Author: mschmidt
Date: 2010-11-18 03:24
How do you know that the empty space in the reed socket screws things up acoustically? I've never had that problem. I don't often pull a reed out, but that's because it usually doesn't do much good, not because it screws things up acoustically. It "seems plausible" that the empty space would affect things acoustically, but in acoustics, as in many other scientific disciplines, we find that our intuition is wrong. Nederveen found, in his pioneering work on woodwind acoustics, that irregularities or discontinuities in bore profiles often were neutral or even beneficial. Of course, if you think that pulling a reed out should screw things up, you are more likely to observe that it does. No reed ever plays all notes right all the time; it is easy to find reasons why this might be, but it's almost impossible to prove the importance of those reasons.
Those of you who have been around here for a while will recognize the above as my "common refrain," but I can't refrain from singing my refrain now and again.
If you're lucky enough to have a reed that plays sharp, take some off the sides of the heart. Your pitch will drop and your reed will be more playable AND have a more colorful sound. Fixing a flat reed is much harder and the results are far less satisfactory!
Mike
Still an Amateur, but not really middle-aged anymore
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The Oboe BBoard
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