Working with new reeds...

Human beings are creatures of habit. Over the course of my life I have somehow found myself working out a method for handling reeds which is basically a combination of trial and error and great tips from other clarinettists. 

This blog is not a 'how to' - it's just a description of what I do. Everyone has their own 'rituals' and I'd love to hear what yours entail! 

No matter how good the brand, reeds are not entirely reliable straight out of the box - if you play on them too much to begin with they can change a huge amount. They can start out great and then five minutes later they've turned to tissue paper! I find that running them in gently like this gives them greater stability/ reliability and can help them play better for longer. 
We all know that a happy reed = a happy clarinettist! So for whatever it's worth, here's

My method!

• Take reeds out of box (I know - I'm a genius!)
• Write the date on the box....
• Remove reeds from their plastic packaging
• Soak the tips of the reed in filtered water until they have fully absorbed the water (see video). Watch the tubes on the reed darken as they suck up the water like a straw... Once they are saturated, take them out of the water.
• Wipe them on back of a CLEAN HAND to remove excess water.
• Then let them dry fully on glass/ mirror at room temperature and away from drafts/ any heat source.
• Once COMPLETELY dry you can rub them gently flat side down on inside of a brown envelope to 'polish' them a little. This helps to improve the way both air and saliva travel over the surface of the reed and helps reduce 'pfisstle' (in my experience).
• Return reeds to their cases and rest them overnight.
• Next day – play each reed in turn for a couple of minutes and return to the box. Don’t be tempted to blow too much on a good one just yet!
• Next day play again for a few minutes – note any changes. - Return to box - Continue this process for a week or more. They may change over the course of time, but after a week or so you should have a pretty good idea which ones are going to work for you.

I'll venture further down the reed-rabbithole in future blogs. Meantime, I hope this has been helpful! Let me know how you get on, and please add any tips of your own in comments :) I'd love to hear from you!