"Anything that works against the maintenance of oscillation (such as the reduction of the heights of air-column resonance peaks by frictional or radiation damping, or the misalignment of the resonances so that they fail to set up strongly cooperative oscillatory regimes) requires the player to operate the reed on the more steeply falling portion of its flow-control curve. In order to produce this increased steepness, the musician is required to exert more effort in his playing, so as to provide a combination of increased blowing pressure and greater embouchure tension. This explains why instruments having either heavily damped or grossly misaligned resonances are usually described as "hard blowing" and why the player is likely to find them physically tiring to play.
It is a common observation that really fine instrument with accurately aligned resonances can be played comfortably with a reed that is considerably stiffer than can be used on a less well aligned instrument. . . . When several air-column modes "gang-up" on a reed as members of an oscillatory regime, they can satisfactorily push a much stiffer reed open and closed at the blowing pressure and embouchure tension preferred by a particular player."