There are three things to consider when evaluating a reed. I consider these same factors for either single or double reeds, and prioritize them in this order.

1. Response. The overriding concern for me is that the reed responds exactly as I expect it to. A reed that is stiff, sluggish, stuffy, or otherwise unresponsive isn’t a good reed (at least in its current state), even if it “has a good sound” or whatever. Many reed players, I believe, are consistently using reeds that are overly stiff, often in the name of “good” tone.
2. Stability. This is the flip side of the coin from response; a reed that is too responsive is uncontrollable. (Think of the gas pedal and brake in a car: unresponsive pedals make the car feel lethargic, but overly responsive ones make for a jerky ride.) With an unstable reed, it’s hard to play in tune, hard to control dynamics, and hard to keep the tone consistent.
3. Tone. Once I’ve selected a reed that has the right balance between response and stability, I evaluate the reed’s contribution to tone quality. Remember that the reed is only one of many factors that affect tone, and that tone is relatively easy to manipulate if the reed is responsive and stable. Resist the temptation to rank your reeds based on their tone alone.

Enjoy:

Joseph Robinson: Principal Oboe, New York Philharmonic

Find it on: Amazon | iTunes

Repertoire: Saint-Saëns Sonata, Piston Suite, Poulenc Trio, Nielsen Two Fantasy Pieces, Dring Trio, Shickele Gardens, Still Incantation and Dance, Martin Petite Complainte

Anthony McGill

Find it on: Amazon | iTunes

Repertoire: Poulenc Sonata, Debussy Premiere Rhapsodie and Petite Piece, Messager Solo de Concours, Rachmaninoff Vocalise and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Gershwin Three Preludes, Summertime, and It Ain’t Necessarily So

Judith Leclair: Works for Bassoon

Find it on: Amazon | iTunes

Repertoire: Saint- Saëns Sonata, Andres Chants d’arrière saison, Boutry Interférences, Glière Humoresque, Milde Andante and Rondo and Polonaise

Kenneth Tse: Saxophone

Find it on: Amazon | iTunes

Repertoire: Feld Sonata, Muczynski Sonata, Heiden Solo, Morosco Blue Caprice, Benson Aeolian Song, Kaufmann Meditation, Bernstein West Side Story Medley

Related posts:

1. Required recordings, spring 2011
2. Required recordings, spring 2010
3. Required recordings, fall 2010

…and a clarinet.

Related posts:

1. Multiple woodwinds commission, sixth movement (multiple woodwinds or piccolo)
2. Pedro Eustache: ethnic woodwinds
3. Pedro Eustache: Suite Concertante for World Woodwinds and Orchestra

Tammy Evans Yonce

Tammy is a former classmate of mine (go ‘Dawgs), and a flutist and educator to keep an eye on. Her blog, just a few months old, is outstandingly good: important topics, carefully thought out, and clearly and elegantly written. Tammy writes about flute performance and pedagogy, with a special interest in making practice time really effective. A must-read.

• Practicing: Measuring Progress
• Setting Expectations and Establishing a Culture

Also check out Tammy on Twitter, and at her other new blog, the collaborative Music Collective.

Robin Tropper (Born Again Oboe)

Robin’s quirky blog chronicles his renewed pursuit of the oboe, after finishing a music degree and then spending a few years working on other interests. Robin’s expertise in engineering shows through in his posts, which often describe his methodical, quasi-experimental approach to improving his playing, and sometimes include technical illustrations and schematics. Robin is a genuine polymath, and is also very open about his struggles with chronic pain.

• Reed Season! – New Repertoire.
• Reflections on Telemann – Home Acoustics

David Pierce (Dr. Pierce’s Bassoon Studio)

David teaches bassoon at Eastern Michigan University. He seems to use this blog mostly as a way of sharing good bassoon stuff with his students, but it’s a public blog, so you can pretend that you’re in Dr. Pierce’s studio, too. Quality pedagogical resources.

• Warm up pattern
• Weissenborn op. 8 on the IMSLP web site!

Doron Orenstein (Best Saxophone Website Ever)

Doron has chops and experience both as a saxophonist and as a web professional. His blog is polished and slick, but the most impressive thing is the participation of some of the genuine top pros in the saxophone-playing business. Saxophonists of the stature of David Liebman, Joe Lovano, and Walt Weiskopf have stopped by for interviews, some available in podcast form. Doron’s posts mostly take the position of a busy person with a day job, who approaches the saxophone as a serious creative outlet; topics include gear reviews, technique tips, and reflections on advice from great players. Note that Doron also features occasional posts from guest authors, which are by saxophonists of varying stature and expertise.

