Author: oboemelli
Date: 2008-06-05 14:28
Just wanted to ask if any of you lot are victims of these reeds?
And, yes, I chose the word 'victims' carefully.
They are the best we have around at the moment, because the cane is supposedly very good, BUT and that is a big BUT (!) I can't get the wretched things to work.
It's fair enough having a reed with a good sound and that gives you the scope to adjust it to your preference, but getting to the point where it won't soften up and it won't let you tongue any easier and it won't get rid of that muffly-"frying-tonight" sound is really getting to me.
And what's worse for me now is that they just seem to be too hard all the time. The "MS/medium soft" reed is just TOO HARD, and it won't soften up. It's a piece of rock if you ask me.
I have previously made the mistake of scraping them straight away and loosing the sound completely, so have resorted to blowing them in a bit first (which really kills my lip because they are so open) and then scraping. But, no. No improvement.
I have done everything I can. Got a new one yesterday that seemed to let me do the fast tongueing in a fast Telemann movement slightly more easily than the other reeds I had, but guess what- today it's been a real pain in the neck. I can't control the sound, and after a few minutes, myabe even less, it all gets too much and my embouchure is failing. And I thought I had strong muscles there...
I've tried other reeds but the sound and dyanmic range they give me is not the same. But now I'm having to work so damn hard and nothing works.
Help!
By the way, if you want to see me play a reed by him that did (surprisingly!)work go to:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/youngmusician/sites/competition/video/mel_perf.shtm
"People imagine they can reach one another. In reality they only pass each other by"- Schubert.
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