Reed Reviews

13. May 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Reeds

At one point I was attempting to purchase hand made reeds and write reviews here. Well, I quickly learned I couldn’t afford this endeavor. I did purchase from a few dealers. Some reeds I liked. Some I absolutely hated. I didn’t love anything, but I think most of us who make our own reeds just can’t find anything but our own that will suffice. (I now have a box full of awful, completely unplayable reeds, using the fake cork staples … not sure what to do with these things!)

If you want to see how many reed makers are out there, though, go here. Get a load of that long list! Wow. And check out the reedmaker map. If you order a reed that was made in an entirely different climate, do you think it will behave the same way when you play it? Doubtful. But how handy to get to read reviews.

Even at that site, though, I’d be tempted to take reviews with a grain of salt. You could be reading the review of a student who plays a Bundy, right? You haven’t a clue if the player has any knowledge of reeds. One review page I landed on had this review:

The best reed I’ve used (I would be disapointed if it wasn’t considering the name) The only problem was it got spit cought in the can, and had to be blown nearly 20 minutes for it to clear. Other than that, I loved it.

Um. Okay then.

LOVE This!

11. February 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Links, Reeds

The end result for an oboist is a couple-inch-long reed that sounds like the squawk of a terrified bird (technically called the “crow”) but, when attached to the instrument, somehow becomes the impossibly pure tone of the oboe. If you hear a beautiful oboe, rest easy, for it’s a happy musician. If it sounds sharp or lacks that effortless quality, make haste, for the oboist is upset, and who knows what someone with these sorts of obsessive tendencies is capable of.

… and I love the rest of the article too.

And now I really have to work on reeds. I’ve been telling myself ALL week that I have to wind some and get a a batch going. Instead I worked on some “blanks” (reeds that are wound but not carved) that I just knew were bad (sometimes you can just tell that the cane is crummy). Maybe if I publicly tell all of you that I have to work on reeds I really will.

I will work on reeds. I will work on reeds. Really. I will. I will work on reeds. I will. I will. REEDS. It’s time. I will work on reeds. Really. I will work on reeds. I will work on reeds. Really. I will. I will. REEDS. It’s time. REEDS. REEDS. REEDS. I will. REEDS. I will. REEDS. It’s time. It’s time. It’s time. It’s time. Really. Really. REEDS.

Sorry. It’s just so much more fun to play around with words than it is to play around with cane. Trust me on this. But … well … I will work on reeds. It’s time.

Um. I hope.

Time will tell!

Sometimes I Just HAVE To Stop

08. October 2009 · 2 comments · Categories: English horn, Reeds, Videos

I’m not having great success with reeds. My EH “issue” is that the pitch sags horribly on the G and G# above the staff. If I fix that issue, the reed is far too sharp. So I’m in ReedAgony™ and when I get to a certain place I know the best thing to do is step away for a while. So I am.

For those of you who are tired of hearing of my insecurities and reed woes, you can, after watching the videos in earlier blog entries, move on to Howarth Oboes:

Something About the Day After

28. September 2009 · 2 comments · Categories: Ramble, Reeds

With opera done, UCSC tomorrow, and symphony beginning this Wednesday, I knew today should be spent on reeds. And I tried. Really I did. But there’s just something about the day after a run ends. I can’t manage to get things working. Maybe it’s just psychological. I wonder.

Step Away From The Oboe

14. September 2009 · Comments Off · Categories: Oboe, Ramble, Reeds

I didn’t plan on practicing a whole lot today, but I did know I should do a bit. Of course I procrastinated and didn’t begin until shortly before student #1. Typical me! But I did get in a bit of work. Then I taught, and went back to practicing after that. (I have some tough stuff for the recital.)

Ugh.

The reeds felt awful today. How can I feel so great about reeds at opera one day, and then hate everything the next? So it was a “step away from the oboe” kind of day.

