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I have come to realize how lucky I was to have had Dan Baker as a teacher. At the time I thought everyone had it this good. Dr. McGinnis told me that Dan Baker was the best first-chair trombone to play in the OSU concert band. Good luck on building your chops. I hope my warm=up helps.

@@eugenemarquis4855 I was at Heisey Wind Ensemble last night and mentioned you to Ruth Isenhart. She said you had played with her husband Bill at Cap, and played a solo at David Hite's memorial along with the clarinet choir.

@@tomshook I remember Ruth and Bill fondly, Bill has a great sense of humor. Both of them are strong clarinetists. I played the Cavillini Adagio and Tarantella, a bit nervously since Dan Baker, Val Vore, and Dr. McGinnis were there. The whole concert was a wonderful tribute to David Hite.

David Hite was part of what used to be called the east coast sound. He was close friends with many of the players at that time: Drucker, Gigliotti, Wright and others with the brighter sound of that region. In the 50's he and Gigliotti even produced a mouthpiece together. Over time he did move his sound somewhat darker, though only moderately so. He had an abundance of technique which made his playing sound effortless. He also liked to indulge in some rubato. He taught with a deep knowledge of the science behind what it takes to play the clarinet.

@@eugenemarquis4855 this is wonderful to know! I'm always intrigued by the background of a player; we all make our own decisions about sound especially, and often times, not only our teachers but our friends and the times are major influences. Is the Hite-Gigliotti mouthpiece what you play currently?

@@amay.clarinet For many years I would visit David Hite and his wife at least once a year. He would let me play and select mouthpieces for my students. The last time I saw him in 2003, before his passing, he had been started making his mouthpieces with a longer facing. After decades of sticking to a 34 length, he was making them as long as 40. The few that I bought that day, 36-37 length, remain the best mouthpieces I ever got from him and continue to use today. I used Rico Grand Concert thick blank 4.0 or 4.25 reeds for many years because I felt they had the best cane at the time. Back to V-12's now days. I also got to play his collection of original Chedeville mouthpieces. Incredible! I asked him why his mouthpieces didn't play that good. He replied that he had been chasing that goal for decades.

I don't know at what stage of 'beginner' you are, but my guess would be to start out doing the scales and arpeggios only one octave up and down and staying mostly or only in the low register. Same for the chromatic scale. Always start with low E, gradually extending how high you go. Start slow and gradually go faster and add more octaves as you can. Besides refining your equipment, doing low register long tones at a full mf or f is the best way to start improving your tone. Concentrate on correct breathing, relaxed throat muscles and position, refining embouchure influences, and muscle memory.

It is an area-wide select group of HS students who are not just from one school. High School nonetheless. Amazing skill level for sure.

I do some balancing work on reeds though less seems to be needed due to the improvements in manufacturing. I am preparing a video on balancing reeds, out later this year. Definitely, I wait until late in the break-in process to do any balancing. As you say, not until they have settled.

I tried Gonzalez when they first appeared. Good cut. Played well. Short life. What counts the most with me is the quality of the cane, its' springiness. Some day someone will figure out a way to correctly judge each piece of cane for how good of a spring it will become as a reed.

Off the shelf R13 Bb, no additional undercutting. The best one of over 50 new ones that I tried. Clark Fobes barrel. Hite D model mouthpiece, old enough that David and Jean did the facing and finish work. One of a few from the last time I saw him. Bonade inverted nickel-plated ligature. Ligatures can vary a lot in how they play. Try several of the same model, if you can. There can be a big difference from top to bottom. Well worth the time.

I think that it will help if you precede anytime you play with a minute or two of just practicing breathing. Hands on the sides of your abdomen, relaxing and inhaling correctly, learning to push down with the diaphram. Getting that part right is the key to getting everything else to work right.

@@eugenemarquis4855 I will apply your advise. It's off-clarinet practice. Thank you.

@@eugenemarquis4855 Are you supposed to push down with the diaphram throughout your playing, or only for certain tone articulations? I realised it's what I actually do when I do air support vibrato. And the dia push also seems to control my mouth cavity air supply during circular breathing, funny as it seems.

Thank you for your kind words. You seem to be on the right path already. Learning to use the muscles cooperatively instead of using brute force is an important part of that path. I'm pleased that my video has been helpful. Tell your friends.

@@eugenemarquis4855 thank you! This is good to hear. I'll share this video with my other reed friends!

Your observations are very illuminating. As a teacher I practice positive reinforcement with a calm approach. I've had a lifetime of trying to figure it all out. The video is just me explaining stuff as if there was a student present. Thanks.

I do this warm-up only on Bb clarinet. Since the parameters of a good tone are much narrower on clarinet, by comparison it makes most other horns easier to control. My tongue can move just as fast on larger instruments. It's possible to tongue faster than the instrument can respond. Contrabass clarinet is a real slow-poke.

WOW! I'm happy that you've had such success with your reeds. What you describe is typical of how we all have to adjust to our weather and surroundings. The reeds you prepare in Miami will not play the same in Denver. You must be doing what works best for your area.

