 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Aussie Nick
Date: 2002-04-13 07:50
I find that when I am playing in airconditioned rooms my reeds turn very unpredictable and I get strange sounds when playing on them. I was wondering what sort of problems others encounter with their reeds in airconditioning and how they deal with it?
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Author: jez
Date: 2002-04-13 14:08
Plenty reed boxes are available with integral humidifiers. This might solve your problem. Some concert-halls suffer from this syndrome, which seems annoying. It's interesting to look at a humidity guage in places where you play to see what you're up against. I know many string players who complain bitterly about it, thinking their instruments are going to come unglued. At least we don't have that to contend with.
Once you've played for a few minutes I would think the problem should disappear.
jez
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Author: L. Omar Henderson
Date: 2002-04-13 14:42
Many orchestral types (not a personal but a career designation) use conditioned reeds that have been treated with humectants (*Note-I sell ReedLife and this is not an endorsement of this or other similar product) or keep their reeds in a humidity controlled environment (e.g. a cigar humidor) and then pull them out just prior to a performance. Like the double reed players, many will wet their reeds periodically between parts or keep a premoistened reed in sealed plastic wrap. Maybe some of the professionals can give us their approach to this situation.
The Doctor
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Author: donald nicholls
Date: 2002-04-13 22:42
my experience when i first lived in the US (where virtually every building was air conditioned in the summer and centrally heated in the winter) was that i discovered what people meant when they said a reed had "warped". Previously (living at sea level in a temperate climate in NZ) my reeds had warped, but to an extent that had been too subtle for me to really appreciate (as a student whose teacher knew NOTHING about fixing reeds etc and gave no advice).
One time a reed played fine in my studio, then when i went to my lesson it warped so much i wanted to take a photo of it- it was a stunning visual example of the evil behavior of cane!. You could clearly see that it had warped just looking at it, on a flat surface it rocked from side to side more than any reed i've seen/played since.
I believe that to some extent the "wetting/drying/sanding back" treatment that is common advice in the US..... preferable done to a reed blank BEFORE it's made into a reed..... does to some extent reduce this behaviour (as does keeping the reed hydrated in a plastic bag or speical sealed reed case etc).
Now i'm back in NZ i wouldn't say that reed don't warp here, but it certainly is much less of a problem. I spoke once with US clarinetist Marina Sturm (who plays Principal Clarinet in the NZSO) to ask her if she noticed that her reeds warped less here, and she said she hadn't really noticed much difference. One thing seems certain to me- if your reed is well balanced then warping will still affect it, but to a much lesser degree. My US colleagues seem to agree with me on this but this is, too, difficult to actually judge.
- one skill i learnt to help deal with this is to flatten the back of the reed with a reed knife (using the flat ege of the blade- you can test if your knife edge is flat pretty easily). This has the advantage that it is very portable- you can do it sitting in the orchestra without messing around with sheets of glass etc.... BUT you can also easily lean too much to one side or the other and make the reed lopsided, so care is needed. This is not a replacement for the "wet/dry/sand" treatment, but a portable first aid (anyone can email me for a more precise explanation, but i think you can work it out for yourself if you need to).
gotta go- hope that this was helpful
nzdonald
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Author: David Dow/Symphony nb
Date: 2002-04-24 02:17
The air conditioning delemma is quite prevelant and in spite of many experiences in conditions with awful acoustics...I tend to judge my reed onstage or in the setting that I am in. I have noted a tendency to go towards a brighter and softer set-up..that being said I still try to use alot of water to wet the reed through the performance and this hopefully stabilized the reed. here in Canada the temperature changes violently, but I have always had good quality working reeds for all concerts. Consider storing reeds in a reed case, and also not overusing the reeds, but instead rotating (working) reeds in the concert, yes I mean this. If you are directly over the air conditioning system you may find certain frequencies diminished, nothing can be done about this except lots of diapram support and accurate ensemble playing plus a set up that is free blowing.
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