Now I do admit I’m not really using my main opera reeds, but you’d think other reeds would cooperate, wouldn’t you? Well. They didn’t.

So tomorrow morning must be a reed-centric morning. I had planned on doing the house cleaning I skipped today (Manon just made me too darn tired!), but that will have to wait. And wait. And wait. I think it may be one of “those” weeks.

I would like the reed fairy (or fairies … I’ll take more than one!) to get to work. NOW.

Not only do I have some major oboe stuff in opera right now, but I have English horn in the upcoming Symphony Silicon Valley set and then I move back to oboe on Cenerentola, which overlaps with the faculty recital at UCSC. Oh, and somewhere in there I have a Chinese Cantata concert as well. Work is GREAT. I’d better not start whining. Right?


Work is great,
I mustn’t whine,
but reeds are scarce
and make me pine
for one reed ace
(or make that two!)
who’d do the work
that I should do.

Ah, Reed Mouth

06. August 2009 · 1 comment · Categories: Ramble, Reeds

Since I’ve been back to work these past two weeks, I’ve also been working more on reeds. (Why oh why don’t I catch on and work on them when I don’t have a lot of work?! Sigh.) Because of this, I now have “reed mouth”. My lips are chapped. I have a little ridge on the inside of my lower lip that’s sore.

Normally I’m fine. If I’m doing a ton of playing the reed work doesn’t bother me so much. I always play when I’m teaching, and I try to play new reeds then to start breaking them in, but that amount of playing doesn’t really do much for me. And since I wasn’t being a good girl I was neglecting the oboe a bit (for fun things like painting a living room), and my mouth was a bit weak. Playing new reeds to see what they are doing means I’ll be dealing with soreness; usually the reeds are too hard and so it’s inevitable that the mouth suffers.

So now I’m sitting here with my one day off and I’m thinking, “If you know what’s good for you you’ll get to the reed work now!”

But my mouth hurts and I’m feeling like a baby and all I want to do is be lazy.

Hmmm. What will I do?

Only time will tell. (And I may not tell you at all. We’ll see.)

First Rehearsal Over & Out

29. July 2009 · Comments Off · Categories: Oboe, Opera, Reeds

So it’s back to work … or, um, play! I had forgotten that today’s rehearsal was a 3 1/2 hour rehearsal. But of course Cosi has a lot of tacets for oboe, so it’s not like I’m playing all the time. That’s a good thing, since my embouchure isn’t at its strongest.

Reeds? Still not sure what to expect of them. I used two during rehearsal. The first was okay for a while and then it started to get a bit unpredictable if I played forte. The second was okay, but not quite what I want. One that I thought was going to be good wasn’t behaving when I played it at home. Hmmm. I think all the reeds are still deciding what they want to be.

Me too.

Reeds, in any language …

18. July 2009 · Comments Off · Categories: Reeds, Videos

… are made of arundo donax. And the video below is talking about reeds … but it’s in Italian, so oh well. But it’s fun to see the video, and you do get to hear a bit of playing as well. I want to get a copy of that Queen of the Night aria arrangement! :-)

Here’s the entire Queen of the Night work:

Stay tuned for more from these guys!

Home

17. March 2009 · Comments Off · Categories: Conductors, Links, Ramble, Reeds, Symphony

I’m home from the Kiddie Concerts. The concerts are nicely put together by the conductor, Peter Jaffe. He is full of energy, and is really good with children; enough humor to get them up for things, enough control to get them quiet. So it was fun, even though I managed to count wrong TWICE! (Mr. Jaffe was gracious enough not to glare, but boy did the oboe section get a lovely and clear cue for the entrance the next time we played.)

Something about 10:00 AM and all … sigh.

One thing to note: Because I was an English horn player for so many years, this is the first time in my career I’ve played the second movement of the Tchaikovsky sixth. Same with the March from The Love For Three Oranges by Prokofiev (but that’s not quite as common as the sixth). Funny how that happens, eh?

