Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2006-02-12 14:12
I subscribe to the "what is it you are practicing?" comment, as detailed on another recent thread. I just *have* to use a decent reed for practice, so that I know how things are actually going to work in performance.
A "decent" practice reed to me might include reeds that are a little brighter than ideal, or consistently flat or sharp, or perhaps an old reed which wouldn't last an hour in performance, but can be made to function for, say, 15 minutes at a time in practice. But practice reeds have to have the responsiveness to allow me to experience the fluency in tonguing, immediate speaking throughout the range, and clean leaps from low/high - high/low that "bad" reeds just don't allow. And since my tone and embouchure are an ever-evolving thing, I really do like to practice on a reed that sounds relatively good, too.
I DO "save" particularly good reeds for performance or lesson situations in which I want to be sure I am at my best. I had one GREAT reed that I used for my recital last year, which I just babied along seemingly forever, to make it last. It's still a great reed, although it has now fallen into the 15-minutes-and-out category.
Susan
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