Yep. The closer I get to a concert, the worse all my reeds are, and the harder it is to get any new ones to work. I’m not sure what it’s about. Is it that stress makes me an even worse reed maker? is it that I get pickier as I get closer? Who knows? But it is certainly frustrating.

English horn reeds last longer, but I always have issues with the darn things. The G and G# above the staff are horrendously flat on many of the reeds, to the point where the reeds have to be tossed. With oboe reeds it’s just always a pain to get anything to feel right.

And so it goes. Guess it’s back to reed scraping on Wednesday. (I have too much on my plate today and don’t have any time at all for reeds.)