I also tried three of my EH reeds and, dare I say this, I think I like them for next week. I hate saying anything, though, because while of course I’m not at all superstitious I worry about saying anything confident like that. Go figure.

I have two hours now to eat (I forgot breakfast again!), rest up, and get ready to teach three students.

Then I have a night off. Woo hoo!

Reeds & Rooms

04. March 2009 · 1 comment · Categories: Ramble, Reeds

One thing that some people might not realize (unless you play a wacky double reed) is that we have to have a number of reeds for a number of reasons.

Reeds do wear out, so of course there’s that. (Kind of the “big duh” eh?) In addition, they crack, sometimes unexpectedly (some I can kind of guess are actually on their way to a crack, but I suspect that’s because I am not careful enough when I’m carving them). I’ve been known to bash reeds against my teeth even while I warn students of this (yeah, silly me). And reeds change; as I tell students, most reeds are either on their way up, getting better, or they are on their way out the door. The reed peak time is usually very short.

And then there’s the room. I make my reeds in my studio at home. But the making doesn’t stop there. When I get into the pit or on the stage I have to fuss with them some more, because they really have to be “fit for the room”. I recently played in a room that required an entirely different reed than any I had planned on playing. Only my easiest and close to dead reeds worked at all. Everything else felt entirely stiff and unresponsive. I didn’t like the reeds I had to use, but they were my only choice. “Learn to play well on bad reeds” is a motto I follow.

And you wonder why I complain about reeds. Hah!

And Today?

12. February 2009 · 14 comments · Categories: Links, Ramble, Reeds, TV

Yesterday I shaped cane and wound some reeds. Carving on these, the cane felt “just right”. I don’t know how to explain this to you, but I like to say the can is “like butter” in that the knife just seems to take cane off in a smooth way. It doesn’t feel too hard. But it also doesn’t feel squishy soft.

I played a couple of them during lessons, and while they weren’t great, they showed potential. (I rarely play my good reeds during my students’ lessons; it’s a great time to start up new reeds, my students get to hear me at my “new reed state” which I think might help them understand that we all go through the reed issues. And, mostly, I’m too worried about wearing out the reeds I like the most which I prefer to save for performances. Of course this probably means my students think I’m quite a hack!) So after lessons they get to sit on my shelf and think about life. Do they really want to live? Do they want to please me? Only time will tell.

Today I’ll sit down, shape more cane, wind a few more reeds, and see what yesterday’s reeds are thinking as of today. I do know that this wet weather makes reed making a bit more pleasant. The extremely cold dry weather we were having isn’t my cuppa … nor is it my reeds’.

Meanwhile I’m having my latté and listening to the “album” that Brandon is on. (Isn’t it odd that this is called an album? We need a new word, don’t you think? It’s not an album. It’s not a disk. Hmm.) Some folks are grumping because you have to purchase the entire “album”. Whatever. My kid is on it, so I purchased it. (But I won’t leave a comment … wouldn’t want to get labeled a “shill” … a word I just learned, believe it or not.) If you aren’t on emusic, or if you aren’t into downloading an entire album, but are curious about what an oboe player’s son might do musically (nothing at all like what I do, btw), you can always check out his free tracks at Altair Nouveau. (And yeah, that’s a sketch he drew of himself.)

Yeah, I’m a proud mama. Deal.

And just one more thing…
Yes, I watched Top Chef last night. Maybe I like it partly because it’s sort of like auditions; each week the chefs are (supposed to be) judged purely on that particular meal/assignment. (I actually think they do take other things into consideration, but I’m only guessing.) Even while some of the chefs annoy me, I hate seeing them get dismissed, for the most part. I’ve not done a whole lot of auditions, but I’ve been hired to do jobs and, a few years later, get taken off the list. I know how it is to put one’s self out there and give it all you’ve got and later be told, “Not good enough.” Kinda hurts. Big time.

