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(jn4jenny)
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Jones reeds...well, there`s no being nice about it. They suck. You`re probably ten times the oboe player you think you are and your reed is holding you down.
Please, please please take the advice I put here. You probably know most of what I`m going to say but hey, maybe some other people here don`t so I`ll just write it all.
1. I know you`re a clarinet player and store-bought clarinet reeds are really good (Van Dorens, for example), but double reeds are a whole different ball game. Store bought double reeds are just bad, period. I know private teachers who REFUSE to teach students who play on them, they`re THAT bad.
Jones, Emerald, Fibercane are all trash. Emerald is the best of the store-boughts, Gower is OK too--but only if someone destroyed every reed you own right before the concert, no one else in the section will sell you a pro reed from their case, and you have no other choice.
2. Always pre-soak your reeds for at least 3 minutes, preferably five, in a film canister or something similarly-sized. Soak it every chance you get during practice and rehearsal.
3. Don`t EVER blow on the cork end to get extra water unlodged from the cane before you put the reed in. The screws up the way the cane sits and can ruin your reed really fast. Instead, suck on the cane gently instead to get the water out before you insert it.
4. Be sure to cork grease the end of your cork that goes into your reed receiver or else you could warp the staple pushing it in and out of the oboe.
5. Keep your reeds in a reed case. If you keep them in the retail plastic tubes, they`re bound to crack easier and mildew faster, and the cotton in the bottom of the plastic thingie tangles on the microscopic splinters on the cane. It doesn`t have to be an expensive case, but needs to hold at least three reeds (your favorite, the one you`re breaking in, and the backup).
6. Does your SSO guy scrape your reeds specially for you? Because if he doesn`t, he`s probably making them too hard for you--both out of too thick and resistant a cane stock. Pros just play harder reeds, it`s probably what he`s used to. Tell him what your problem has been, and he`ll probably be happy to modify the reed. Or, get your teacher to modify the reeds he gives you. When I first started, my teacher had to scrape all my reeds. No shame in that.
7. Seriously, consider ordering some handmade, pro-tested reeds. I know you`re thinking, "They cost twice what a store reed costs!" but here`s my plug for professionally made reeds:
a. Most pro reed players have actually played on the reed to test it and if it stinks, they don`t sell it. Not true for store-bought reeds. That means about 30% of store-bought reeds are complete trash right out of the box, whereas with pro reeds, generally once you find a maker you like you will rarely get a dud from them. So in the end, you actually pay LESS because you have to go through less new reeds to find one that`s great.
Also, if and when you become loyal to one specific reed-maker, they will often allow you to ship the old reeds back so that they can take off the cane and re-use your copper staple. That can lead to a sweet discount on your new reed.
b. You can tell a pro SPECIFICALLY what you want in your reed. Tell them about what happens to your reeds right now and they`ll work with you. They might let you pick thread colors, which is a dorky thing to care about, but hey--you are paying $16 for the reed. Might as well ask if they`ll let you pick.
c. Pro reeds are made of decent reed stock, which means that when the reed starts to act up, it can usually be revitalized and made to have DOUBLE the life length of a store-bought, often even longer than that.
A lot of people subscribe to this product called ReedLife, which I strongly believe is just 3% hydrogen peroxide (50 cents for a lifetime supply at your local friendly drug store). I`ve done it with hydrogen peroxide and gotten the exact same results, and if you know the chemistry behind hydrogen peroxide, it seems suspiciously similar to what ReedLife supposedly does.
To treat with hydrogen peroxide, soak the cane end in the peroxide solution just as you would soak your reed in water. Wait until the bubbles stop, rinse with water, and voila, your reed is bueno again. Don`t worry, hydrogen peroxide is totally non-toxic to humans (it breaks down to water, which is part of how it disinfects).
Since store-bought reeds are of poor-quality cane, this treatment doesn`t work nearly as well on them as pro reeds.
e. Store-bought reeds can contribute to bad embouchure habits, and if you stick with the oboe, eventually you`re going to have to get handmade reeds. So why not start early before you start messing up your embouchure trying to compensate for a factory-made reed?
f. Once you find a reed-maker that you like, you can order in bulk. For a lot of reed makers, if you order more than 3 or 5 reeds, they give you a 10 percent discount or more. As long as you keep your reeds in a safe place away from extreme temps, they`ll last in storage until you give them their first soak and start breaking them in. So it`s not a bad idea to just have spares on hand--esp. because pro reeds can take anywhere from a week to three weeks to show up at your house.
Seriously, please try some pro reeds--they`ll make all the difference in the world, and like I said, in the long run they`re actually about the same price.
Here`s some reed maker that I like:
www.forrestsmusic.com
www.stuart-dunkel.com (his student reed is the bomb and they`re cheap! $10 a pop)
www.oboeworks.com (their "X reeds" are good for students)
I hope that helps. When I first started playing, switching to good reeds REALLY helped me. Give it a shot.
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