I had a box of nine reeds that were absolutely horrible, ready to be thrown away, but when I ran across this break in process.. I salvaged six of the nine. I'm starting on a new box today and I'll implement, soaking them every so often, in between the process. Thank you Mr. Marquis!

Johnny Mathis is truly a class act and a genuinely nice person backstage. I remember working and talking shop with you back then. Ann Dickson studied clarinet with me when she was in HS. Her father is the long-standing bary sax in the Blue Wisp Big Band from the Cincinnati area. Many players do some sort of break-in, but usually for a shorter period. It takes real commitment to do the much longer break-in like the Marcellus approach. Once tried, it sells itself by the superior reeds produced. Robert Marcellus was the teacher you went to after studying with everybody else. He was like a finishing school for clarinetists. He could hear and fix things that other teachers seemingly couldn't do as well. Very high standards, partly from Szell.

Many of my reeds are usable for years, Often, they continue to get better for a long time. My best 4-5 reeds can be six months to two years old. I practice and work on reeds daily. To get the results that I do takes the whole process that I describe in the video. I delay balancing reeds until well into the break-in stage, They change too much earlier on. The Marcellus approach is to protect the natural springiness of the reed for a long as possible. Try it and see for yourself.

Since I will try every reed in a box, what the heart looks like doesn't weigh into my decisions. However, there used to be a music store in downtown Cincinnati, Tri-State Music, that had a table and light set-up so you could look through many reeds and inspect their insides. The reeds with the upside-down 'U'-shaped heart played better. I could count on getting a better-than-average number of good reeds by being able to select them that way. Today that kind of store is rare. Sealed boxes are the norm. Try them all anyway.

I have always done some sort of break-in since jr. hi school. Marcellus' much longer system yields results worth the extra time and effort. The best reeds play a lot better just from this treatment and last much longer. More videos coming this summer: My Marcellus-developed warm-up (Not Klose page 123). Clarinet Fundamentals as learned from Hite, Campione, and Marcellus. At least two more clarinet choir videos.

That and more. I am used to the more analog way of fixing reeds and the extra flexibility that it may have. Just one good knife with a scraping edge and a rounded tip to be able to do very small adjustments.

@@eugenemarquis4855I don't have a reed knife. I've had the geek for a while. I'm not comfortable using it except for the back :-).

Very curious. What you describe is opposite of what most players I've talked to say what happens with their reeds. My guess is that you may not be bringing your reeds to the optimum level of wetness. Too dry makes reeds play stiffer, but too wet will make them swell up too much and tighten up inside, making them play with a bound-up kind of resistance. I'll have to think about this some more.

I was also fortunate to hear Robert Marcellus in many concerts. His performances were as valuable as the lessons. The recordings with Szell still stand as benchmark examples of how to play the clarinet in an orchestra. More videos are in the works, including the warm-up that I developed with his help and continue to use. It's not Klose page 123. Other music videos are also coming. Thanks

Thank you. I've always tried to be a pragmatist. This process works.

You can have the best clarinet, mouthpiece, and ligature in the world, but without a good reed, you can't get your best sound. Period.

I use water all the time. Fresh tap water at home and a bottle of fresh water that goes in my case for everywhere else. Saliva will get on the reed while playing. Using water all the rest of the time helps to rinse most of the saliva out of the reed. The primary goal is to minimize the chemical effect of saliva. Water is also better in many other ways.

Thank you for your kind words. If you go from just playing the reeds out of the box, doing nothing special, trying this break-in approach could transform your playing. We can't play any better than that piece of cane will let us. You will play better and enjoy it more.

I used one plastic reed for two years of marching band. It took all the wear and tear off of my cane reeds. Todays' synthetic reeds play much better than those of decades ago. But the best ones are still only about as good as the 4th or 5th best reed in a box of 10, using the Marcellus break-in approach. I can produce much better playing cane reeds that easily last a year and quite often 2-3 years. I have noticed that when some players switch to synthetic reeds, their pitch drops and the sound spreads. Not always , and I'm not sure what might cause the difference. Too soft of a reed? Doubtful in a fine player. Synthetic reeds are easily way more consistent than cane reeds. I will use them when they are as good or better than the best reed in a box.

I have tried Legere Signature reeds and, while I think it is possible to get excellent results with them, I haven't been able to get used to the feel of them on clarinet, though I now prefer them to cane on alto sax, but that is a different instrument. As for longevity, using a single reed and playing it regularly, I find the Legere reeds on sax last maybe a few months before becoming too soft for my taste, though maybe they would still be playable on a different kind of mouthpiece after that. Legere recommends rotating their reeds, and I am going to start doing that to see. Certainly, not having to break in or balance reeds is a major advantage of synthetic, as well as their stability, and some really excellent concert clarinetists sound fabulous using the Legere Signatures, clarinetists such as Corrado Giuffredi, Eddie Daniels, and Ricardo Morales, all of whom have recorded extensively with these reeds.

