Ligatures Ligature tightness

[Dobson]

G,day all. Just to give a little background, i have been playing for 6 months now and am coming on ok. I have a question;- the mouthpiece is a Yanagisawa 6 and a Rovner dark ligature and am using vandoren 1.5 Jazz reeds. I have tried ricos and rico royals. My query is that i have to have the ligature very loose indeed to get the best sound and playability. I feel its too loose cos i accidentaly move it sometimes. If i dont have it so loose it takes away the playability. This is fine if i am playing a balls to the wall piece and you are just blowwing hard most of the time. However if i play "My heart must go on" ( titanic theme) for instance, then to come in softland smoothly is almost impossibe. The sax is a TJ classic student version.
Gents n ladies your comments pls will be appreciated.

Regards

Dobson

 

[Sunray]

Hey Hey Dobson ...

Like you I have been playing [if you can call it that] ;} for around 6 months ...

I often use my Yanagisawa 6 which came with my Sax ... Similarly a Rovner dark ligature ...

I have tried a range of reeds and have never had a problem obtaining a decent sound [pitch] etc with them fitting nice and snug ...

I have found that I was able to move away from real soft reeds quite quickly ... Why don't you give that a try - maybe a 2 or 2.5 would help.

 

[Nick Wyver]

Have you checked that the mouthpiece table is flat? That's a very soft reed - have you tried a 2 or 2.5?

 

[Justin Chune]

Coming in soft and smooth is a musical skill you may not have acquired after only six months playing. Ligatures are not intended to hold reeds in a vise like grip, and reeds are easily dislodged. I'm surprised though that you have to leave yours loose. Splash a little water on to your mouthpiece table and hold it against a mirror, or a window. If it grabs like a magnet the table is flat. Don't let go of it during the test. Make sure that you are using good fresh and free blowing reeds.

Jim.

 

[VirusKiller]

How close to the tip have you got the ligature? Too close and you might strangle the reed if the ligature is tight.

 

[TomMapfumo]

Lots of useful advice there!

My bit - do prepare your reeds (moisten and massage so that they are at their best) and try a 2 strength.
Do also look at trying a different ligature - possibly metal, such as a Rico H, new Selmer 1 screw, or Francois Louis basic - I can find the Rovner Dark a little heavy handed - I use a Rovner EVO-5 inverted - best Rovner I've tried for subtle playing. The Yani is quite a mellow mouthpiece so the Rovner Dark might result in a dampened sound, which metal would counterbalance this tendency. A combination of these 2 things should make a difference.

Kind regards
Tom