 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2025-06-10 21:51
...then what on a scale of 1 to 10 is, in your opinion, a good Legere?
(One where you've found your Legere model and mouthpiece and stabilized your play on it.)
I am curious to see how much, if any, compromise Legere players think they are making for consistency and weather proof play.
If you feel Legere superior that's of course fine too.
TIA
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Author: RBlack
Date: 2025-06-10 23:30
9.
I didn’t switch to playing Legere until they released the French Cut. I’d tried to switch a few times before, but could never stick with it as it felt bad and I sounded bad on them. For me, I am not willing to compromise, so it has to play as well as a good cane reed did for me. Beyond that, the consistency and reliability factor made the choice to switch easy at that point.
I think that maybe a special cane reed is still better, but there’s not enough of those for me to waste time messing around with them in hope.
I do still have trouble with the top range (super high C and up) on Legere still compared to a good cane reed, but I don’t encounter that in my everyday life and therefore don’t spend a lot of time practicing that either. So take from that what you may…
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2025-06-11 00:04
..same here on getting out a C7 [c7]...wonder why...maybe the reed if vibrating fastest up there and inconsistencies with cane are more pronounced????
still a cane user...but love to have French cuts for bad days (reed and weather.)
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Author: Ed
Date: 2025-06-11 16:14
I always offer some disclaimers that perhaps the synthetic reeds don't match my set up or my concept of what a good reed feels like, maybe I just haven't found the "right one." Perhaps I am expecting them to feel and respond like cane and I need to change my expectations.
For me, if cane is 9, then synthetic is maybe a 5. I did not find them to be particularly consistent and they were also super picky about placement on the mouthpiece. With a little adjustment (mostly balancing and flattening) I can get most cane reeds working pretty well for me. With the synthetics I always felt that it was a compromise in sound, feel and response.
No offense to any who love the Legeres. I know there are many fans. They just haven't been right for me. Maybe at some point I will find the right combination and change my "tune."
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2025-06-11 21:08
Ed wrote:
> I always offer some disclaimers that perhaps the synthetic
> reeds don't match my set up or my concept of what a good reed
> feels like, maybe I just haven't found the "right one." Perhaps
> I am expecting them to feel and respond like cane and I need to
> change my expectations.
>
> For me, if cane is 9, then synthetic is maybe a 5. I did not
> find them to be particularly consistent and they were also
> super picky about placement on the mouthpiece. With a little
> adjustment (mostly balancing and flattening) I can get most
> cane reeds working pretty well for me. With the synthetics I
> always felt that it was a compromise in sound, feel and
> response.
>
> No offense to any who love the Legeres. I know there are many
> fans. They just haven't been right for me. Maybe at some point
> I will find the right combination and change my "tune."
My exacts sentiments as well; maybe giving synthetics a slightly higher score than you, as sure as I respect how far synthetics have come.
They feel different....but should that really be an obstacle I ask myself. I really need to ask people I trust if I sound different (the real test.)
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Author: kilo
Date: 2025-06-12 16:27
Quote:
They feel different....but should that really be an obstacle I ask myself.
What if we all grew up playing plastic reeds? Given the different selections available, let's pretend that most serious players would end up playing Légères, given the other available brands. Now, what if some enterprising individual developed a new, environmentally-friendly reed made from abundant natural cane? Would you try it? I know I would. There would be several good selling points:
1. no petrochemicals involved and completely biodegradable!
2. inexpensive – buy a box of the new natural reeds for the price of one synthetic!
3. they can be shaved, sanded, and clipped to your personal preference!
Soon comments from the clarinet community would start appearing on message boards.
"Out of a whole box I only found two that were playable." Someone else would respond, "Well, you can adjust them, you know."
Then someone would complain, "The best one in the box only lasted for a few weeks." And a player would suggest that he try the new brand of premium natural reeds now being sold. "I was able to play one of them for 2½ months."
Another person would ask, "Did you break them in properly". Or suggest soaking, rotation, or buying his new book, "The Proper Adjustment of Cane Reeds".
Another user complains about the way they feel – "It's weird, like a popsicle stick, I can feel these fibers, and it has a strange taste".
You get the picture.
Part of the process of dialing in your preferred Légère is rejecting the strength and cuts that you don't like. In my experience, when I'm able to match a particular Légère to a particular mouthpiece, I can tell by the ease of achieving a pleasing sound – optimal playability. I'm pretty sure that I'm buying a "9". And I'm pretty confident that when a reed is playable the sound the audience hears will be the best sound I can produce.
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