 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2018-09-07 20:10
Well the two folks we were talking about recently on the Board were Ricardo Morales and Corrado Giuffredi. Both play Legere European Signature reeds (and Legere Signature soprano sax reeds). I doubt either would do anything to those reeds.
I also recall as far back as ten years ago Laurie Bloom, bass clarinetist of the Chicago Symphony, did a video for Rico (?) where he stated that he used to work on reeds more but with the quality of reeds being what they are he just uses the ones that work, which is now a much higher percentage per box.
Karl Leister said something similar on several of his Vandoren endorsement videos about the high quality of today's reeds and how any complaints we have are now just "our problem." He did not specifically state that he doesn't work on reeds but it really seemed implied.
I for one had not done any work on reed in the last ten years or so besides breaking them in first (a four day or so long process).
Place and play I say.
...................Paul Aviles
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2018-09-07 20:31
I generally play them as they come out of the box. If they don't work I use them as glue spreaders. Life's too short to futz around with reeds.
Tony F.
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2018-09-08 00:08
If I followed Tony's routine I would have to do an an awful lot of glue spreading.
I reckon that about 80% of my reeds needs some (even if minimal) tweaking to play optimally. After all most mouthpieces aren't perfect either.
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2018-09-08 01:01
In a post on this board for 2014-07-18 entitled "Reed Break In" William Fuller reported what Larry Combs once said on this subject: "I don't have time to break in reeds--I just empty the whole box into a glass of water, let them soak a while, and then, if they don't play, I just thrown them away." Combs was already making the transition to Legere.
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Author: nellsonic
Date: 2018-09-08 01:19
I've heard a number of top players say something similar to the Combs quote above. There are things one can quickly and productively do to a Legere with a ReedGeek, so I wouldn't assume that those who play on Legere don't do any work on them without further information on the subject.
Personally, I take a middle line. I spend no more than 2 minutes working on a reed and rarely more than a minute. The return on investment is worth it to me with that system. My best guess would be that I spend somewhere between 5 and 15 minutes a month working on my own reeds. I do work on student reeds during lessons sometimes, but I've been getting many of them set up to take over that work for themselves which has been wonderful for all of us.
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Author: rmk54
Date: 2018-09-08 03:03
Stanley Drucker never worked on reeds. He had a huge glass jar in his studio that contained all the rejects.
Russianoff never taught anything about reed adjustment. He said that if you wanted to know how to tweak reeds you should go study with Opperman.
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2018-09-08 03:39
I believe Michael Lowerstein does very little or nothing to his reeds. As I remember from a video of his, he plays his reedsand numbers them, and has a notebook showing how they played in different conditions. So he knows which reeds are likely to work best on humid days, or hot days, or cold indoor situations, etc. based on the notes he made on the reeds.
I'm not a great player, but I also don't tweak my reeds. If I'm tweaking them, I'm tweaking them for a specific environment, which means when I have to play OUTSIDE of that environment, ALL my reeds suck. What I do is just play the reeds, and the day of a performance spend an extra ten minutes going through them in order until I find one that plays well in THAT performance space (whether it be on stage in a theater, or out on a parade on a drizzly day).
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: fernie121
Date: 2018-09-08 04:39
I have the ATG system that I only use on horrible reeds which are usually about two out of the box. The okayish ones I practice daily and the few that are nice out of the box I perform with. I used to spend a lot of time fine tuning every Reed but I’ve found it too time consuming. I just, adjust myself.
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Author: Caihlen
Date: 2018-09-08 04:46
James Zimmerman said he uses Blue box 3's straight out of the box.
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Author: Ed
Date: 2018-09-08 05:31
I usually find that I need to tweak most reeds at least a little bit. Most need a little balance work or some adjustment at the tip to improve response. It generally does not take much time and makes a big difference.
I am not sure what the habits are of the players in the major jobs.
Post Edited (2018-09-08 06:11)
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Author: donald
Date: 2018-09-08 05:54
I've met heaps of professional players (many at what you'd call "international level") who do not work on reeds, and just go through the box picking out the ones that work.
I work on reeds if I have time, which seems to be less and less these days. While I'm not one of "the greats" I'd have to say that the times I've sounded my best it's always been on a reed I've worked on.
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Author: William
Date: 2018-09-08 20:36
Yes, Larry said that. In addition, during his clinic that I attended, he used a Legere reed for his demo. But, he said, "He would never use a Legere in the Chicago Symphony. His sound during that clinic, to my ears, was not the best. Also, my good friend Chuck Hedges soon after started using Legere reeds and switched to a Leblanc Concerto clarinet that "Vito gave me." His tone quality was never as good as it used to be on his old Selmer BT and cane reeds. BTW, I have given up on my Leblanc Concerto A & Bb set and have returned to my vintage Buffet R13's.....and still, have never met a Legere reed that I liked. For me, they tend to sound OK in my practice room but lose their "gut" on the job, orchestral and band. Currently going back and forth with Forestone black and Vandoran Rue 38 reeds with good success on both. I think my Chicago Kaspar and Winslow ligature deserves some of the credit....LOL
Now, to the subject of the original posting about pros working on reeds, I do know that while Larry just discarded reeds that didn't speak to him initially...he got his reeds for free, btw....another member of the CSO clarinet section goes to great length in curing his reeds before starting their break in. When I last visited his studio in Chicago, he had boxes of reeds drying on a flat porous surface to help the break in process. I think they were V12's and some may have been for his clarinetist wife, but to my point, it seemed that he worked extensively on his reeds before using them in the orchestra. I guess the bottom line is, do what works for you.....cane will always misbehave. On the other hand, Forestone reeds have always played well for me and have behaved consistantly without adjustment. In performance, Forestone has never let me down...they just last indefinately. Although I was raised on cane and had a lot of success with it, I really believe that the synthetic products...reeds and clarinets...will be the future norm for us clarinet nerds. The old ways are hard to part with, but Forestone has freed me from my cane addiction....now waiting for the synthetic clarinets to out perform wood. Enjoy the new ways..........
