Author: d-oboe
Date: 2006-11-22 02:10
There's an old adage....An apple away keeps the doctor away. And well, it applies to reeds too. One a day keeps the conductor away!
I know some people who go on about making 5 reeds a day - that's fine for them. For me, I really can't fathom the idea of sitting at a desk for that long scraping and scraping...the mind really gets too tired (and bored, frankly) to really learn and be productive. Rather, I like to make one per day (or maybe two, every other day if it's a busy time) and try to learn something, and make assesments on my tying/scraping on a daily/frequent basis, instead of a) spending my life making reeds or b) getting stuck without a good reed. I think it's a mistake to believe that once you are professional (I don't mean you personally, just in general) you can just "make reeds" and that's the end of it. There's should always be some learning going on - music, reeds, whatever!
And of course, the perfect reed doesn't exist. It can't! Why?
a) it's made of an organic substance - it will have a different make-up every time. Therefore:
b) exactitude is impossible - it will always be an approximation
c) our expectations of a what consists "the perfect reed" are always higher than how the reed actually is.
Of course, we have all had that really really good reed....when was it...? 1995 or something...?
**Perhaps approach your reeds with NO respect to the tone they produce at all. Go solely for function. From the blanks make reeds that respond extremely well first, raise them to an approximate pitch, and *then* you can start the stabilization process.(this should solve your "refining too soon" problem) After you have satisfied those first three, the tone will come naturally...and there's no need to have the "perfect" reed. Because really, your tone is only as wonderful as the muscles (lip, abdominal) and wind that supports it.
D
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