Author: GMac
Date: 2007-04-26 20:54
Just a further thought on all of this...I have found a lot that the exact pitch of the crow really isn't that revealing, or terribly important. I certainly have had reeds that crowed a sharp B and play well in tune! I think that due to how much the reed is impacted by how everyone [individually!] places their lips, the actual pitch of the crow shouldn't be a dictator as to how much to scrape/clip the reed.
I think that the main use of the crow is to determine whether a reed is too loose or too tight, to feel the response, and to get a sense of the general vibration qualities of the reed. I think that the crow is a very, very useful device for telling all of this, in *some* ways more useful than actually testing it in the oboe because the temptation is great to put the reed in the oboe and use the embouchure to compensate for problems caused by poor reedmaking. Crowing the reed at the meeting of the thread and cane is extremely revealing of how the reed behaves without any sort of help from the player. I have certainly made reeds to quite an advanced stage by using only the crow to give me clues as to what the reed needs next. Then, once I actually play it, I can determine if it's sharp or flat.
Graham
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