Obviously it takes a great deal more time to make a reed, but you can kind of get the idea by watching this video. You might not want the sound on, but if you like band music perhaps you will. You choose. I think the reed maker clips her reeds earlier than I do, but it’s difficult to tell, since the video does alter time a bit … maybe she’s thinned the tip more than I’m thinking. I don’t use a knife to shape; I’d rather dull a razor blade than a knife. I tie and knot slightly differently but at least this gives those of you who have never made a reed a look at one person’s method. At the end she even plays a few notes for you.
Each reed, counting the gouging process, takes me about four to five minutes to rough and scrape it. Then it will take me another five minutes to adjust it and get it the way I like it.
This is from * an article about a reed maker. Could that be a faulty quote? I just can’t imagine making a reed in 10 minutes! And I can’t imagine making a reed in one sitting either, but maybe that’s what professional reed makers do. Anyone?
*link no longer working
“I spend probably two hours a day just making reeds,” Young says. “The goal is to make one playable reed a day.”
I often think I should be doing this. I’ve never gotten past the thinking phase.
The quote comes from this article, about oboist Katherine Young of the Florida Orchestra.
Okay … these things make me laugh:
#1: “Discover how You Can Improve Your Oboe Reed Making Quickly and Easily. Do you want to make better more consistent reeds without getting an ulcer?”
#2: The background music
#3: Well, look at the cane at the start! Um … it’s a bit on the large side for an oboe reed, is it not? Look at the gouging machine, gouging flat pieces of cane. This is all for sax or clarinet reeds … isn’t it?
So this German video isn’t really what the ad is for. (Deceptive? I think so. But whatever.) The ad on the video is actually for a site I’ve seen before called “Making Oboe Reeds”. You can pay the person $29 (for now … I guess it’s usually $50) for his book. I’ve seen it. It’s fine. But I actually think you can find a lot for free out in InternetReedLand™ these days. Free is kind of nice. :-)
You can always check out this preview by Liang Wang. If only reed making went this quickly!
Oh, how I would love a reed room at UCSC. Someday, maybe …?
Linda Strommen, along with the other double and single reed instructors, has a new reed room. Very cool.
With the ongoing revitalization of the IU Jacobs School of Music, oboe and bassoon professors, coupled with clarinet professors — who also consider the trimming and refinement of their single reeds paramount to a great performance — recently approached the Jacobs administration with the idea of converting a larger space in the annex into a new state-of-the-art reed room.…
As it turns out, long-time supporters of the Jacobs School of Music were also at the ready for such a project. Beth and John Drewes are alumni of the Jacobs School and returned to the Bloomington area after nearly 40-year careers in Wisconsin and Florida. Their interest in supporting woodwind performance at the Jacobs School was sparked when they realized that Strommen was someone they had mentored decades ago.
Nice, eh? I read it here.
I barely slept last night. At 3:45 or so, in fact, I got up and checked email and even replied to one. When Dan’s alarm clock went off at 5:00 AM (Yes. Really. He gets up THAT early.) I was awake already. (Sorry, Dan … I just didn’t say anything in hope that I might fall asleep soon.) So when my 7:00 alarm went off I got up and checked email (being the addict and all), but I think I just might try and sleep a bit.
I haven’t had a problem with insomnia for quite a while. Once my iron levels were straightened out I’ve been pretty good, actually. So I can’t help but wonder if reed making is the cause, and if a doctor could write something out saying I shouldn’t make reeds, but should have them made for me. That just might be the ticket … right? Could I get a prescription for reeds? Gee … wouldn’t that be nice? (IF I could find someone who makes reeds I can play on, that is!)
I have had a very small headache since yesterday evening — nothing like the “baddies” I get on occasion, so I’m glad about that at least.
Hmmm. Maybe reed making also causes headaches.
I’ll bet you’re all thinking “What does she mean by maybe” … right? Reed making IS a headache.
But I plan on doing more today. Later.
I have no children at home. We have one in college, and two are college graduates. But I’m a stay at home mom … at least for yesterday and today. Or I guess I’m a stay at home reed maker. Yes. that’s more like it, eh? The more I decide to stay at home the less gas I buy for the car (although we are getting over 50 miles per gallon at this point in our Prius!). More importantly, the more I stay home, I spend the more I work on reeds. I spent much of the day on reeds.
