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Re: Reed Placement in Mouth

Author: HautboisJJ
Date: 2010-11-05 15:03

As a short scrape player myself, i struggled in my early years to get as little reed as possible inside my mouth. As the years went by the more i realized that this has more to do with the internal volume and opening of the reed than anything else. I have friends who play up to pitch with 73mm reeds and i would often even use shorter staples. I personally play K. Ge reeds too and there is no doubt about their quality. It was this recent change that really helped me achieve the right placement. But often, which is not unpredictable, as with 200-300 reeds per week, there can only be that much good cane. Reeds which are too closed cannot be foreseen and will be sold anyways. Naturally, one takes in more reed playing these reeds then!

When i was playing primarily on my own reeds in the past, i took in a lot because they were too closed. Doesn't make sense? I was trying to relax more, and because i wanted a big dark sound i would naturally take more reed in. It makes sense because the easiest part of the reed to collapse is the tip, and if it is too close one would naturally shift to achieve an ideal sound. That's why many American players find the European short scrape too flat and open. Those short scrape reeds which are gigantic and "really short" scraped are really a thing of the past. The closest to this Le Rousseau Chantant's reeds and even those have quite a tame opening. In Holland, there is still a school of playing that is similar to the American way but even those reeds have much more substance, i mean much more vibration but still with stability.

But one thing is for sure, taking in too much reed, for any school, can't be too good a thing! Well, Monsieur Leleux doesn't!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qYDppgbP6k&feature=related

Neither does Mayer, even for that beautiful high A:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBcHbzoMhXs&feature=related

Regards,
Howard

p.s. another nice recent clip of him : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_UrFPjlnuM&feature=related

Post Edited (2010-11-05 15:12)

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