 The Oboe BBoard
|
Author: WoodwindOz
Date: 2012-03-10 01:09
So I destroyed a few (short scrape) reeds this week trying to make them 'sound good'. Actually, it was a whole case full. Then my awesome reed started to die. I decided I would keep this reed and examine it to see why it was so good, why was it soooo much better than the others?
Today I had a lesson. I played on said almost-dead reed. We had a conversation about reeds, and Mr Dee asked to look at mine. Upon examination, he could detect a clear heart and windows WITHIN my U-shaped short scrape. We both realised that this beautiful reed was essentially a compressed long-scrape reed with more blending between areas. Based on this idea, if I created more of a roofline (my inverted crescent tip did have the tendency to become, well, straight) with a chimney through the bulk of the tip, took more out of the 'windows' and less out of the 'heart', plus leaving more stability in the sides (as the windows would be doing the work there), I would have an even warmer sounding reed.
I spent 40 mins in the reed lab on one reed, concentrating on these areas rather than just achieving a scrape which vibrated. It was the most beautiful reed I have ever made. I played it for one of the other students, and she remarked on just how warm it was. I was so happy!
For those interested in, or already making, short scrape reeds, if you can take anything out of all of that I am happy to share!
If I can actually get a picture to work later, I can take one of where Mr Dee drew on my original reed to highlight the heart and windows, and I will try to get a backlit one of the new reed.
Rachel
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: GoodWinds ★2017
Date: 2012-03-10 01:17
I would love to see such a picture.
So you had made a wonderful reed and just didn't know it?
GoodWinds
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: WoodwindOz
Date: 2012-03-10 02:11
Oh, I knew it...I just didn't know WHY it was good.
Now I know...here's to many more! (I hope)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: WoodwindOz
Date: 2012-03-10 04:04
Attachment: Short scrape 1.jpg (353k)
Attachment: Short scrape 2.jpg (334k)
My camera seems to have developed a focusing allergy...but you might get an idea...
Pic 1 is the dead reed with Mr Dee's drawing on it. He has highlighted the 'heart', the two 'windows' and the marks on the side are essentially the proportions used in a long scrape, but condensed into a short scrape (he advocates marks at 70mm (approx length), 65 (base of roofline) and 60 (top of the windows).
Pic 2 is my attempt at the new reed backlit. You can't make out the tip very well, but I can see the heart, windows and some semblance of a spine - hopefully you can too!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: GoodWinds ★2017
Date: 2012-03-10 05:09
The pictures are fine;
I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but that (scrape) is so CUTE!!
I've had remarkable results playing well on scrapes that I was unfamiliar with; what's more important than the scrape itself or the school of scrape or... is that the reed VIBRATE in a RATIO that gives GOOD SOUND.
I hope you make spectacular-sounding reeds forever (but don't be too hard on yourself if you fall into a slump... we all do).
GoodWinds
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: jhoyla
Date: 2012-03-11 07:39
I guess we all need to discover this for ourselves
I said more-or-less exactly this on the "Embouchure" thread last year - you were pretty active on that thread. Here's my comment from then:
Quote:
Okay, it's time to come clean; For the last couple of months I have been experimenting with short-scrape reeds ..
...
Another fascinating thing I discovered; The reeds are the same. That is, if you take a long-scrape reed and telescope the scrape into about half its length and add 2-3 mm to the final length - you have a short scrape reed. Shorter tip, shorter blend, shorter heart, shorter back. But exactly the same with a spine and slightly heavier edges up to the heart (proto-rails).
There are short sections on the DVD presented by players from all over including Martin Schuring, Francois Leleux, Ugo Heng and many more. Nicholas Daniel explains how he takes a great deal of cane out of the back of his short scrape, avoiding the spine and the rails. He also makes the last 0.5 mm of the tip extremely thin (any of this sound familiar?). ".. a reed by any other scrape would play as sweet"
Anyhow - glad it works for you as well!
J.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: claire70
Date: 2012-03-15 19:47
That's really interesting, thanks for the picture! As a still-working-out-what-works short-scrape reedmaker, I'm fascinated by how much you've taken out of the *sides* of that reed. It looks almost as thin as the tip?!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: GoodWinds ★2017
Date: 2012-03-15 22:37
I'm amazed too at the thinning of the 'windows' that have occured over the past few decades, in the long-scrape world.
GoodWinds
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
