You have helped me over the years. I'm into Jazz/Swing where musical ideas are important. The precious Clt guys are too scared to play until their gear is perfect. OK, that makes me a rough as guts Artisan, but I'm working & playing for the enjoyment of people. THAT is what the job is about. You have helped me to be Technically more efficient & I love you for that. My attitude = if we wait for everything to be perfect we'll never play anything. PS. When we share info, we ALL become better. Thank YOU for your sharing.
Completely agree! Double lip I find myself indeed is beneficial in all aspects of clarinet playing. Opens a whole new world of possibilities in music expression. The only thing is It lacks stability compared to single lip, especially when playing standing up.
Enjoy these videos! BTW, daily fasting can help you lose weight ... empties the liver of it's energy reserve and you start burning fat. I don't eat from about 7 pm until after I've had my 1 hour power walk the next morning ... so, at least 15 hours without food. Went Vegan 11 months ago and BMI from 27 to 20, type 1 diabetes virtually gone and BP is lower than whale manure. Keep up the great educational videos ... and, I usually play Tom's clarinets over my R13 and various Backun models. Tom is a genius!
If the instability of reeds forces bad habits behind the nose, why not use a reed that doesn't have that variability? Synthetic reeds are stable and used by an increasing number of professionals at the highest levels of playing. For a guy who has spent a career advocating hard rubber as a material for clarinets, it surprises me that you would not want to have all your equipment (including the reed) to be made of a stable material.
I didn't say anything in the video about instability. It's the poor structural balance that is the problem, not instability, and no maker produces consistently well-balanced reeds. The problem? The reed machines are not adjusted finely enough.Once reeds are well-balanced they are comparatively stable. The poor balance of reeds is a factor that actually makes the reeds play very inconsistently from day to day. Plus, not all synthetics are well balanced---and they are hard to adjust---and when you blow it you blow a lot of money. I liked the Legere reeds when they first came out around 2004---they played great and I recommended them to professionals and students as well---this student/professional garbage is nonsense. (Students, in order to progress properly need the best equipment they can get. Bad habits begin with bad equipment combined with poor instruction right at the beginning). Then they changed---too many idiots must have given bad advice. In recent years the ones I've tried don't seem nearly as well balanced---and the formula must have changed, so the material doesn't seem to me as resilient and responsive. Combined with the weird balance these reeds forced me to bite to make them respond. I worked on them but with marginal success. Too bad. It WAS a really good product and morons influenced changes to make the reeds "work" for biters probably using crooked facing mouthpieces---which was the stupid fad among players in the Northeast for reasons I cannot comprehend. I think the rationale was that crooked facings cause the reed to "undulate" or some such nonsense. But the bottom line is it is IMPOSSIBLE to properly balanced a reed to a minimum standard of responsiveness when the facing is crooked. And to make the reed do anything you have to bite to clarify the tone and FORCE the reed into responding when you play high and softly. IF you want to work your butt off to get the reed to respond---play a crooked facing mouthpiece. I'm far from against synthetics. I'm all for them. I thought was Legere did in the early 2000 was ground-breaking. A great synthetic would make life a lot better and simpler. But beware the advice of the "professionals." Many are where they are because of native talent and hard work, not because they know a lot about equipment and what will really work for the vast number of players. Personally, I wish Guy would return to the original product I played and recommended around 2004 or so---the one he produced in early production. I liked it. Those were excellent and very consistent. The vast number of mouthpieces are symmetrical regarding the facings. Those reeds worked great on them. Regarding clarinets---you have to remember hard rubber is a NATURAL substance---not a synthetic. It is simply processed to make it stable and rigid. Metal flutes which are the standard for players the world over are much more highly processed than the latex from the rubber tree to make clarinets. But, of course, there is no objective proof whatsoever that natural materials are superior to non-natural materials and that better instruments can't be made from them.
@@avarmadillo I'm not a professional player, and I own an ATG system and use it to my advantage. All of my experience tells me that a reed that seems well balanced on one day may not be the next time you strap it on, and I can't accept that the material stable. What I don't understand is how you can make an argument for stability of the instrument without making the same argument for the reed. Both the stability and expense arguments seem the same. Help me understand what is different.
@@paulchaitkin1916 As you break a reed in by playing further adjustments may be needed---but these adjustments are not the same as the basic balance you do initially. These are refinements you may need to do to make the balance better and better. Before I do any of that I try making minor adjustments to reed placement on the mouthpiece. Even slight differences of placement on the reed, up or down or side to side can make a noticeable difference in how it plays. Synthetics are no different whatsoever in this respect. Put the synthetic on carelessly and it will play poorly. I'm not against synthetic reeds. Did I say I was? Where can you find I said or wrote that? When Legere reeds first came out I thought they were great. But recent samples I've played fall for short---the material is not as good and vibrant and the balance of the reeds is also problematic. If Guy returned to his original designs I'd be happy to play and recommend them along with cane reeds. Right now the production I've seen do not seem to be made for symmetrically face mouthpieces---a tragedy in my opinion. IF you want more stability in your cane reeds fine balance them, take great care in reed placement on the mouthpiece, and keep them in an environment when you're not playing them so that they play immediately with little to no soaking. Finally, I have a video somewhere in the archives about wetting reeds. No sure where it is, but the way I wet reeds, as shown in the video, helps my reeds play very consistently once they are well balanced.
i've found that the Legere reeds, unless very hard, play with lower pitch, especially in 3rd register ... used them for years, but back to Pilgerstorfer Dolce and Reserve Evolution.
