The Clarinet BBoard

Matching the Lig to the Reed

Author: SecondTry  Date:   2022-12-25 00:45 Happy Holidays all. Disclaimer. I'm not much a ligature guy. Beyond its ability to meet basic functional requirements I'm not one to own and try them all or discuss them much. My biases come from a belief that the subtle differences they make may not equate to their price differences and that too many people discuss them who aren't at the cusp of an ability level where such differences much matter, or perhaps where time isn't better spent practicing an etude book than in ligature discussion. (Then again, there's only so many hours we can practice and its nice to chat.) Disclamer: I for the most part play a Vandoren M/O. So much for my playing the bargain basement hardware I preach, much that there are more expensive ligs out there. My defense lies in the ligature's double threaded screw's ability to quickly get reeds on and off, which is handy when breaking in new reeds. All this said, I like playing lighter reeds. Sometimes this comes at the expense of the most subtle of pinching sounds on notes at or around ..much that attention to a rounded embouchure, with pressure on all sides, and moving up the reed up on the mouthpiece a micron help. But what also seems to have helped recently is the use of a leather ligature with such light reeds. What a concept! Matching a lig to a reed. It's been my experience that leather ligs will subtly deaden a reed's sound compared to their equally tight metal counterparts. Does anyone find this as well, or switch ligs based on a reed? TIA

Reply To Message

Avail. Forums  |  Need a Login? Register Here

User Login  User Name:  Password:  Remember my login:

Forgot Your Password? Enter your email address or user name below and a new password will be sent to the email address associated with your profile.