Playing New Reed II

[Tenor Viol]

An update from what I was discussing in this thread (here) which was about struggling to get up to pitch.

Had my lesson earlier this evening. First of all he's really pleased with progress (this was my third lesson and I've been playing about 6 or 7 weeks now). He's happy with my pitch saying that it's mostly there - even in the higher register. Obviously I'm inconsistent especially doing octave leap exercises.

As someone else mentioned he thinks that (unlike many) I'm more aware of tuning partly due to already being a string player and singer and so having a developed awareness of tuning.

He did think I probably needed a slightly stiffer reed (I have been using Rico Royal 1.5) so I tried a Vandoren 2.5 (which I believe is meant to be about the same as a Rico Royal 2). Immediate impression was a cleaner sound and tuning was definitley better.

So overall, good news - thanks to the everyone for their comments and helpful suggestions.

 

[Andante cantabile]

Quite a jump from the Rico Royal #1.5 to the Vandoren $2.5 (I assume you mean traditional). A Vandoren 2.5 is more like a Rico Royal 3. No matter what, you seem to be off to a good start. And i am impressed wiyh your commitment to Haydn and Brahms.

 

[kevgermany]

Quite a jump from the Rico Royal #1.5 to the Vandoren $2.5 (I assume you mean traditional). A Vandoren 2.5 is more like a Rico Royal 3. No matter what, you seem to be off to a good start. And i am impressed wiyh your commitment to Haydn and Brahms.

Yes, it works the other way around - Traditional Vandorens (blue pack) are about half a strength harder/stiffer than the Rico Royals. So a Rico Royal 2 is about the same as a vandoren 1.5.

With reeds, stiffer gives cleaner, richer sound, especially on the high notes, but if you go too far, you'll lose the low notes. Vandoren 2.5 isn't that hard, especially on a relatively closed mouthpiece. But you'll find it a lot more work than the Rico 1.5.

I was amazed to find my teacher playing Rico Royal 1.5s on a 0.070" alto piece and getting clean high notes.... Years of embouchure development...

 

[Tenor Viol]

Quite a jump from the Rico Royal #1.5 to the Vandoren $2.5 (I assume you mean traditional). A Vandoren 2.5 is more like a Rico Royal 3. No matter what, you seem to be off to a good start. And i am impressed wiyh your commitment to Haydn and Brahms.

I suspect a bit far for you 🙂, but I am performing here tonight. I won't bore you with the details of last minute dramas about delivery of £80,000 worth of pianos... hopefully 9.30 this morning...

 

[Andante cantabile]

I suspect a bit far for you 🙂, but I am performing here tonight. I won't bore you with the details of last minute dramas about delivery of £80,000 worth of pianos... hopefully 9.30 this morning...

Sorry I couldn't come, but the Tardis had been booked by someone else. The whole thing sounds great.

 

[TomMapfumo]

Slightly off topic but I wonder how many experienced sax players use Vandoren Blue Traditional reeds. Most often they seem to be mentioned (just as "Vandorens") by beginners, in various posts that I've read. I wonder the degree to which they are primarily used by experienced classical players - I certainly see think of them as "Classical Reeds", and have never actually played one, or thought of buying one, having started off on the Rico Royal's route, then Java - V16 - Rico Jazz Select and onwards.

I response to Kev I suppose we might imagine that the Vandoren Blue 2.5 would be a big step up playing wise, but I would speculate that we might outgrow what we start on very quickly, and maybe need a big step up in order to find our right level. On starting trumpet I was using the standard Bach 7C mouthpiece and bought a Bach 1 1/2C (much larger) on ebay just to see & because my tutor played one. My note production/range was instantly better, and I've only ever gone bigger.

The conclusion I have come to is that we are all likely to have an optimum mouthpiece/lig/reed combination, with a degree of variability, and we can seem to have made rapid progress; more likely we have been previously been playing the wrong combination previously (too small/soft or whatever).

The Selmer C* mpc is the same size as a Yamaha 5C (0.067") and many alto players play around 0.076" - 0.080". The Yamaha 4C/5C will often be thought of as more appropriate for a young teenager starting off, but the Selmer C*/Vandoren Blue 2.5 would be a common combination for adult classical players particularly.

Anyway back to my Tenor Mouthpiece comparison test (Rico Graftonite C7/Saxscape Downtown 108/Mouthpiece Cafe House Blend 8/Vandoren Java T55/LeBayle Studio 6*.

 

[kevgermany]

The blue Vandorens play & sound, imho, very similarly to the Rico Royal.

 

[Andante cantabile]

The blue Vandorens play & sound, imho, very similarly to the Rico Royal.

Quite so.