• Through the Eyes of Dave Liebman
• Category: Reviews
• And this one of course caught my eye: Do Saxophone Players Really Need to Double?

No clarinet love?

Missing from today’s list: a really excellent clarinet blog. There are a number of them in my feed reader, but none I’m in love with at the moment. Let me know if you’ve got something I should be checking out!

I’m pleased to share some audio from my Delta State University faculty recital a few weeks ago.The big event of the evening was the premiere of Sy Brandon’s Divertissement for multiple woodwinds and piano, which seemed to be well received. It’s gratifying to be involved in the creation of a piece that fills a gap in the small multiple woodwinds repertoire—something than can be played by a woodwind doubler, without having to bring in a concert band, a truckload of electronics, or obscure instruments. The audience seemed to enjoy the derring-do of the final movement, which involves six instruments.

I’ve studied the Bonneau Caprice en forme de valse in the past and have had students perform it, but this was the first time I played it in public myself. Since I’m trying to balance a half-dozen or more instruments, I tend to shy away from pieces that seem too technical, and, in that respect, this was the riskiest piece on the program. I was mostly pleased with how it turned out.

All of Poulenc’s woodwind sonatas are on my short list of favorites. I learned the oboe sonata from scratch for this recital. The clarinet sonata I have performed in bits and pieces, and, having spent a good part of the summer focused on the clarinet, I wanted the clarinet sonata to be essentially the finale of the program (the Ray Pizzi piece being a sort of programmed encore). The clarinet sonata ended up being the performance that I was least satisfied with—there were a number of mistakes, several of which were total surprises, and my sound on that instrument still isn’t what I want it to be.

Ray Pizzi’s Ode to a Toad has been on my to-do list for a while now, and it was a hit with the audience. Finishing the program with an unaccompanied piece, and on the bassoon to boot—an instrument that is still in many ways outside my comfort zone—wasn’t a choice I made lightly. But after the recital I could hear people humming it in the lobby, so I’m calling it a success.

Time to starting thinking about next year’s program!

• The oboists don’t have anything Baroque yet.
• The clarinetists don’t have anything by Weber yet.
• The bassoonists don’t have the Mozart concerto yet.
• The saxophonists don’t have the Glazunov concerto yet.

I think I found some great recordings to fill those voids. As a diversity bonus, three of the four are talented women, and one of those is a native Israeli.

Here are the selections:

Ray Still: A Chicago Legend: Baroque Oboe Sonatas

Find it on: Amazon | iTunes

Repertoire: Bach Sonata in G minor, Handel Sonatas nos. 1 and 2, Telemann Partitas 2, 5, and 6, Vivaldi Sonata no. 6

Sharon Kam: Works for Clarinet and Orchestra

Find it on: Amazon | iTunes

Repertoire: Mendelssohn Konzerstücke, Spohr Concerto No. 4, Rossini Introduction, Theme, and Variations, Weber Concertino

Kim Walker: Mozart/Hummel/Wolf-Ferrari

Find it on: Amazon | iTunes

Repertoire: Mozart Concerto, Hummel Concerto, Wolf-ferrari Concerto

Debra Richtmeyer: Extravaganza for Saxophone and Orchestra

Find it on: Amazon | iTunes

Repertoire: Glazunov Concerto, Strauss Oboe Concerto, Ott Concerto, Rachmaninoff Vocalise

Faculty Recital
Delta State University Department of Music
Recital Hall, Bologna Performing Arts Center
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
7:30 PM

Program

Divertissement for multiple woodwinds and piano
Sy Brandon (b. 1945)
World premiere

1. Intrada
2. Nocturne
3. Valse
4. Marche
5. Romanza
6. Galop

Caprice en forme de valse for alto saxophone
Paul Bonneau (1918 – 1995)

Sonata for oboe and piano
Francis Poulenc (1899 – 1963)

1. Elégie
2. Scherzo
3. Déploration

Sonata for clarinet and piano
Francis Poulenc

1. Allegro tristamente
2. Romanza
3. Allegro con fuoco

Ode to a Toad
Ray Pizzi (b. 1943)

Notes

Sy Brandon’s Divertissement for multiple woodwinds and piano (an adaptation of a prior work for oboe, percussion, and piano) was written in fulfillment of a Co-op Press Commission Assistance grant award, and is presented tonight in its world premiere performance. It is one of few existing works that features a woodwind musician playing multiple instruments. The composer says about this piece:

The Intrada [for flute] is energetic and playful with a lot of interplay between instruments. The Nocturne [for saxophone], being a night piece, is both lyrical and mysterious. The Waltz [for bassoon] is in a flowing waltz tempo with occasional shifts away from three beats in the measure. The Marche [for clarinet] is not a piece that would be used in a parade. It is a march that exists in the mind of a child who is playing with toy soldiers; therefore there is playfulness and humor that would not occur in a functional march. Lyrical lines and expressiveness are the predominating features of the Romanza [for oboe]. The piece comes to a rousing close with the Galop [for multiple woodwind instruments], which is a “perpetual motion” type of movement with a lot of rhythmic variety.

