Sarah, at A Glass of Chianti writes about a new student she has who is asking for a clarinet reed. Check it out. Black reeds?? Yikes! This is what some teachers have to deal with. Sigh.
But reeds. Reeds, reeds, reeds. Will the horror never end?
This past year I have been ordering oboe reeds from various suppliers. One has provided me with a few reeds that are so playable that I actually used them for Les Mis! (Yes, I am admitting this here; I didn’t use one reed of my own making for the entire 7 week run.) Unfortunately about 3/4 of the reeds she sent, though, wouldn’t work for me at all. Because those few worked so well she and I might try to figure out what the problem is and see if she can become my students’ reed supplier. All the rest of the suppliers simply made reeds I couldn’t use. At all. Either the overlap was on the wrong side (very common problem, by the way), they leaked, or were otherwise unplayable. Now these reed makers are also oboists, and they use reeds just like the ones they sent me, so obviously we either use entirely different embouchures (quite possible, as I take in very little reed and some folks nearly swallow the thing), the reeds act differently in their neck of the woods (temperature, humidity … they do play a part), or they play on even worse reeds than I make! Believe me, I can make some mighty rotten reeds! But I will continue to work with the one very patient woman if she’s willing, and I will continue to search for others that I like.
Meanwhile, I have to get my own act together and start working on reeds again. During Les Mis I had no desire to even look at a reed when I wasn’t performing or teaching. Now that I have some time, yours truly is going to have to bite the bullet.
Any of you out there want to shame me? Do it! Tell me how many reeds you are working on? Tell me how quickly you can put one together? I don’t mind a little shame now and then.
And if you want to send me a reed, you know I’d let you. 😉
