 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Wookie001
Date: 2023-05-20 17:09
does anyone know which clarinet reeds and strength for example the solo clarinetists of NY Philharmonic play?
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2023-05-20 18:11
This Youtube video 11 years ago finds Mr. Martinez playing Vandoren V12's, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpbo4G7F02g and Mr. McGill, 6 years ago the same https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyXm0__laLY.
I have no idea whether these choices remain to be the case and cannot speak to the strength they play. Maybe other members here can.
That said, you may simply be asking for curiosity sake, and that's fine. But I feel that it is important to state, in case you or others seek to copy either player's setup, that such choices should always take a back seat to what works best for you.
Reed strength: first off many players adjust reeds, which of course reduces their overall strength. These players may also subject reeds to different lengths and methods of break in.
Second, strength is very correlated with a mouthpiece's facing. To simply ask what strength reed a player uses without also knowing the specifications of their mouthpiece can lead to wrong conclusions about the nature of their embouchure.
Third, what these players play may also be a function of endorsement deals. To restate, I'm not saying that any professional would tolerate junky equipment for money or other compensation, but such deals might sway what equipment they use among a set of high end manufacturers.
I've heard that Moralez of Philly uses Legere reeds: even opting to use their Soprano Sax reed for (I think) solo work at one point.
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Author: kdk
Date: 2023-05-20 18:29
SecondTry wrote:
> I've heard that Moralez of Philly uses Legere reeds: even
> opting to use their Soprano Sax reed for (I think) solo work at
> one point.
I've was told a few years ago that he had gone back to cane reeds.
Karl
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2023-05-20 20:02
kdk wrote:
> SecondTry wrote:
>
> > I've heard that Moralez of Philly uses Legere reeds: even
> > opting to use their Soprano Sax reed for (I think) solo work
> at
> > one point.
>
> I've was told a few years ago that he had gone back to cane
> reeds.
>
> Karl
If true Karl, I'd be curious to know if endorsements weighed into that decision.
:)
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2023-05-20 21:51
I will reframe the question
What do the pros do to their reeds to get them to play consistently and to the best of their ability?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y0Zv3EZ-Ms
Like clarinets, there are different reeds (cane anyway) that work well for different players at different times in their lives. BUT they all do something similar to the above to get them to work.
...............Paul Aviles
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Author: kdk
Date: 2023-05-21 00:24
SecondTry wrote:
> kdk wrote:
>
> > SecondTry wrote:
> > I've was told a few years ago that he had gone back to cane
> > reeds.
> >
> > Karl
>
> If true Karl, I'd be curious to know if endorsements weighed
> into that decision.
>
>
Well, I'm not personally close to him and wouldn't know. But I haven't seen his face on any reed endorsements lately. He has a number of videos extolling Legeres from several years back. I have no idea what he uses now either from YouTube or from the local grapevine.
It was a lot easier when I was a student - almost all symphony players used Vandoren (there were only the "traditional" cut) except for Marcellus after he switched to Morre, while a few outliers used Mitchell Lurie or Olivieri. I think most jazz players used Vandoren or LaVoz. Those were the days!
Karl
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2023-05-21 02:39
I had some colleagues have success with the Rico Grand Concerts but they never worked for me.......responded rather flabby.
...............Paul Aviles
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Author: donald
Date: 2023-05-21 02:56
Over the years I've met a couple of players using Rico/D'ddarrrrrio but the vast majority of pro and semi pro players I've met and worked with have played on Vandoren reeds. I have a theory as to why this might be, despite the famed Vandoren inconsistency, but no further time to write, will try to revisit this thread later today...
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2023-05-21 05:08
The Vandoren "inconsistency" is more a child of an earlier time, the 1970s and even 1980s perhaps. Since then the constancy of reeds has gone up as well as that of their mouthpieces, I'm happy to say.
...............Paul Aviles
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Author: Micke Isotalo ★2017
Date: 2023-05-21 12:23
My impression is that the single most popular French cut cane reed among pro players today is still the Vandoren V12. Not my personal choice however, which for French cut reeds would be the Pilgerstorfer Dolce.
Post Edited (2023-05-22 17:00)
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Author: ruben
Date: 2023-05-22 12:58
Vandoren is still king of the hill. But, I there are several artisanal reed makers that make reeds that I believe are superior to Vandoren's. The down side is that you have to order them whereas music stores all over the world carry Vandoren.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: donald
Date: 2023-05-24 04:33
I'll agree with Paul above where the Vandoren mouthpieces are concerned... in the 1980s these were pretty awful, and the blanks still usually sounded ugh after refacing so it wasn't just the facings that were messed up. Sometime after the 1990s... who knows when... the blanks improved greatly and the facings because MUCH more consistent (mouthpieces still vary within a model, but gone are the wide discrepancies where 3 or 4 of the same model would be COMPLETELY different).
Vandoren Reeds- I think these are still a bit inconsistent, I'd imagine this is largely due to the fact that cane is a natural product, and the small variations in "bark profile" (ie the shape of the shiny bit) result in bigger variations in the cut (something you'll discover if you machine your own reeds).
My theory on why they SOUND great...
- the Vandoren reed profiles have a more sophisticated convex curve across the width of the reed. This makes the profile MUCH harder to machine (and if you have ever got a knife out and whittle a reed from a blank you'll discover it is much easier to control/manipulate/reproduce a concave curve than a convex one).
This creates a richer tone, allows more leeway for adjusting by hand, but also makes reproduction harder and consistency suffers.
A theory based on measuring, playing and adjusting reeds over the last 30 or 40 years- and on working hard to get various other *more consistent* brands to produce the same result as Vandoren.
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