Paul Bonneau wrote the Caprice en forme de valse for seminal French-school saxophone soloist Marcel Mule in 1950, and it remains a favorite of saxophonists and audiences today.

Among composer Francis Poulenc’s final works is an incomplete set of sonatas for woodwind instruments with piano. The sonatas for oboe and for clarinet, presented tonight, are frequently performed, as is the flute sonata; a planned bassoon sonata was never begun. The oboe and clarinet sonatas were written within a few weeks of each other, and dedicated to the memories of two of Poulenc’s departed friends and musical colleagues, the oboe sonata to Serge Prokofiev and the clarinet sonata to Arthur Honneger.

Ray Pizzi is best known as a virtuoso jazz artist and studio musician on several instruments, and one of few to distinguish himself as a bassoonist in jazz and commercial music (some of his unique bassoon sounds can be heard in movie soundtracks like Return of the Jedi and Predator 2, as well as television shows like Family Guy). He describes Ode to a Toad as a “whimsical swamp blues.”

—Bret Pimentel

Detailed review follows, but here is the quick summary:

Price

Current street price on both the single reed case and the double reed case  seems to be about $20. This includes one Reed Vitalizer pack. If you choose to use the Reed Vitalizer packs on an ongoing basis, they go for about $5 apiece, and Rico says you will need a new one every 45-60 days (so, up to around $40/year, not counting tax or shipping).

Looks

These are basically good-looking cases. They are plastic, but an appealing plastic with a vaguely leather-like finish. The single reed case is black, and the double reed case is a sort of coppery brown. I can’t see any reason for them to be different colors, and I guess I would prefer for both to be black, since I like to keep my accessories low-key on stage, and I’m more likely to fuss with my double reeds than my single reeds during a concert. Both feature a raised “silver” (plastic) badge that says “Rico,” and a raised blue insignia for the humidity control system. The logos don’t bother me visually, but do cause another minor problem (see “Design,” below).

Humidity

I live in a very humid climate, and my instruments live in an older building that tends to be a little on the damp side. I find that I can generally leave reeds sitting around without any kind of case and not suffer any ill effects. I have also lived in very dry climates, where I found it absolutely necessary to use some kind of humidification system, but using any of those previous methods here has resulted in thriving and colorful mold colonies.

I kept clarinet, saxophone, oboe, and bassoon reeds in the cases over a period of several weeks, playing them regularly. I used the “73%” Vitalizer packs that came packaged with the cases (58% and 84% are also available). Rico claims these packs provide a “2-way” humidification system, which I presume means that the packs can either raise or lower the case’s humidity as needed.

As far as I can tell, the humidification system had no effect on my reeds. This includes a conspicuous absence of mold. I do think that it would be worthwhile to test these in a climate where dryness and warpage are real issues, and I welcome comments below from anyone who has tried these cases under those conditions.

On the other hand, the Vitalizer packs are unobtrusive and don’t add any significant bulk to the cases, so for me there’s no harm in keeping them in there. They are optional, and the cases work fine as ordinary cases without the Vitalizers.

The single reed case keeps the reeds on a fluted surface, presumably to allow some airflow around the reeds. The double reed case has fluted mandrels, which should allow some air to get inside bassoon reeds.

Design

While my overall impression of these cases is positive, I do think there are some design issues that  could use a little tweaking.

First of all, if you have to provide printed instructions on how to open the case, then it’s not designed in a user-friendly way. Even having read and fully understood the instructions, I still occasionally (and embarrassingly) fumbled with these cases trying to get them open. It’s not difficult, just not natural or intuitive.

The eight-single-reeds capacity should meet most clarinetists’ and saxophonists’ needs, but a five-reed case will be unsuitable for some double reed players, particularly oboists. Oboe reed cases sometimes have a capacity of two dozen or more reeds, to allow for reeds in various stages of completion plus possibly English horn reeds. (I chose to try the five-reed case as part of a personal quest for more focused and quality-over-quantity-oriented oboe reedmaking, and may continue to use it for that purpose.)

