 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2024-11-12 22:30
I play a Vandoren M15 mouthpiece. It's got, as a fair number of you know (or can at least research) a narrow 1.035 mm tip opening.
Recently I tried and like the new Vandoren BD2, their Black Diamond closed tip offering at 1.02 mm's in tip opening. But not enough to switch.
(Of course tip opening is but one important aspect of a mouthpiece...)
On either I play Vandoren (or Vandoren equivalent) strength 3.0 reeds, across their Bb/A clarinet reed product offerings (e.g. Blue Box, V12, Rue Lepic, V21, Legere French Cut.)
Is there something fundamentally wrong in that I should be striving for a heavier embouchure or would people in the know be inclined to say, "if you are getting good results, good sound, articulation, good volume, good ping" with this setup, then Vandy's reed recommendations (which would suggest I play a harder setup) are at best guidelines, not hard and fast rules?"
By no means does my sound appear thin or my intonation flat, etc. simple because my top opening so...my reeds weak. I've always adopted Mark Nuccio's idea that one should play on the weakest reeds they can that doesn't negatively affect their artistry.
For me, in part, clarinet play, at least for durations, is about energy conservation. Of course I'm not opposed to hard work, but do think that the least amount of work I can put in to achieve results means I can achieve those results for longer passages, and that hard work rather involves the very longer practice sessions that such an approach affords me.
(I also play, at times, double lip, but mostly single: switching off.)
Thoughts?
TIA
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Author: Alexey
Date: 2024-11-12 23:12
Do you have an audio/video so we can hear you playing?
I agree that we should play the softest reed possible for the given mouthpiece and embouchure.
I have a test that works well for me:
1) Reed should be as soft as it allows me to play piano pianissimo in the lowest register with clear sound (no hissing, no buzzing, just pure note)
2) Reed should be strong enough to allow me to play forte the highest altissimo with my sound in tune (not going flat in tune)
I have found that the Vandoren chart's lowest numbers for a given mouthpiece are close to my reed strength selection.
This means that maybe (MAYBE) Vandoren reeds of strength 3.0 for M15 are a bit softer than ...than most players use for classic music.
BTW what kind of music do you play?
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2024-11-13 18:41
The goal is all about RESULTS. So if you are hitting all the marks you need; dynamics, articulation, tone (and all the combinations of things in between) it doesn't matter how you do it.
There are some folks, some really top players who do this weird physical exertion thing. But I personally don't see any reason to want to do that let alone strive for it. Let's not forget Stanley Drucker who played principal clarinet in New York for fifty years, retiring at the age of eighty......and kept playing after that!!!!! I doubt he did anything that purposely made anything harder. In fact ten years or so before retirement someone in an interview asked if he thought about stepping down and he said, "This is the easiest job in the world, why would I give it up?"
..............Paul Aviles
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Author: lydian
Date: 2024-11-13 23:05
I've never had a non-musician audience member ask how hard my reeds are. I play whatever results in the best tone and response across the entire range with the least effort. That happens to also be Vandoren 3 for my mouthpiece and my old chops. Since I play only jazz, I want a little more flexibility (pitch and vibrato) and warmth which I get with a slightly softer reed than I would use for classical. It's also less of a shock when I'm doubling on sax.
Bottom line, play what works for you. Don't concern yourself with what other players do or think.
Post Edited (2024-11-14 18:48)
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Author: kdk
Date: 2024-11-14 05:12
I'm suspicious of the strength recommendations on the VD mouthpiece charts, anyway. I don't know when they were reviewed last, but a #5 VD reed (of any model) isn't something I'd consider comfortable on even their closest facings.
I've written this before. When I was studying as a teenager and even a few years later when I played as a clarinetist and soloist in the Army Field Band, and even a few years beyond that starting out as a free-lance player (early 1970s), everyone in Philadelphia played VD #5s (there was only the "traditional" cut). Yes, they balanced and "adjusted" them, but many of those reeds played out of the box on a mouthpiece with a "standard" 1.00-1.05mm tip opening and a 16-17mm curve length. Today's #5s need an act of God and Congress to make them vibrate on the same mouthpieces without a lot of carving.
I think those recommended ranges are all too high, probably at both ends.
Karl
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Author: donald
Date: 2024-11-15 07:20
Funny that Mark Nuccio would recommend that and Steve Williamson the complete opposite... I'd go with Nuccio to be honest! Here's a story....
- when I first studied with Dave Etheridge at OU I had already had 2 acting positions in pro orchestra, won various competitions and done a significant amount of touring and studio recording with "non classical" groups/projects/soundtracks etc.
I can still remember Dr Etheridge playing to me with the most gorgeous sound I'd heard in my life.... and very fluent playing- the recordings of him playing on Youtube totally fail to convey his artistry. In about my 2nd lesson, after he'd tactfully suggested my reeds were too hard, he offered me his clarinet/mouthpiece to play. I was a bit grossed out, but nonetheless took the offered horn and blew a few notes... of course it felt ridiculously soft, I was totally surprised and mystified as to how he could make such a great sound with what felt to me like a 1.5 reed... I was so used to an unhelpful amount of resistance.
He made lots of vibrations, and shaped them into tone. This gave him flexibility and nuance. You need SOME security, but not nearly as much as the "wind up and blow" crowd think is somehow essential.
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