 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ryder
Date: 2008-06-23 16:23
Reeds are a pain all year for me
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Ryder Naymik
San Antonio, Texas
"We pracice the way we want to perform, that way when we perform it's just like we practiced"
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2008-06-23 17:17
The increase in heat and humidity causes the reeds to play stiffer. Just throw the stiffest ones in a bag and use them during the fall and winter (if you're not going to adjust them down for immediate use).
Not unusual to change reed strength by a half, depending on how the reeds work for you.
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: leonardA
Date: 2008-06-23 17:54
Interesting. I had put aside some reeds that had become a little soft and picked one up the other night and it played well again. So I guess the answer is yes.
Leonard
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2008-06-23 18:50
That’s not unusual because of the humidity mostly. You have to be careful going from A/C to outside air because of the often big humidity difference. I am an uncompensated Rico reed player but I must tell you the truth. I use the Rico Reed Vitalizer in a freezer bag and my reeds stay pretty stable. I use the # 58 and as soon as I choose the reed I want to play I put them back into the bag and I close it tight. I actually use the Rico Reed case for my Bb reeds, that has a Vitalizer inside but I still put the whole case into a bag. With my bass clarinet reeds I use a different reed case because they don’t make one for bass reeds yet and I do the same thing. My reeds stay reasonably stable all year, you just have to keep them in the bag all the time you’re not playing them. Don’t just let them sit out exposed to the air. ESP www.peabody.jhu.edu/457
(Listen to a little Mozart, live performance)
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Author: susieray
Date: 2008-06-23 21:25
Mine are the same all year; but then it is not humid here in the summer.....
Sue
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2008-06-24 15:27
OK, Ed,
Yesterday (lesson day) was a bad reed day for me. In the morning, it was cool and dry; and I could not get any reed in my pile-on-the-table or any of several right-out-of-the-FloPak to play. By evening, when my practice room had warmed up, and the humidity had increased; all my reeds played OK.
I know that weather conditions, altitude (and probably moon phases) affect reed performance.
BUT.
I'm having trouble understanding why blasting saturated (is it?) air at body temperature past a reed doesn't bring it to a warm, soggy equilibrium that is pretty much independent of what the air was like before the player warmed in his/er lungs, moistened it and flooded the cane with it.
Doh!
Bob Phillips
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2008-06-24 15:32
Bob Phillips wrote:
> I'm having trouble understanding why blasting saturated (is
> it?) air at body temperature past a reed doesn't bring it to a
> warm, soggy equilibrium that is pretty much independent of what
> the air was like before the player warmed in his/er lungs,
> moistened it and flooded the cane with it.
Human physiology. You change, the reeds don't, but the compensenting control is to change the reeds since we can't change ourselves.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2008-06-24 16:03
Well Bob, we all know, or at least we should, that wood of any kind will become more humid when the humidity is high and dry when it is not. This makes the wood act like a sponge, it expands when it absorbs moister and the pores close up when it gets dry. The best way to keep a reed stable is not to let it go from any extreme of wet to dry. Since for obvious reasons you can’t keep a reed entirely wet all the time you need to not let it get too soaked and never let it get too dry, that way it will be the most stable. Perhaps it’s not perfect but letting a reed go from 100% humidity to say, 20% in a dry climate, like in the winter, is a disaster for a reed. It will make the reed warp and not seal on the mouthpiece. Allowing a reed to remain at a high humidity level during the summer months will keep the pores full and opened all the time, making the reed feel harder to play. Allowing it to dry out in A/C and then getting it wet is not a good solution, to much stress on the pores as in the winter. So the best one can do is to find a good compromise using my solution, as posted above, or something else that will keep the humidity stable. It may not be perfect but for me at least, it’s damn near. We all use it in the BSO clarinet section. ESP
www.peabody.jhu.edu/457 (Listen to a little Mozart, live performance)
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2008-06-25 16:33
Thanks, I may have to set up a reed humidifier.
BUT,
so I take a nicely adjusted reed that played perfectly yesterday out of its humidity controlled environment and start playing it. Won't it come to equilibrium with MY air stream's temperature and humidity? Won't this happen pretty rapidly?
I know it doesn't, but do not understand why the player's contribution to the reed's playing environment doesn't dominate the reed's condition.
Sorry to be stupid on this. It's frustrating.
Bob Phillips
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Author: Tobin
Date: 2008-06-25 17:09
Hello Bob,
I do keep my reeds in a humidor that I made myself. I have not had as much trouble and disappointment with Vandoren's flow packaging because of this (although I lament the carbon footprint!).
The humidor maintains the reeds at 68% humidity. Yes, some will argue that the moment I take the reeds out the humidity drops (but not as quickly as you think!). Between the humidor, the mouthpiece cap and my mouth I find that my reeds stay consistent.
In a masterclass ages ago someone asked Eli Eban what solutions or advice that he had for reeds. The statement that stuck with me was his funny response: "Well I may be playing on the perfect reed...and then two minutes later the air conditioning will come on!"
James
Gnothi Seauton
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2008-06-25 22:37
Please lets not forget that there is no perfect solution. Of course the environment you are playing in will affect the way a reed will respond, somewhat. All we humans can do is to keep them in as a perfect condition as possible. I always keep the cap on my MP when I’m not playing, even for long rests and I always keep my reeds in my freezer bag if I’m not playing. Even when I’m changing back and forth between bass and clarinet, I cap my MP at every opportunity. I never let them sit out in the opened air. That’s all one can do. The main thing is not to let the reed change drastically from one day or one minute to another when you actually have some control over it. ESP www.peabody.jhu.edu/457
(Listen to a little Mozart, live performance)
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