Doron at bestsaxophonewebsiteever.com reviewed the single reed case recently, and complained of a problem breaking saxophone reed tips against the rubber band that secures the reeds in place. While I haven’t broken any yet, I did come close a couple of times. I also find that the case’s latch slightly blocks access to the two center reed slots unless you lift the reed tray.

The raised logos on the outside of the case protrude by a couple of millimeters, which means that the cases don’t stack tidily. I think I would find this vaguely annoying if I were using two or more in an instrument case.

Rico includes a set of labels with the cases, so that you can indicate what kind of reeds are contained within, but for some reason the label spot is on the bottom of the case. (I suppose you can put the stickers anywhere you want, but a clear label-sized area is marked out on the bottom.) And both the single reed case and the double reed case came with this set of labels:

My biggest gripe about the Rico cases is wasted space. I like my reed cases as slim and trim as possible, to conserve valuable real estate in my instrument cases’ accessory compartments, and to slip easily into a pocket before heading out on stage. Rico has designed these cases to fit a variety of reeds, with a result that is unnecessarily bulky. I think these cases would work better designed for individual instruments. (I believe Rico originally offered a clarinet reed case and an alto saxophone case, though now they offer only the multi-instrument cases.)

Here’s what the single reed case looks like loaded up with clarinet reeds:

As you can see, without changing the outer form factor of the case, the inner tray could easily be redesigned to hold five reeds across (ten total), or be narrowed to hold four across without the extra space. There is also significant wasted space above the reed tips, which gets fully used only if you are storing baritone saxophone reeds.

The double reed case suffers a similar problem, being designed to hold either oboe or bassoon reeds:

The mandrels are conical, so they accommodate both oboe and bassoon reeds, but the oboe reeds have to sit up fairly high on them. The bassoon reeds sit lower on the mandrels, but leave unused space beyond their tips. The mandrels are spaced to allow for the width of bassoon reeds, leaving wide gaps between the oboe reeds—at least six, possibly seven oboe reeds could fit here.

I don’t see much use in having multi-instrument reed cases. Although I’m part of the minority of musicians that plays both oboe and bassoon, I would rarely have any reason to store the reeds together—it seems this design is for Rico’s convenience, not for the reed players’. Storing, say, clarinet reeds and E-flat clarinet reeds together, or soprano saxophone and alto saxophone reeds, seems like a slightly more likely scenario, but the single reed case is still too large.

Verdict

I think these cases have a number of positive qualities, and the humidification system seems potentially useful for those that live in a climate that demands it. But the design issues, stemming primarily from trying to make multi-purpose cases, are significant enough that I’ll be keeping my eyes open for some other options.

The United States Library of Congress’s National Jukebox project makes American recordings from the days before microphones available for streaming online. This is a fantastic resource for recordings—classical, jazz, and more—from the turn of the 20th century until the mid-1920′s.

These recordings are not in the public domain, like you might think; Sony, the owner of the recordings, has given the Library of Congress special permission to stream them.

Naturally, I’ve been searching the National Jukebox for woodwind players, and here are a few of my favorite discoveries. Some of the gems include oddities like the Heckelphone and bass saxophone, and there are a few woodwind doublers in there, too. Take note of how woodwind playing, like recording technology, has changed over the past century!

To kick things off, here’s a nice tour of the woodwind section of the Victor Orchestra in 1912:

• Instruments of the orchestra

Flutists

• Clement Barone (of the Detroit Symphony and the Houston Symphony)
• John Lemmoné (musician and manager for Nellie Melba)
• Darius Lyons (of the Sousa band)
• George Schweinfest (early studio musician)

 Oboists

• William Adams (see also his English horn listing)
• Alfred Doucet (of the Philadelphia Orchestra)
• Ross Gorman (of the Paul Whiteman band; a woodwind doubler, heard here playing some jazz Heckelphone! See also his clarinet and saxophone listings.)

Clarinetists

• Matthew Amaturo (of the Edgar Benson band; see also his saxophone listing)
• Louis H. Christie (of the Sousa Band)
• Ross Gorman (of the Paul Whiteman band; see also his oboe and saxophone listings)
• A. C. Mignella (of the Three Vagrants)
• Nathaniel Shilkret (of the New York Philharmonic, New York Orchestra, and Metropolitan Opera, but mostly playing lighter fare here)
• Larry Shields (of the Original Dixieland Jass Band)
• Leon Witkowski (polka band leader)

A bassoonist

• William Gruner (of the Philadelphia Orchestra; )

