 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Clarigal
Date: 2010-01-05 21:16
Hi, all. Hoping I could find some useful information here. I recently (two weeks ago) started playing on a new reed. Within two days I noticed that it played softer than the usual hard then soft after several months of playing. I have never had this happen before. I play on Vandoren Size 4 reeds. I have been doing this for several years. What should I do? I could cut on it I guess. I really do not have much experience with that. Normally, I just get a new reed out of the box and start playing on them. This new one also seems soft. Am I wetting it too much before playing? Please help!
Amateur!
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Author: JJAlbrecht
Date: 2010-01-05 21:28
First off, you should be breaking them in properly. Do a search on breaking in reeds.
Vandorens come with varying strengths (not sizes) in a box. It could be that the reed is simply one of the softer ones that still fell within the tolerances Vandoren allows to be packed into the box. It could also simply be that they packed a softer reed into the box by mistake. Maybe it got mis-sorted or labeled incorrectly.
Jeff
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2010-01-05 22:14
All manufacturers "measure" the strength (to the best of their ability!! of new reeds when they are dry, and of course the reed is never played dry.
Every bit of cane responds to moisture in subtlely different ways so it's to be expected that reeds with the same "dry" strength will actually react and feel differently when moist.
That's one of the significant reasons why a reed break in procedure is so important.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2010-01-06 01:10
As well as the advice given above you have to understand that all cane is a natural grown product. Sometimes entire shipments of reed cane, could be an entire season worth, will simply be soft cane, sometimes harder cane. They may measure the same thickness but won't respond the same. Also, some cane breaks down faster than others so one reed might last for weeks and another for only one day. You might want to check my website and read the reed page, it might help you understand more and learn to break in your reeds properly. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com
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