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Post by chriskostyshyn on Jul 30, 2007 0:55:20 GMT -5
I love my Vandorens... except I only use a 2 1/2 (Sue me). And we do have Vandoren in Canada...
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Post by oboehorn77 on Jul 30, 2007 7:14:33 GMT -5
I just started clarinet and am currently playing on some random reeds my brother gave me. Ricos, I believe, though I am not completely sure of the strength. Nothing impressive I'm sure . Incedentally, I know that he uses Vandoren, though again I don't know what strength. Says he likes them real thick, but... I think I may try switching over soon. My mom probly won't be happy, either. She's already paying for oboe reeds y'see. (and that's $12 for one reed. You pay $32 for ten, ha! Then again, you don't use all the reeds in the box do you? Still!) Once, when I had a quintet rehearsal at my house the clarinetist forgot the key to her case . She borrowed my brother's stuff and was like, "Whoa! You use Vandoren? I just assumed you'd use Rico! I'm impressed!" lol
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Post by redkel on Aug 5, 2007 9:35:08 GMT -5
As a clarinet player for almost 30 years and a BD, I'm going to suggest you all try a totally different brand of reed. They are GONZALEZ Reeds -- they come from Argentina. I have never had one unplayable reed in all the boxes I've gone through. I've been using them for almost 5 years now -- discovered them accidentally when I got a sample at a music tradeshow. They come in QUARTER sizes and it is super easy to transition up sizes because of that. Remember that first switch from 2 1/2 to 3's? Didn't it feel like you had a 2x4 piece of lumber on your mouthpiece? Don't get me wrong, Vandoren makes great products. I have one of their mouthpieces. But, in my opinion -- $32 for a box of 10 reeds is robbery. Don't get hung up on a name, just for the sake of the glamour of the name. People who go on and on about Buffet or Selmer horns should just say that every player and horn is different and you have to try a lot of them out to see what works for you. Reeds are the same way. Get one or 2 of a couple different brands and try them -- really put them through the test. MITCHELL LURIE reeds were my reed of choice for 25 years. Now I mix it up between GONZALEZ and ML, depending on the type of music I'm performing or teaching. Most local music stores do not carry them, but You can find great deals on Gonzalez and Mitchell Lurie reeds at www.wwbw.comGood luck finding "your reed of choice." kel
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Post by clarinetbird on Aug 5, 2007 9:39:47 GMT -5
Ièm still switching them all up, Iève got rico royals, and rico of various strengths and vandoreens, and some other random brand that the music store had on sale while I was there. Thanks for all the information. I am actually debating if I want to switch to tenor for majority of the high school bands this year, apparently they don;t have enough tenor saxes and to many clarinets.
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Post by oboehorn77 on Aug 5, 2007 9:47:17 GMT -5
Too many clarinets? Can we steal some? ;D
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Post by friskylurker on Aug 11, 2007 14:54:57 GMT -5
^ we've got a clarinet shortage too! down from 30-something to 17 in marching! and we had like 4 open slots on the list for symphonic.
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Post by bariclaribob on Aug 11, 2007 22:20:50 GMT -5
[off-topic, sorry] 17 is a shortage? Are you kidding? We had our all-time high of marching clarinets this year of 12! Concert season is ugly though. We have too many clarinets, they overpower the low brass, which sucks because our new bd is a trombonist.
[back on topic] I kicked myself the other day. I went to the music store and they only had 3 and 4 in MLs, so I ordered 3 1/2's instead of braving 4's because I was afraid they'd be too hard for me to play, and I absolutely detest Ricos of any size. And yes, I know MLs are by Rico, but there's just something about MLs that makes them play so much -- better, I guess.
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Post by oboehorn77 on Aug 12, 2007 13:37:30 GMT -5
[off-topic, sorry] 17 is a shortage? Are you kidding? We had our all-time high of marching clarinets this year of 12! Concert season is ugly though. We have too many clarinets, they overpower the low brass, which sucks because our new bd is a trombonist. Sorry to go back to this, lol, but a shortage is really defined not just by the number in the section but the size of the band. It's the ratio that matters. Unfortunately I forget what that's supposed to be.
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Post by bariclaribob on Aug 12, 2007 19:07:47 GMT -5
^ Ah. I see. That does make sense.
Does anyone know if LaVoz makes clarinet reeds?
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Post by bandoforlife on Aug 12, 2007 20:29:14 GMT -5
I personally use Van Doren V12's, size 4 1/2, but like everyone else said, it really depends on you and your instrument.
My marching band has a shortage of basically everything, but we have a pretty decent sound, so I guess we're in ratio. Right now we have 5 flutes, 4 clarinets, 2 alto-saxes, 1 tenor sax, 2 tubas, 4 trombones, 1 baritone, 2 F-horns, 5 trumpets, 5 marching percussion, and 3 pit. plus 5 color guard and 2 DMs.
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Post by dumb major on Aug 16, 2007 16:41:26 GMT -5
^ Ah. I see. That does make sense. Does anyone know if LaVoz makes clarinet reeds? Yup, they do!
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Post by bariclaribob on Aug 17, 2007 15:37:50 GMT -5
^ Are they any good? I've never tried them before, but I do use LaVoz sax reeds all the time.
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Post by warpedmind125 on Aug 18, 2007 11:39:16 GMT -5
So I saw 32$ for a box of 10 Vandoren reeds, you're just using the traditional Vandorens I assume
I buy my reeds from woodwind & brasswind (www.wwbw.com), its only 17 dollars for a box of 10 Vandoren Traditional Clarinet reeds
I use Vandoren 3's because thats what the Clarinet instructor says to use. I'm happy with it. Another thing, If your reeds are too expensive, make sure you're using more than one reed at a time. When I use the Vandorens, I find that if I use a good reed every day, it will last about 2 weeks before there's siginificant problems. But if I use 2 reeds, switching between the two, then I can get 6-8 weeks before either of them start to die. My private lesson teacher said the key is to let the reed dry out for at least 24 hours before using it again, it will siginificantly increase the lifetime of your reeds.
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Post by friskylurker on Aug 19, 2007 20:17:29 GMT -5
17 is a shortage because we can't fill the slots in our concert bands. all the sections are down marching-wise due to a huge senior class, but i think clarinets got hit the hardest. i'm not sure 17 is the real number anymore, though, because my friend hte clarinet section leader mentioned having 11 rookies, and i'm sure there's more than 6 returning.
i used la voz bass clarinet reeds for a while, then switched back to vandoren and my tone suddenly got better. i think what happened was the la voz's made me work for the tone more, and then when i changed the reeds the extra effort stayed and it was better. i dunno. they aren't bad reeds, i just like vandoren better.
i've been using an ancient rico when i play my soprano, dispite a strong dislike of ricos, because all my vandorens are suddenly too hard- thats what i get for not playing soprano for months. and i found this one rico left from when i used them in, like, 5th grade. haha.
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Post by clarinetbird on Aug 28, 2007 15:57:04 GMT -5
You guys are all short clarinets? We have too many so my BD is trying to get me to learn the bassoon. Too many clarinets, saxophone and flutes, everything I play. And my BD seems to think with all my experience I should the bassoon. Insane.
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