Josh, this is your former student, Kevin, from Chicago . What a game changer -- I use the B40 Lyre paired with the Legere French Cut 3.5 and I think iI sound just as good as I did with a cane reed!
Vocalise R is very closed, I loved the articulation but it's hard to put air through. Now playing a Shifrin which is MAGIC with synthetic reeds. Getting a McGill and Hawkins this week and look forward to trying them.
So ... Are the Vandoren MPs the 13 series? My BD5s in 440 and 442 play vastly differently. The consistency of the Legere for the same strength is not that good, but I like the other attributes. If you can find a 5RV or a Yamaha 4CM, they work well. Seems to be medium long facings with a 1.02-1.05 tip is a good start. Tom NLR AR
O, that's a great question! I don't remember for sure, but I believe the were 13 series. That would be really interesting to compare the 13 series vs. not 13 series. I totally agree with everything else you said!
I have been playing sax and clarinet for 30 years and still use only 1,5 reeds with a 4C... anything over two is just too stiff to make any sound.. what should I do??
Wow that is a really soft reed for that mouthpiece and very interesting that anything harder doesn't work! If you are happy with how your current set up is working for you then you certainly can stick with it. I would imagine if anything harder isn't working for you it is because you are using far too little and firm embouchure pressure. Playing on such a soft set up has probably trained you to be very open and gentle with your embouchure to let the reed vibrate. If you want to switch to a harder reed, work on flattening your chin to firm up your bottom lip and then squeeze a little bit more strongly on the reed and mouthpiece to bring it into position to vibrate. I hope that helps!
Josh, this is your former student, Kevin, from Chicago . What a game changer -- I use the B40 Lyre paired with the Legere French Cut 3.5 and I think iI sound just as good as I did with a cane reed!
Vocalise R is very closed, I loved the articulation but it's hard to put air through. Now playing a Shifrin which is MAGIC with synthetic reeds. Getting a McGill and Hawkins this week and look forward to trying them.
As a note I bet I love the McGill. The Vandoren M15 used to be my go-to mouthpiece until I broke it. This looks like similar measurements.
The Shifrin was really nice too! How are you liking the McGill and Hawkins?
So ... Are the Vandoren MPs the 13 series? My BD5s in 440 and 442 play vastly differently. The consistency of the Legere for the same strength is not that good, but I like the other attributes. If you can find a 5RV or a Yamaha 4CM, they work well. Seems to be medium long facings with a 1.02-1.05 tip is a good start. Tom NLR AR
O, that's a great question! I don't remember for sure, but I believe the were 13 series. That would be really interesting to compare the 13 series vs. not 13 series.
I totally agree with everything else you said!
I have been playing sax and clarinet for 30 years and still use only 1,5 reeds with a 4C... anything over two is just too stiff to make any sound.. what should I do??
Wow that is a really soft reed for that mouthpiece and very interesting that anything harder doesn't work! If you are happy with how your current set up is working for you then you certainly can stick with it.
I would imagine if anything harder isn't working for you it is because you are using far too little and firm embouchure pressure. Playing on such a soft set up has probably trained you to be very open and gentle with your embouchure to let the reed vibrate. If you want to switch to a harder reed, work on flattening your chin to firm up your bottom lip and then squeeze a little bit more strongly on the reed and mouthpiece to bring it into position to vibrate.
I hope that helps!