Saxophonists

• Matthew Amaturo, soprano and alto (of the Edgar Benson band; see also his clarinet listing)
• Hale Byers, alto and tenor (of the Paul Whiteman band)
• William Foeste, bass (of the Edgar Benson band)
• Ross Gorman, alto and bass (of the Paul Whiteman band; see also his oboe and clarinet listings)
• Chuck Moll, alto and bass (of the Henry Halstead band)
• Thomas Thatcher, tenor (of the Edgar Benson band)
• Rudy Wiedoeft, C-melody (popular saxophone solo artist)

This time I came up with a blog each for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and saxophone, plus a bonus one. Here they are in no particular order:

Barrick Stees (Barry Blogs)

Barrick Stees is the assistant principal bassoonist in the Cleveland Orchestra, and a professor at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Akron. His blog is fairly new (started earlier this year) but is already full of good stuff. Professor Stees shares some insights on playing excerpts at a level suitable to one of the great American orchestras:

• Tchaikovsky 6th
• Firebird

He also keeps a travelogue of his tours with the orchestra, and comments on other items of interest to professional or developing musicians, such as:

• Practicing – planning ahead
• Myth buster #1 – you’ve either got it or you don’t

Cooper Wright (Cooper Wright Reeds Blog)

Cooper Wright is a doctoral oboe student and a recovering professional reedmaker. This is a guy who has harnessed the reed-related neuroses common to oboists, and turned them into a deep understanding of how the little pieces of cane work. His posts are occasional but meaty, with lots of high-level shop talk. Some samples:

• The gouge and making reeds commercially
• The role of the overlap
• Stability, Projection, and the Opera Pit

Adam Berkowitz (Adam J Berkowitz – Clarinetist)

Dr. Adam Berkowitz is a clarinetist and bass clarinetist with contemporary leanings (and a new book on extended techniques). His posts are practical and focused on technique and performance issues, and sometimes include video demonstrations:

• The Next Step Part II (testing new clarinets)
• I, Breath Mark
• The Relaxed Embouchure

Nathan Zalman (Zalman Studios)

Flutist and composer Nathan Zalman’s quirky blog posts are usually at least tangentially related to flute playing, and always full of the kind of common sense born of experience. Check him out and enjoy the ride:

• Cracked lips–OUCH!!
• I Want to Believe (flute gear and the placebo effect)
• My Flute Is Bent (on doing—or not doing—your own repairs)

Ben Britton (Everything Saxophone, Reviewed)

Ben Britton, jazz saxophonist, does frank and insightful reviews of saxophones, mouthpieces, etc:

• Throwdown: Yamaha’s Custom EX Tenor Saxophone vs. Selmer’s Reference 36 Tenor Saxophone
• Otto Link’s “Vintage” Metal Mouthpiece

…and also shares his thoughts on creative jazz improvisation:

• Improvisation Kick Start: Writing Out A Solo
• Improvisation Kickstart Part II: Motif Based Improv

“EWIChris” (EWI Reason Sounds)

Chris doesn’t reveal his last name on his website, so I won’t share it here. (Chris stops by here now and then, so maybe he’ll choose to identify himself in the comments. If not, that’s cool.)

Chris’s blog is very, very specialized: he deals with the use of the AKAI EWI (electronic wind instrument) in combination with a sophisticated software package called Reason. I’m an aspiring EWI player, but I don’t use Reason (yet?); still, I’m always interested to check out Chris’s latest posts, where he often gives away new patches (sounds) that he has developed for users of Reason, and usually provides an audio clip for the rest of us.

• Sound of the Week – Super OB Airy Clarinet
• Sound of the Week – Country Combo

Blog reading tip: the Google Reader “next” bookmarklet

As I mentioned last time, I find Google Reader to be 100% essential for keeping track of blogs. I subscribe to over 300 myself, mostly woodwind-related (or at least music-related), and Reader makes it easy to skim for the blog posts that I want to read in detail. Many of the blogs that I track with Reader are rarely updated, and this is one area where Reader really makes things easy. I don’t want to spend time visiting individual blog sites that haven’t been updated in a year or more, just on the slim chance that the author has resurfaced to write something new and brilliant. But with Reader, if something new pops up, I know about it right away, and, if not, no further effort is required on my part.

But for me, one downside of using Reader is that it gives me the blog content out of context. I enjoy reading the posts on the author’s website, where I can get a more complete picture: their design flair, their blogrolls, comments that others have made about their blog posts, and more. Enter: the Google Reader “next” bookmarklet!

To get one for yourself, visit your Google Reader home page, and find “Reader settings” (it’s currently in the menu in the upper-right-hand corner, with an icon that looks like a gear). Click on the “Goodies” tab, and scroll down to “Put Reader in a bookmark.” Drag the provided link to your bookmarks bar, and you’re ready to go. Click on it to move quickly through your unread blog posts, presented in their native habitats. Enjoy!