Author: vboboe
Date: 2009-01-28 18:03
<<some of my old finished reeds ... have very wide openings ... is that "aperture gape"?>>
Yes, when the two arches form an opening bigger than 2mm, dry, it's 'gaping', but that in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, dry and new, unless it won't flatten out to 'optimum aperture' when moistened, usually the recommendation is to hold and press moist reed along centre line with fingers, but i prefer to do that 'munching into shape' in warm moist mouth (not with teeth! use lips & tongue only)
my theory here is my fingers aren't the same shape as my embouchure and that's where the reed has to be played
<<and the sides have come apart ... open down to about one and a half cm (15mm) ... can they still be used, or they should just go into the bin>>
Depends, these reeds are dry, yes? Well, each reed has its own quirks, some open topsides will work, others will never be satisfactory, use your own judgement on an individual basis for each reed
-- very generally speaking, it's not unusual for the sides to open up and still be OK, particularly with a brand new and young reed that's not yet fully blown in, so don't reject them just for that; and again, they should close readily once moistened and you've applied embouchure pressure
When you've blown in those reeds adequately, more than likely the sides won't open up in drying after that, because the reed is re-shaped to the embouchure you use to play them
you seem perfectly A-OK with the tubes and cane you have, unless your reed-teacher thinks otherwise
all reed threads will snap if pulled too hard, the trick is to use the right amount of tension without overdoing it for the thread being used, stick to the thread that matches comfortable tension for you
If you don't want to waste the spools of that easily snapped thread, you could still use it if you cut off double length, fold over, and pull through beeswax several times to coat & stick both strands together before tying as usual
Reeds, med-soft -- be aware that med-soft will collapse within maybe 10-12 mins of steady playing, so a good solution is to rotate 3 reeds every 5 mins or so (halfway time to imminent collapse)
But as you've explained, just getting enough reeds in the first place is your main challenge :-|
Medium reeds could be dusted down a bit more by your teacher to make them work for you, then they'd be med-soft too :-)
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