Author: Phil Freihofner
Date: 2007-02-06 22:04
Regardless of the scrape style, if you are fastidious about making the reed perfectly symmetrical, including the slope of the blend, all other things being equal, it will articulate with a great deal more ease. I've been amazed at how much a reed of mine will spring to life by just putting on the jeweler's visor and really being careful about making the two sides match. Hardly any cane has to come off at all, yet the results can be dramatic.
Secondly, it helps if the tip and heart are never weaker (thinner) in the center than at the edge. The contours should progress in thickness from the sides inward, so that the motion of the reed, as it opens and closes, progresses in a coherent fashion, from the sides in to the center and back. Very often, people leave a bit of extra darkness at the point where the blend hits the sides, inhibiting side closure just a bit. I think this "confuses" the reed, making it just a bit hesitant in setting up a stable vibration regime. (This fix is not as dramatic as the first suggestion or the following one.)
Third, there can develop dark bands (at the edge of the blend/heart and heart/windows) which will very much make articulating more difficult. Because the grain of the cane is more exposed at these points, they tend to absorb water and get thicker and stiffer. Make sure you have scraped these dark bands off, if they exist.
Hope this helps!
By the way, Arthur Weisberg's "Art of Wind Playing" has a lot of good info about the technique of articulation.
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