Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Reed throughput

Had two rehearsals this week, one with a new group. I ended up playing mostly on G1, and a bit on R5. R6 I tried out, but still buzzy and out of control. I still think it could be a really nice reed, but it needs to calm down, or be calmed down. I've been trying to be careful with it, but that just means it's still mostly just a blank.

I feel like I'm having some luck understanding intonation and reeds. On one of the two soft ones I was working this weekend, G1 or R5 (can't remember which), I was happy with how it was except for being flat. So I tightened the second wire down hard. The tube shrank substantially there, and the pitch came nicely up. It also felt kinda choked, but still.

I have a new goal for reed throughput. I've made about 10 reeds now, and have learned a great deal, and am developing a certain comfort with the very basic level I'm working at. Learning is logarithmic, though: it'll probably take the next 100 to learn as much again. I can do this in a year, by making two a week. So that's my goal: put two reeds per week through the pipeline.

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