You are one of the few people I've heard who could actually play an Eb clarinet in tune. David Hite loved the picture of you in the military recruitment poster. He said you looked like you were happy to be getting out. That well-practiced grin of yours.

I leave reeds flat side up on the glass plate 24/7. Storing reeds is only needed if you don't have a way to leave them out safely in one place. Try to let them dry completely before putting them away. This lessens the chances of any mold forming.

It sounds like you must have high humidity in your area and the reeds stay wet too long. Do whatever you can to help them dry out faster. Maybe a small fan blowing on them would help. Any alcohol absorbs water but I would suggest not using vodka, but only water instead.

The problem is that when the reed comes out of some box, it still must be made playable in whatever the surrounding conditions are. Basically, I always dry my reeds completely before storing them. Using water, I can adjust how much I wet the reed to match the conditions of the air/temperature/humidity, to get almost any reed playable.

Either no more than an hour or so at a time, or if it suddenly acts up and gets bad, it immediately gets replaced. If you stop playing a reed when it goes bad, it might be usable the next time. If you keep playing it, it could become unusable. This applies to reeds that are already broken-in.

For that person I suggest taking any new reeds to rehearsals, play each one no more than five minutes, then play any older reeds for the rest of the rehearsal. Use water and any other parts of my suggestions that fit your style and time. Try not to use new reeds a lot until they've been broken-in through several rehearsals.

Merci

After reeds are through the process and are mixed with the reeds in my case, I play them much longer. My rule of thumb is no more than an hour or so, but if a reed starts to play badly I replace it immediately. If you stop right away when a reed acts up, you might not damage it. Continuing to play it could ruin it. Newer reeds should be treated more gently at first. If you do that, they keep getting better for a long time.

I delay balancing work until near the end or after the break-in process is finished. The reed changes too much in the early stage. With the improvements in manufacturing, reeds seem to need less adjusting than 50 years ago. The cutting is much more consistent. I do the same when breaking-in a new wooden instrument. No undercutting or tuning work for at least six months to a year. Wait for the instrument to settle down and then fix it. Clarinets tend to be more resistant when new and become more free-blowing with time. If you do the undercutting and tuning on a brand-new instrument, it could be too free-blowing a year later. When selecting a new clarinet, I go for the best one that is a little too resistant, to have room for it to loosen up. No video on balancing reeds, yet. I likely have little or nothing to share that isn't already known and available. Let me know if Robert Marcellus' process produces good results for you.

If possible, I let my reeds dry out completely before putting them in holders with grooves underneath the reed. No baggie with a wet sponge inside. Just in the reed pocket in my case. I adjust wetting the reed to compensate for weather conditions. Using water allows you to wet less on a rainy day and more in the winter. Buildings with steam heat are the worst at drying out the air. In the mid-west summers can be way too humid. The problem becomes avoiding mold from too much moisture. I've not had much if any difference trying the newer reed holders. What I do is sort of the old analogue way. Mostly what I learned from Robert Marcellus and David Hite. And continuing to keep an open mind to new things.

When I do clinics, I always take a straw poll asking folks how long their reeds last. (Mine are always the oldest usable reeds) There always is a connection between the lifetime of reeds and how long people spend in a break-in stage. Longer break-in equals longer life. No break-in, much shorter lifetime. When I extended the break-in from seven days to the much longer time that Marcellus preferred, my reeds played much better, lasted longer, and produced more usable reeds in every box.

Your daughter studied clarinet with me. Right, doctorsqueaky?

I've known people who use distilled water to help minimize mineral build-up. I prefer to control the wetness of reeds by manipulating the wetting procedure. For me, sealing the reed has been minimally effective. Water molecules are extremely small and can easily bypass most materials. To that end, the Rico Plasticover reeds are too well sealed. You have to work hard to get those reeds wet enough. Find the happy medium your best way.

I practice clarinet every day. Reeds first. Then a routine of scales, etc. Then whatever music needs work. My reeds usually continue to get better for a while, easily lasting 1-2 years. It's not uncommon to have good, usable reeds that are 4-5 years old. The Marcellus reed I tried was over 14 years old. My best so far lasted 12 and 1/2 years. In it's 11th year It was still good enough for pit work. I should have played my best, finished reeds in the video. In clinics I play the best, worst, and oldest reeds. Every reed gets played at least 1-2 hours a week, not including gigs. Hydrogen peroxide will clean a reed but seems to shorten its lifetime. Water is still one of the best solvents.

My warm-up starts with the reed work first. From the 2nd day forward your first notes should get a good tone more easily since you're 1st notes are played on a good reed. This should also help you play more correctly. After reed work I do finger and tongue patterns. Try as shown in the video and let me know the results.

Thank you very much! And••• Do you play new reeds only 30 sec before 28 days?

You have to be the Mitch I went to CCM with. Greetings old friend. Fond memories.

So, is that the stuff that gives new reeds a nasty taste? Is stability ever really achieved?

I'm a bit jealous. I was never on his joke list.