 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Oldbass
Date: 2006-05-17 09:19
The lead clarinetist in our our "old men" clarinet quartet has developed a lower lip blister followed by an ulcer.
This happened many years before and recurred every time he used a cane reed. Plasticised reeds did not have this effect, but he cannot stand their sound and gave up the clarinet for years. He started playing again, but the ulcer recurred after 4 years of blister free use of Vandoren and other cane reeds. We wondered if it could be due to an allergy to the cane or other material used to treat it.
Has any other player had this problem? Has there been a change in the production or treatment of Vandoren cane reeds? I suggest he now use Legere reeds, but other advice will be welcomed.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2006-05-17 11:56
Just another fake reed suggestion. The FibraCell reeds for bass get a very meaty sound (unlike their soprano counterparts).
The ulcerations may be caused, as you suggest, by a unique allergy. But finding others with the same allergy or worse yet, medical professionals that understand it, may be very difficult.
.........Paul Aviles
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Oldbass
Date: 2006-05-17 14:11
I have just found a reference in Google describing our clarinetist's problem. It was also cheering to read about other musicians' medical complications!
http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-5945-4-3.pdf
Post Edited (2006-05-17 14:12)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: janeuk
Date: 2006-05-17 18:32
I put up with this exact problem for years using Vandoren reeds. I then tried Gonzalez reeds and the problem miraculously disappeared. Gonzalez say their reeds are pesticide and chemical free so I wondered if this maybe was relevant
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Roger Aldridge
Date: 2006-05-17 23:46
I've been using Legere reeds for close to a year and have been getting good results with them. I'm especially happy with the Quebec version of the Legere clarinet reed as it has a darker sound with a stronger tonal core. Legere is the ONLY synthetic reed that I've tried that didn't go sailing into the trash can after playing a few notes. It's different. Musician friends of mine tell me that they could not tell that I was using a synthetic reed. It's worth a try.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: chumbucket804
Date: 2006-05-17 23:49
I had a similar issue. I developed a small, red almost rash type thing right under my bottom lip that itched like crazy. I do and always have used Vandorens (V12). For awhile it was really bad so I saw a dermatologist, and he gave me some medicine that cleared it up, but did not say what the problem was. I occasionally still get it, but not near as often. Usually only after practicing for an extended period of time and a super "spitty" part.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Clarinetcola
Date: 2006-05-18 15:50
I had the same thing described by chumbucket804, try cleaning your mouthpiece and reeds by H2O2.
Nathan
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Iceland clarinet
Date: 2006-10-19 22:53
You can here miles away if a person is using a Legere reed. Very unatural sound and the feel of the reed is not my cup of tea.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2006-10-19 23:45
Iceland clarinet wrote:
> You can here miles away if a person is using a Legere reed.
> Very unatural sound
Oh really? Perhaps the person(s) you've heard playing it sound "unnatural", but I've been fooled many a time ...
> and the feel of the reed is not my cup of
> tea.
That I can believe.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: tobayna
Date: 2006-10-20 02:36
i had posted a message a couple of weeks ago about my daughter being allergic to reeds. i bought the legere and before it arrived, she told her band director that i had ordered her a plastic reed. he told her that she could NOT use plastic reeds. i told her just not to tell him that she was using it. her section leader got her to ask him if she was in tune and he said it sounded perfect and then they showed him it was a plastic reed, wasnt much he could say then, lol. it has helped her lips. they have almost healed up. i plan on trying the fibracell also because they are a little cheaper and that is what he had recommended to her. he said plastic sounds out of tune, but he was happy with the legere.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: pewd
Date: 2006-10-20 04:18
>Very unatural sound
not if mated to the correct mouthpiece
if you switch to legeres you might have to switch to a different mouthpiece.
a band director chewed out one of my students for using one.
a few days later, she made the all region band, using the legere.
the judges (behind a screen, and all clarinet players themselves) couldn't tell, and awarded her a chair.
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: slinkissimo
Date: 2006-10-20 18:48
There is a rare condition of being allergic to reeds. There was an article about it in Saxophone Journal vol.30, no.1 Sept/Oct 2005 which is available from Dorn Publications, www.dornpub.com. The guy in the article found the only solution was to use plastic reeds. Good luck!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: cuscoclarinet
Date: 2006-10-21 21:36
I feel happy not to have this issue, especially after reading the article the OldBass refers to-
>>I have just found a reference in Google describing our clarinetist's problem. It was also cheering to read about other musicians' medical complications!
http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-5945-4-3.pdf<<
For years I had issues with the nickel plated mouthpieces of brass instruments, surely one reason I'm a reed-head now. The article describes this problem as well!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