Reeds … Cosi … You Know How It Goes …

03. February 2009 · 2 comments · Categories: Opera, Ramble, Reeds

I’m fine with the run in the finale of Act 2 of Cosi now. How silly of me to get all worked up over it! It was the slower tempo that really threw me.

Of course now that I’ve written that I’ll probably flub it, eh?

Meanwhile, there are the reeds. Sigh.

I have one … you read it right … ONE … that I think is decent. And I’m even worried about that. I have a few that are so-so. And I have a ton that are horrible, sub-par, or unplayable. I’ll continue to plug away at them. And of course I’ll deal. That’s really the truth of it all; I have to play well on whatever I have. What other choice is there?

We have the two final dress rehearsals for Cosi, and then it’s on to the eight performances.

A Reed Room

09. December 2008 · 2 comments · Categories: Links, Reed Making, Reeds

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.

Oh Where, Oh Where Have My Little Reeds Gone?

02. November 2008 · 5 comments · Categories: Ramble, Reeds

My last Elixir opera rehearsal was Thursday, because I skipped out on Friday’s final sitz. I had UCSC, and it’s just too darn difficult to reschedule five oboe students and a woodwind quintet. After Thursday’s afternoon rehearsal I raced back home to teach my 5:00 student (having had to cancel the other two). When I’m teaching I usually pull out my “I sure hope these start to behave soon” reeds and use them. (Yeah, I even embarrass myself — sometimes the reeds seriously misbehave in front of my students!) Friday, when I get to campus, I have about 15 minutes to warm up before student #1 shows up. So I got there this past Friday, and decided to do a bit of practicing on the “better” (hah!) reeds.

Forget about it.

My “good” reeds in my beautiful case weren’t there!

So where the heck are they? I’m praying they are resting happily on the tray attached to my stand in the opera pit. I emailed my colleague to ask if she saw them, but unfortunately she had to skip the rehearsal due to illness. I wrote to the sub, and haven’t heard back.

So I won’t know until I know. And you can quote me on that.

How can I forget my reeds, you wonder? Well, I keep my cute little reed case (see #EMOE) in a black felt sleeve I made, simply to keep the case looking nice. (Yeah, that’s the way I am. Pathetic, no?) When I pack up the reeds and put the case in the sleeve I’m hoping I set it back on the black tray. It’s possible I just didn’t see them, then, when I was putting everything in my handy dandy backpack.

Meanwhile, I have to have some rescue reeds in case I have actually lost the case. (I’d be very very sad if it’s gone.) Time will tell. And last night I did have a dream that was probably about all this; I had three reeds sitting in my little glass of water. I picked them up and slammed them into my chest. Somehow all three reeds not only cracked, but broke in half. I was just about to sit down and rehearse in a woodwind quintet. So I had to frantically make more reeds. It was similar to dreams where you are trying to run and can’t — I think everyone has had those — but in this case I couldn’t carve. Go figure.

UPDATE
My “good” (bad) reeds ARE on the tray. I’m especially relieved because I really like the reed case. :-)

Today

29. October 2008 · 3 comments · Categories: Opera, Ramble, Reeds, Videos, Watch

Today we begin rehearsals for Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore (Elixir of Love). I just hope my reeds decide to behave. Dan said that my reeds would be “wonder reeds” … I suggested that meant “I wonder what’s wrong with this one?”

But who knows.

Yesterday they certainly weren’t happy. Which means I’m not happy. No one wants an unhappy oboist.

I could blame weather, I suppose. Or maybe the quality of the cane. Or perhaps it’s that they don’t care for Donizetti. But of course we all know I’m just not a great reed maker. (grumble)

Maybe a nice hot latté will prepare me for the day and give the the energy to go back into the studio and pull out all those pesky reeds. It could happen.

I leave you (for now) with a couple of clips of “Una furtiva lagrima”. So what tempo would you choose?

Juan Diego Florez:

Rolando Villazon:

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