Author: Phil Freihofner
Date: 2007-12-31 09:38
nobo wrote:
> Hmm...How does closing the opening make the reed vibrate
> better? (When I played on American scraped reeds if it wasn't
> open my sound would be very small and I'd have a difficult time
> blowing into it.)
>
> and the reed isn't hard, when I get it, but a week afterwards
> it becomes very hard...
> I'll try closing the reed tomorrow and see if it helps.
Hi -
A reed will not play unless it closes momentarily in its vibration cycle. If the cane is too stiff or open, it may have much difficulty reaching the "closed" point in the vibration cycle, in which case you won't get any sound out of it.
Yes, if the opening is too small, it is hard to get very loud. One has to figure out how to balance these aspects.
I suspect that the reeds you are getting were tied and scraped in a single sitting, a single day. Freshly cut cane absorbs water and this makes it stiffen up. It usually takes a while for new cane to become stable. It is better to space out work on a reed over several days so the cane has a chance to reach a more stable state. But this is just a guess as to what is going on about the stiffening.
Phil Freihofner
Composer/Oboist
(I work at Forrest Music part time, but opinions expressed here are my own.)
http://adonax.com
|
|
The Oboe BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
