I've used this way, so I don't know that all of them will have the same longevity. I should say also that the two reeds so far have spanned what is probably the part of the calendar here in the Philadelphia area with the least stable weather of the year.
After 60 years of playing I'm doing everything "wrong" (or so I was always taught and always read) and have never been more comfortable. If I get to next March this way (having used, maybe, 8 reeds), I'll consider the change of approach permanent. Meanwhile, I don't offer this as advice but only as a suggestion that a lot of reed lore may be, at the least, overkill.
Karl
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