Author: Mark S.
Date: 2002-08-06 15:26
The old man who put the good reeds in the Vandoren boxes must have died years ago. That being said, they are as organic as our clarinets, and subject to heat, humidity, air pressure, your chapstick, etc. Look at them edge-on, and you see they are just bundles of tiny cellulose tubes stuck together. I've found V12s usually play great out of the box, and then stink for about another two weeks until they break in.
The advantage to breaking in the reeds (not to mention all the other voodoo we do with knives, rush, etc.) is stabilizing them for performance. I personally cannot get through a gig with any sanity left if my reeds are changing constantly. Once they normalize, you can (usually) predict which ones will play in each type of environment (hot/cold, humid/dry, high tide/low tide), and they'll more or less behave through a whole piece.
And yes GBK, all hail Gonzales!
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The Clarinet BBoard
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