You have helped me over the years. I'm into Jazz/Swing where musical ideas are important. The precious Clt guys are too scared to play until their gear is perfect. OK, that makes me a rough as guts Artisan, but I'm working & playing for the enjoyment of people. THAT is what the job is about. You have helped me to be Technically more efficient & I love you for that. My attitude = if we wait for everything to be perfect we'll never play anything.
PS. When we share info, we ALL become better. Thank YOU for your sharing.
Completely agree! Double lip I find myself indeed is beneficial in all aspects of clarinet playing. Opens a whole new world of possibilities in music expression. The only thing is It lacks stability compared to single lip, especially when playing standing up.
Thanks..I'm going to try this .
Enjoy these videos! BTW, daily fasting can help you lose weight ... empties the liver of it's energy reserve and you start burning fat. I don't eat from about 7 pm until after I've had my 1 hour power walk the next morning ... so, at least 15 hours without food. Went Vegan 11 months ago and BMI from 27 to 20, type 1 diabetes virtually gone and BP is lower than whale manure. Keep up the great educational videos ... and, I usually play Tom's clarinets over my R13 and various Backun models. Tom is a genius!
If the instability of reeds forces bad habits behind the nose, why not use a reed that doesn't have that variability? Synthetic reeds are stable and used by an increasing number of professionals at the highest levels of playing. For a guy who has spent a career advocating hard rubber as a material for clarinets, it surprises me that you would not want to have all your equipment (including the reed) to be made of a stable material.
I didn't say anything in the video about instability. It's the poor structural balance that is the problem, not instability, and no maker produces consistently well-balanced reeds. The problem? The reed machines are not adjusted finely enough.Once reeds are well-balanced they are comparatively stable. The poor balance of reeds is a factor that actually makes the reeds play very inconsistently from day to day. Plus, not all synthetics are well balanced---and they are hard to adjust---and when you blow it you blow a lot of money.
I liked the Legere reeds when they first came out around 2004---they played great and I recommended them to professionals and students as well---this student/professional garbage is nonsense. (Students, in order to progress properly need the best equipment they can get. Bad habits begin with bad equipment combined with poor instruction right at the beginning).
Then they changed---too many idiots must have given bad advice. In recent years the ones I've tried don't seem nearly as well balanced---and the formula must have changed, so the material doesn't seem to me as resilient and responsive. Combined with the weird balance these reeds forced me to bite to make them respond. I worked on them but with marginal success. Too bad. It WAS a really good product and morons influenced changes to make the reeds "work" for biters probably using crooked facing mouthpieces---which was the stupid fad among players in the Northeast for reasons I cannot comprehend. I think the rationale was that crooked facings cause the reed to "undulate" or some such nonsense. But the bottom line is it is IMPOSSIBLE to properly balanced a reed to a minimum standard of responsiveness when the facing is crooked. And to make the reed do anything you have to bite to clarify the tone and FORCE the reed into responding when you play high and softly. IF you want to work your butt off to get the reed to respond---play a crooked facing mouthpiece.
I'm far from against synthetics. I'm all for them. I thought was Legere did in the early 2000 was ground-breaking.
A great synthetic would make life a lot better and simpler. But beware the advice of the "professionals." Many are where they are because of native talent and hard work, not because they know a lot about equipment and what will really work for the vast number of players.
Personally, I wish Guy would return to the original product I played and recommended around 2004 or so---the one he produced in early production. I liked it. Those were excellent and very consistent. The vast number of mouthpieces are symmetrical regarding the facings. Those reeds worked great on them.
Regarding clarinets---you have to remember hard rubber is a NATURAL substance---not a synthetic. It is simply processed to make it stable and rigid. Metal flutes which are the standard for players the world over are much more highly processed than the latex from the rubber tree to make clarinets.
But, of course, there is no objective proof whatsoever that natural materials are superior to non-natural materials and that better instruments can't be made from them.
@@avarmadillo I'm not a professional player, and I own an ATG system and use it to my advantage. All of my experience tells me that a reed that seems well balanced on one day may not be the next time you strap it on, and I can't accept that the material stable. What I don't understand is how you can make an argument for stability of the instrument without making the same argument for the reed. Both the stability and expense arguments seem the same. Help me understand what is different.
@@paulchaitkin1916 As you break a reed in by playing further adjustments may be needed---but these adjustments are not the same as the basic balance you do initially. These are refinements you may need to do to make the balance better and better. Before I do any of that I try making minor adjustments to reed placement on the mouthpiece. Even slight differences of placement on the reed, up or down or side to side can make a noticeable difference in how it plays. Synthetics are no different whatsoever in this respect. Put the synthetic on carelessly and it will play poorly.
I'm not against synthetic reeds. Did I say I was? Where can you find I said or wrote that?
When Legere reeds first came out I thought they were great. But recent samples I've played fall for short---the material is not as good and vibrant and the balance of the reeds is also problematic. If Guy returned to his original designs I'd be happy to play and recommend them along with cane reeds. Right now the production I've seen do not seem to be made for symmetrically face mouthpieces---a tragedy in my opinion.
IF you want more stability in your cane reeds fine balance them, take great care in reed placement on the mouthpiece, and keep them in an environment when you're not playing them so that they play immediately with little to no soaking.
Finally, I have a video somewhere in the archives about wetting reeds. No sure where it is, but the way I wet reeds, as shown in the video, helps my reeds play very consistently once they are well balanced.
i've found that the Legere reeds, unless very hard, play with lower pitch, especially in 3rd register ... used them for years, but back to Pilgerstorfer Dolce and Reserve Evolution.