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Re: New reed adjustment method

Author: Paul Globus
Date: 2021-03-16 17:55

That same summer that I was at Vandoren in Paris, I had played in Austria, where I learned how to make reeds by hand (I was never particularly good at it and found it too much work so I ultimately went back to purchasing finished reeds).

The Austrian players I met made their own reeds but they all used this "flicking" technique in the final stages. I would even see them doing it during rehearsals and on stage before and during concerts. This was in the early 1970's so there's definitely a history to this approach that goes back a ways.

I'm not sure that the technique ever fell out of fashion. It's rather just one of those trade secrets that some people know and some people don't know. Here's another one: applying cork grease.

Most clarinet players apply cork grease to, well, the corks. Sounds logical and it works but there's a better way. Instead of applying grease to the corks, where it can and often does seep into the corks and cause them to become unglued, apply it to the tenons (there are four: two in the barrel, one in the lower joint, and one in the bell). And don't apply it before you play, apply it after you've finished playing and before you put your instrument away in the case. That way, the next time you go to play, your fingers are grease-free.

I learned this from one of my original teachers way back in the early 1960's and he learned it apparently from one of his teachers at the Paris Conservatoire, Auguste Périer. I've been doing it ever since and I rarely if ever have any issues with loose or detached corks.

Paul Globus

Post Edited (2021-03-16 18:15)

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New reed adjustment method new

Niclas.e.gustafsson

2021-03-15 18:56