The first thing I do, when I’m planning on shaping cane, is to put the stuff in water (duh). While those pieces were soaking I worked on some oboe blanks I had wound earlier. So far only two actually seem to have potential, but frequently these little guys fool me. So maybe the good guys’ll turn bad and that bad guys’ll be fabulous. We’ll see. I also looked at some more of my “will they or won’t they?” oboe reeds. They all continue to stay in that category. Sigh.
When the cane had soaked a bit I shaped oboe cane, and wound three English horn reeds (using some previously shaped cane). I carved them a bit. I’m fairly certain, though, that the shape of my English horn cane is simply too wide. I’ve struggled with this shape for a while now, but I’m tired of it. I want something a narrower. Does anyone else have a shaper tip to recommend? I had two shaper tips at one point, one of which I purchased from a friend. I sold that one back to her (if I’m remembering things correctly), thinking it was the one I didn’t care for, but I’m fairly certain I blew it there. I think I need a narrower shape because my G above the staff sags and a narrower shape (I have some cane I purchased already shaped) seems to help that issue. I’d love to hear from you EH players out there!
After working on reeds I taught. That’s always a good way to check up on reeds, since I play duets with students. Oboe Reeds? Forget it! They were just not right. But one EH reed feels pretty good (one of the narrower shaped pieces of cane, of course). I just have to get the low note response to be a bit better. But I’m at least feeling a bit ‘o hope here. Since I’m doing La Mer next week English horn reeds are first on my “get ‘em done” list.
Moving along …
I’m also wondering if anyone has tried the Jende knife. I’d love to hear what folks think about it. Just curious!
I don’t use fishskin, but some oboists do. I used to, but then I was introduced to parafilm and opted to go for that when necessary. Of course we all strive to have reeds that don’t leak and then we don’t have to deal with anything like this, but commercial reeds — including the handmade ones I’ve ordered from a number of makers — tend to leak. So I keep parafilm on hand to fix student’s reeds, and with any of my own that are leaky (could that happen?!). Others I know use plumber’s teflon tape, which is fine but it is so darn white and noticeable. Kind of like advertising leaky reeds. ;-)
Last night at opera fishskin came up for some reason. I said, “I was told it was from the intestines of a fish years ago, but I’ll bet I’m wrong.” And I also know I’m gullible. So today I finally looked up fishskin (also known as Goldbeater’s skin). Well, it’s not from a fish. It’s from a cow. And yes, it is from the intestines.
I’m even happier I have a life supply of parafilm.
Bob Atherholt, principal oboist in the Houston Symphony and professor at Rice University, knows how to make a good reed. In this video we will follow Bob as he takes a raw piece of cane and transforms it into a musical instrument. Buy it here.
You’ll find two other videos if you visit this link.
I’ve not seen mindbites.com before, so I will have to see how all this works, but it might be fun to have these. I know several oboists who have studied with Mr. Atherholt and they are mighty fine players.
So one reed I worked on yesterday and today is really working well. Or it worked well today. Of course who knows how long it will last? I played it for the first act of Onegin tonight, and then played two others for the next two acts. The thing is … if you don’t play on a reed it may change while it sits in the reed box. If you do play a reed it may change because you are playing on it. Some get better as you play on them, some get worse.
You can see the win-win situation I’m in, right?
But in any case, tomorrow I’ll continue to work on reeds. And the next day. And the next. And then next. And then next. And then next.
Yeah. Like that.
Shame!
Anguish!
Oh, my pitiful state!-Eugene Onegin
Really. I am saying the same thing right this very minute. Well … or a minute before I started typing this.
Okay. Back. To. Reeds.
I’m guessing I’ll want this, even though it appears that she is teaching the short scrape. Still, it would be fun to have, and she does include Martin Schuring and I’d like to see what that part is about.
I don’t know, though, what the video costs. So we’ll see. If it’s like a Tiger Oboe maybe not.
The YouTube video did start off in a way that made me “chuckle” though. (I’m using your word, Cooper! Did you chuckle too?) It just seems a wee bit … I dunno … I guess it was just something about “The world of the oboe reed.” It made me chuckle. Or something.
