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Author: Leigh
Date: 2001-11-23 05:44
I soak my reeds in warm water before I play them, but I find that about 10-15 min into playing the back of the reed begins to dry out. Usually the very tip of the reed and the area below the ligature is still wet, but the rest has completely dried out (making it difficult to play). We've checked various aspects of my mouthpiece and have tried different brands of reeds but still have the same result. Any ideas? I don't seem to have a problem getting moisture in the keys...so one would surely think I could keep my reed wet!
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Author: William
Date: 2001-11-23 14:32
I used to soak my reeds for up to a half an hour before performances and frequently ran into the "dry reed" problem which you described. But, since I switched to moistening my reeds with saliva only (in my mouth, 2-4 mins.) before practicing or performancing, that problem seems to have disapeared. I have no explaination why moistening with saliva--as opposed to water--might be a factor, but my reeds stay more thoroughly moist and seem to last longer than when soaked in a water cup. As an after thought, I also started the practice of rubbing the vamp and backsides of the reed to "seal" it from absorbing too much saliva during performance--but this proccess may also help it retain the saliva it does absorb and distribute it more evenly and efficiently. Bottom line is: ?????I DONT KNOW??????--but with moistening via mouth saliva only and sealing the reeds via forefinger massage, my reeds dry out less to never on the mouthpiece. Good Clarineting!!!
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Author: ron b
Date: 2001-11-23 17:48
I agree with William, 'Bottom line is: ?????I DONT KNOW??????--
I remember noticing something like that many years ago and attributing it to the somewhat more solvent (thinner) nature of water compared to saliva. Have no idea if there's anything to that or not. I no longer wet my reeds with water alone. I know several folks who, like William, rub the reed (often with a fingernail or thumbnail) to 'seal' it. They sound fine to me and I don't recall any of them complaining about the dry reed problem or, for that matter, advocating it as a cure for the... symptom 
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Author: Rene
Date: 2001-11-23 20:40
One explanation I could think of:
If you use water soaking into the reed that long, you get used to play soaken wet reeds, but the reeds cannot retain that much water during play. If you use the normal procedure, the reed stays in a more stable state for a longer time period. It might play harder, but you get used to it.
Just an idea.
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Author: donald nicholls
Date: 2001-11-23 21:08
when people are writing about making reeds "from scratch", they often mention completely soaking the blank, drying it and then sanding the blank. This way they deliberately warp the reed as much as they can then flatten it. I believe that this will also, somehow?, change the structure of the reed fibres- ie they start to warp less or expand/contract less.... there are many different theories (some with scientific backing i'm sure) on this.
But i always thought that the point was to "over-do it" so that when you then played the reed (and it in fact absorbed much less water than when you totally soaked it) it wouldn't warp as much. This process can be applied to comercial reeds with some success.
When i first went to the states, i was quite suprised to see my teacher (Dr Dave Etheridge) completely soak reeds in the "reed well". Many players only suck the end of the reed, and last time i saw Dr Etheridge he also only did this- so i figure that i had initially confused his "breaking in strategy" with his normal "i'm now going to play this reed" routine... Ed Palanker mentions this in an article in a reccent Clarinet magazine (but he also claims his reeds don't warp, which i don't believe, i think he must do such a good job of balancing them that when they DO warp they warp symetrically and it doesn't affect them too much?).
I DONT KNOW either!
donald
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Author: Mark M
Date: 2001-11-24 06:10
I'll take a crack at this. This is sort of like the ol argument of oiling a horn. (IMHO), If you oil the he__ out of it and keep it oiled, it will stay oiled. If you oil it and then let it be for awhile, it will start "drying out". If you soak your reed(s) in solid water for a period of time they will get "water logged". Then you take them out and play/work them. During play, they are not going to be subjected to solid water and they will start drying out as compared to them being in water. Since you mention that the tip stays wet, as it is the first to see moist breath, I would think that the vamp would start drying out as playing in the vertical position, water will have a tendency to gravitate down and you mention that the area below the ligature is still wet. I think this would be a good argument for not totally soaking reeds before working them. A soaked reed will play differently than a lip wetted reed.
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Author: L. Omar Henderson
Date: 2001-11-24 12:09
A lot of the wetting characteristics depend on the reed - dah your say - brilliant deduction. Like many properties of wood, the growing conditions of the reed, and the plant (cane) condition - during a wet or dry growing period, and the nutritional state at time of harvest - produce cane with greater or lesser amounts of natural sugars, oils and waxes. During drying, curing, processing, etc. much of the water is removed but leaves behind plant cells that are more greatly - or lesser - prone to bind and hold water. In general though it is much more difficult to rehydrate a completely dry (moisture content < 30%) than a reed that has been conditioned to a constant moisture content of 50-70% (remember though that 50-60% is the magic relative humidity above which mold, mildew, and bacteria start to fluorish). The pores and channels in the reed structure should be sufficient to carry enough moisture if the tip is thoroughly moistened, to the rest of the reed. The numbers, degree of branching and diameter of these channels depend on the growth conditions of the reed. Depending on the natural humectant (sugars, oils, carbohydrates, etc) content, the reed will hydrate to a greater or lesser extent given the same application of water for the same period of time - conversely it will also loose moisture to a slower extent.
From my own humble experience, sealing the bottom flat portion of the reed (which actually crushes and seals the pores and channels mechanically) does help to keep the body of the reed more hydrated (and if done on a flat glass surface, evens out the contact points of the reed to the table of the MP).
Many professional players clean and condition their reeds with humectant containing reed care products - many do not. The purpose of the humectant is to bind and hold water within the cellular structure of the reed. When rapidly rehydrated, more water stays in the reed for a longer period of time. If the condition of the cane is such that it contains normal to above normal natural humectants than the reed will remain hydrated without treatment - depends on the reed!
The Doctor
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Author: Bob
Date: 2001-11-24 14:44
Very interesting comments but when did anyone ever prove that the tip of the reed has to be wet for it to "play right"? I used to just hold the reed in my mouth while I was putting my horn together but now I soak it in water with a little hydrogen peroxide added(not too much!) while I'm assembling. I have always figured that a vibrating clarinet reed will "shake" excess water out of the pores until it reaches a "steady state" ....during play. I do believe the bit about soaking and drying during manufacture helping to weed out reeds that "have a desire" to warp and only letting the "fit" ones survive. Although I haven't tried one of the non-reed reeds yet I can't imagine that they retain much water.....or saliva. During the war....WWII that is....we tried plastic reeds and they didn't hold water...and didn't sound too great either. I must admit that I don't know how much water or saliva or any liquid is supposed to be in the tip of the reed for optimum performance.
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Author: L. Omar Henderson
Date: 2001-11-24 18:48
Dear Bob,
Perhaps I gave the wrong impression of wetting the tip. I actually put the whole tip area in my wetting solution, let it sit for several minutes (in most reeds you can see that moisture has channeled all the way to the butt of the reed), then dry off the whole reed with a kleenex-like toweling. I have seen every permutation and combination of adding moisture to a reed - can not say what is better or worse - what ever works for you. Your concept of steady state sounds good to me. You can add a lot of moisture to a reed, think that it is ready, only to have the moisture redistribute to other dry areas of the reed and have a reed that is for all intents and purposes a dry reed. If only it were true that the "warpers" were culled out during manufacture!
The Doctor
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