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Author: Tom H
Date: 2018-09-10 08:28
I used to do the whole thing--knife and plexiglass to shave sides of reeds. Reed Rush to generally make it softer. Even the old "reed clipper" to take a little off the top to make it harder.
I still use the knife, but quite rarely. I too have found that there is a bigger % of pretty good reeds in a box (of Van Dorens), and should be at that price.
But I mostly just play on them right out of the box. I figure a reed will play well right away if it's any good.
The Most Advanced Clarinet Book--
tomheimer.ampbk.com/ Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001315, Musicnotes product no. MB0000649.
Boreal Ballad for unaccompanied clarinet-Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001314.
Musicnotes product no. MNO287475
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Author: donald
Date: 2018-09-10 11:11
Well since I posted on this thread the other day, I spent about 10 min adjusting reeds during my Sunday night session, and transformed two reeds from being "promising but uncooperative" to "very nice, easy to play, resonant throughout the range".
THEN just to throw the cat into the kiwis, this morning I WASTED time working on a reed that still sounded like crap after I'd spent 10min adjusting...
Take from that what you will...
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Author: Speculator Sam
Date: 2018-09-10 18:53
Apparently Benny Goodman. In this video William Hucthins mentioned a friend that'd help Benny find a reed because he didn't like critically choosing reeds himself. 41:11 in the video.
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Author: Tom H
Date: 2018-09-11 08:30
Many decades ago my father (syndicated columnist & author), Mel Heimer, interviewed Goodman in his high rise Manhattan apartment (I think it was there). He said Benny had a huge bowl of reeds. He would pick one up, try it, and immediately throw it away if not so good. That plan makes sense to me.
The Most Advanced Clarinet Book--
tomheimer.ampbk.com/ Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001315, Musicnotes product no. MB0000649.
Boreal Ballad for unaccompanied clarinet-Sheet Music Plus item A0.1001314.
Musicnotes product no. MNO287475
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Author: GBK
Date: 2018-09-11 09:34
Tom H wrote:
> Many decades ago my father (syndicated columnist & author), Mel
> Heimer, interviewed Goodman in his high rise Manhattan
> apartment (I think it was there). He said Benny had a huge bowl
> of reeds. He would pick one up, try it, and immediately throw
> it away if not so good. That plan makes sense to me.
My favorite Benny Goodman reed story:
Benny, just before a set began, had borrowed Vido Musso's last clarinet reed. He then called out "Bach Goes to Town", a number which featured a 5-clarinet passage.
Musso turned to Benny just before the tune began and said: "I can't play it"
Goodman asked why, and Musso said "No reed"
Goodman's very stern reply: "Then fake it!"
...GBK
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Author: QuickStart Clarinet
Date: 2018-09-13 22:59
I know that Lawrie Bloom still has his students do some reed adjusting, but I don't think he does any himself.
Steve Cohen plays on legere and doesn't adjust them at all, and part of why he switched, I believe, is because you don't have to worry about adjusting them.
Josh Goo
QuickStart Clarinet Founder
www.quickstartclarinet.com
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Author: Gene Chieffo
Date: 2018-10-11 21:17
When I was studying with Donald Montanaro at Philadelphia UArts in the very early 80s, I asked him if he would teach me how to work with my reeds. His response was that he didn't have time for that, and that he had plenty of money to spend on reeds. I still remember what he said. "If they work, I play them. If they don't, I put them back in the box and give them to you."
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Author: NBeaty
Date: 2018-10-11 22:49
There are plenty of excellent performers/teachers who don't adjust their reeds.
It's worth noting that often people who adjust their reeds significantly don't sound very good. This can be due to the learning curve of reed adjustment, but frequently seems to be from the perspective of magically fixing an issue that would be solved by concentrated practice.
As mentioned in a previous post on this thread, imperfections in the mouthpiece can make finding great reeds next to impossible. An imbalance in the facing curve creates different resistance levels for each side of the reed, making a well balanced reed unlikely to work well. So it's not a huge surprise that many players who use Pyne mouthpieces do work on their reeds. One side rail being a different width/shape than the other, or an imbalanced tip rail, will cause similar issues.
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Author: ned
Date: 2018-10-19 12:46
Tony F wrote: ''...I generally play them as they come out of the box. If they don't work I use them as glue spreaders. Life's too short to futz around with reeds...''
I use Vandoren !2s...they cost a packet here in Oz. I'll work one to suit, given the $$ involved.
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