I was struck recently by a very simple test I made whilst teaching a student whose reed was too dry. I picked a random reed which I hadn't played for a few days and put it on my mouthpiece directly without moistening it at all. I had to restrain my now almost automatic habit of remoistening it once it was attached, then attempted to play a palm F from cold. The result was surprisingly unpleasant with an airy sound and even squeaky harmonics creeping in, making it very difficult to control. I wasn't expecting quite so stark a difference between it and my previous normal reed. Within a couple of minutes the moisture had got in and the reed started to unwarp itself and sound as usual, but it was a useful experiment to discover just how much difference a dry reed makes to one's tone and control. Even advanced pupils often seem to forget to adequately moisten their reed which dries out at an astonishingly quick rate, particularly in the heart. Reeds being the inconsistent nightmares that they are, anything we can do to make them more predictable and controllable will help, so I commend thorough reed moistening to you, before and during playing.
Well done to all who participated in the June 2021 South London Strings course this week. A video of the concert can be seen here:
https://www.facebook.com/southlondonstrings/videos/328447575339344/ |
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June 2022
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