Reeds synthetic reeds

lee_ · Feb 12, 2007

Don't worry, Roger. I won't get drawn into any kind of political debate, at least not on this board. My view is everybody has a right to form whatever opinion suits them, however well- or mis-informed it might be.

I was just curious what sort of negatives LL had in mind, is all. Alligators, no doubt. Do ya'll have alligators?

jersey_mike · Feb 12, 2007

I took the plunge today and bought a medium Bari reed for $9 US. My initial reaction is good as low notes really popped out and vibrato sounded quite good, and I've never been that good at it! Extensive tryout will have to wait until tomorrow as it appears that I left the reed in my work truck 25 miles away (either that or I lost the danged thing already). It's also my wedding anniversary today so heavy practicing tonight wasn't going to happen anyway.

Bobby G · Feb 12, 2007

No alligators here Lee, although sharks appear in many forms.

I now understand a lot more why you use the synthetic reeds, they're only the price of 2 decent cane reeds here. PM received with thanks.

Cheers, Bob

tris · Feb 13, 2007

Mike,

Do you know Tom's River in NJ? My wife lived there when she was young. Funny as she was born in Canada

jersey_mike · Feb 13, 2007

Tris,

I'm in Mystic Island (it's a peninsula--not an island--named by a developer) about 35 miles South of Toms River (which is our county seat I believe) at the very South end of Ocean County. I'm here because my wife grew up in the nearby towns of Barnegat and Tuckerton and her family is still here. I grew up in New Jersey as well, in Cherry Hill outside Philadelphia. Your wife should know most of those names unless she was real young when living here. Debi and I were out of the state for many years and actually met/got married in California before moving here 5 years ago.

Bob,
The marked price on the Bari reed was $13 US at the shop my tech owns. It's a brand new shop, (actually, it's not even open yet as his local government officials are making him jump through some major hoops before signing off on the permit to open) and I suppose he's trying to build a loyal customer base. He's got at least one as there aren't many places that cater to brass and woodwind players in South Jersey, though most music shops (mostly guitar shops) sell sheet music, reeds, mouthpieces and a limited supply of horns. I look forward to him opening as he's built a room for the sole purpose of holding small jam sessions as well as rooms for lessons.

jersey_mike · Mar 31, 2007

Resurrecting this thread too

It's been almost 7 weeks since I bought the harder (medium) Bari reed. I'd been using Java 2's before then. It took a few weeks to get used to, especially in the lower register. In the beginning I noticed that most of my notes were crisper aside from some of the lower ones that were hard to get out. I had to gradually build up strength in my mouth/lips to endure it and couldn't go for more than about 20 minutes at first before changing to a softer reed. Now I can go well over an hour (with some small breaks) and even went 2.5 hours one night doing play-alongs, though I could only muster about 15 or so minutes of long tones the next day. Overall I'd have to admit my improvement has been incredible with this thing. My wife, my boss, my tutor, and the neighbor have all commented on the recent change. Using one reed that is constantly the same every time has taken most embouchure worry away. The notes are now a lot easier to control and hold steadily without wavering and somehow it's increased my finger speed as well. Maybe because I don't have to concentrate as much on getting a solid sound and can focus more on the speed? The one drawback I find is that the synthetic reed doesn't absorb any moisture and a lot more spit (at my age it's called drool) ends up dripping on my hands when the side keys up top are used. I actually sound like I know what I'm doing at times now!!!