Question for Legere Reed Users

[Roger Aldridge]

I'm wondering if others have noticed performance differences with their Legere reeds with the onset of Winter?

I started using Legere reeds on clarinet and tenor over the summer as a way to get me through a series of hot & humid outdoor big band gigs. At that time, I settled on a #3 Legere Quebec reed on Bb clarinet and a #2.5 Legere regular cut reed on tenor. Over the past month or so my Quebec reeds have felt stiffer and more resistant. Understand, I'm talking about playing only indoors. On a hunch, I tried several #3 Legere regular cut clarinet reeds over the weekend and they play beautifully. They have a thinner profile than the Quebec model. (Regular cut is based on Vandoren Traditional and Quebec on Vandoren V12) So, even though I'm using the same strength, the cut of the reed made a world of difference during the change of seasons. Interestingly, when I was first trying Legere reeds last summer I tried #3 regular cut and it sounded too thin to my ears. I then switched over to a #3 Quebec and I was entirely happy with the thicker cut. But, now in Winter it looks like a regular cut works better for me. Hopefully, when Spring rolls around I'll be able to return to my Quebec reeds.

I'm curious if others have had an experience like this.

Thanks, Roger

[danarsenault]

My Legeres change characteristics, too. I use them on alto sax, bari sax, piccolo clarinet, and one of my soprano clarinet mouthpieces. It seems they change all the time, somewhat like cane. They seem less variable than cane, but they change nevertheless. It seems heat is a more important factor than humidity, unlike cane. I had hoped that I had removed one of the areas of variability from playing, but no such luck.

[Mike Ruhl]

This is very interesting. It appears that the Legere folks may have too successful in their efforts to emulate the characteristics of cane! :wink:

Have either of you communicated this back to Legere?

[Roger Aldridge]

Mike,

Yes, I sent a note about this to Guy Legere. It usually takes several days to get a response.

For me, it shows that ANY reed -- cane or synthetic -- has some variances and subtle things that one can encounter. Personally, it seems common sense to me that reeds undergo changes when we go from warm/hot weather to cold tempatures. I have some clarinet buddies who use different reed cuts or strengths with their cane reeds at different times in the year. The Legere web site has a downloadable document that describes how one might need to use a softer reed at altitudes above 5,000 feet as well as a softer or harder strength at "extreme" tempatures -- that is, softer in cold and stiffer in hot. All of this makes perfect sense to me. But, what I found to be interesting is that I'm having this issue while playing indoors. I'm not taking my clarinet out in the snow and 11* cold to play. Thus, I'm thinking that this may have something to do with the atmosphere in going from Fall to Winter. I'd like to know more about this from a scientific point.

Never the less, I'm doing perfectly fine with Legere reeds in dropping down from a #3 Quebec to a #3 or #2.75 regular cut on my Morgan RM28 clarinet mouthpiece. I've had a similar situation with my Legere tenor reeds. But, rather than drop down a 1/4 strength or use a different reed cut I decided to try using the reeds on a Morgan 6M mouthpiece rather than my 6L. The results are amazing! The #2.5 Legere reeds that had begun to sound stuffy and overly resistant on my 6L came to life on the 6M and play beautifully. Happily, the 6M I'm using is on the darkish side. So, there's not a radical difference in my sound in going from the 6L to the 6M...although the 6M's sound isn't quite as fat. I'll use the 6M as my "winter mouthpiece" and switch back to my trusty 6L when Spring warms up my reeds.

Roger

[Mike Ruhl]

I do the same thing on tenor. I've settled on a couple of different brands/cuts/strengths that get me through all the various situations that I'm likely to encounter, whether it's weather or venue.

I picked up on the "atmospheric conditions" gist of your original post. My only conjecture is that the air is dryer in the winter, and unless a building has a humidifier installed, that dryness will occur inside as well. So there may be something about the relative humidity that affects the Legeres.

[Roger Aldridge]

Mike,

I agree with Dan about tempature having a much greater affect on Legeres than humidity. We have some pretty wild swings in humidity in this part of Maryland. The only time that I've noticed signficant differences in how my Legere reeds perform is when cold weather arrived in earnst with tempatures dropping to the teens to 30's range. In a non-scientific manner I'd describe Winter air as "heavier" and Summer air as "lighter". This probably has to do with the angle of the Earth in relation to the Sun in the yearly Solstice/Equinox cycle. On purely an intuitive hunch, I'd say that this is what's leading me to use a thinner cut of reed in Winter and a thicker cut in Summer. If there are any players on the forum who have a day job as an atmospheric scientist perhaps they can help us out with this discussion.

Roger

[Mike Ruhl]

Well, I'm no media-urologist, but if I recall my high school science correctly, there's really only one other atmospheric variable that could possibly come into play: the barimetric pressure. But if the reeds' playing characteristics are changing based on that, then you'd be observing it throughout the year as high- and low-pressure systems move in and out of your area.

Since you're observing this on a stictly seasonal basis, and only really noticing it indoors, I'll stick with the relative humidity theory. It may be more directly related to the type of heating systems utilized in the venues where you're playing. If they're putting out a really dry heat in the winter, that could be causing the reeds to dry out a little, and lose some flexibility. Pure conjecture, I realize.

btw, I graduated from high school in Bel Air, MD.

[Mike Cesati]

Wow,

Listening to you guys makes me want to check my Horoscope next time I have a bad reed. Maybe the planets are out of alignment and thats why the reed isn't responded.

[Mike Ruhl]

The horoscope?!? Come on, man...get The Farmer's Almanac!

Amateur...

;)