 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: RobinDesHautbois
Date: 2011-10-03 00:05
Not sinking can actually be the sign of good cane: the "hardest" cane (grains most densely packed) will not take water as easily. Sponge cane actually sinks quite fast: it also makes reeds that play very easily for beginners, but does not offer anywhere near the control and range of articulation+dynamics as an intermediate+ student requires.
Give it up to an hour: if it doesn't sink after that, then let your cane age a few years. The really discouraging thing for younger people is that old cane really makes a huge difference: what you buy can barely be over a year old if even anywhere near that. My best cane is from 1994 and I've read about Craig getting great reeds (this year, 2011) with cane from 1978 or thereabouts! In fact, density of grains (hardness) doesn't seem to matter so much with that cane: harder is still better, but medium-soft still produces excellent practice reeds and/or passable concert reeds.
New cane is very often what I call "green" or "yellow": when scraping it feels as much like soap as it does like wood. The green one will actually taste like grass: DOOMED!
A funny thing happened a few weeks ago, though I had pretty well given up on a reed made of waxy yellow cane but had accidentally left it to soak for OVER 24 HOURS! You know what, after squeezing it to close it, it became a 1st rate reed, concert grade!
Best of luck!
Robin Tropper
M.A.Sc., B.Mus., B.Ed.
http://RobinDesHautbois.blogspot.ca/music
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claire70 |
2011-09-29 20:06 |
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HautboisJJ |
2011-09-30 09:43 |
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pliscapoivre |
2011-09-30 13:18 |
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GoodWinds |
2011-10-01 17:57 |
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RobinDesHautbois |
2011-10-02 18:30 |
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claire70 |
2011-10-02 20:44 |
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Re: quick bit of reed advice please new |
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RobinDesHautbois |
2011-10-03 00:05 |
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claire70 |
2011-10-04 19:43 |
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The Clarinet Pages
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