Author: CarlT
Date: 2008-06-24 03:03
Disclaimer: The following informal, somewhat crude, testing was done solely for the purpose of establishing a reed that's playable for me, a beginner. In no way do I intend to say anything bad about Rico or Van Doren reeds; I'm only trying to convey to others what I have found that works for me. The Rico reeds referred to below worked well for me in the beginning, and to be fair to Rico, I have not tried any of their reeds stronger than a 2-1/2; conversely, I'm sure their stronger reeds (#3 and above) would perform better for me than the smaller numbered ones do.
During my engineering career, I performed much testing of materials, so I thought I'd do some simple testing of some of my beginner reeds, and some that's not-so-beginner reeds (I'm currently in my 11th week learning to play the clarinet).
What led up to the tests was that I started out playing a #2 Rico, but after the 1st week, my teacher put me on #2-1/2 Ricos. Last week he allowed me to go to a 2-1/2 Van Doren (Paris), which most charts say is a bit stronger than the 2-1/2 Ricos.
It turns out that I was still not getting the tone (even after adjusting my embouchure a bit) that I (and my teacher, of course) was looking for. So just this week, without my teacher's consent, I thought I'd try some #3 Van Doren (Paris) reeds. I figured that I wouldn't be able to play them very well since they are stronger, but they sounded better, to me anyway, than the 2-1/2's, and they really didn't seem to be harder for me to play.
But getting back to the actual testing, I used my electronic tuner to quantify my findings. Also, I tried to use my very best embouchure for these tests.
I first played the old #2 Rico reed, and my notes say, "flat in about all tones played (Low E to C above the staff)".
Next, I tried the 2-1/2 Rico reeds, and they were fair, but very inconsistent between tones...some right on the money; some sharp; and some flat.
Next the 2-1/2 VD's. Much more consistent, but still not to my liking (some varience in tones being mostly sharp, but a bit flat on some, too).
And then the #3 VD's. MUCH more consistent all way up the range stated above. The only real flat occured on Low E, but I attribute that to my clarinet, not the reed.
So that I wouldn't be biased, I put all reeds used in a pile (careful not to nick the tips), picked out one at a time, and very carefully and without looking on the back before playing, played each of them again. The results were very consistent with my previous findings.
Now a question for the pros and/or teachers reading this. Wouldn't you agree that I should now play on #3 reeds instead of something weaker, even though I'm still very much a beginner? After all, good tone is what my teacher has been preaching to me at every lesson I've had.
Before you tell me to ask my teacher, I will certainly ask him, too, of course, but excellent as he is, he does have a big ego, and I have to be careful (been burned before) of bringing up such things before he does, or he accuses me of trying to do to much on my own (I bought a new Fobes Debut mp..he'd never heard of one...without his permission, and he about went ballistic until he played it; then he was fine with it).
CarlT
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The Clarinet BBoard
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