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Finding a good reed is probably one of the biggest worries of any clarinet player (or any single reed player) who wants to produce a decent sound on his/her instrument. The reed must not be too hard because it won’t allow you to play with ease and flexibility, and it also can’t be too soft because the reed won’t have any resistance and the sound will be thin and ‘squeaky’.

The ‘perfect’ reed therefore has to be soft enough to easily produce a sound and remain flexible, but at the same time possess enough resistance so that you can blow at it without the fear of making a ‘nasty’ sound.

This sounds all very nice in theory. But when it comes to actually finding this ‘perfect’ reed in real life, we tend to spend a lot of time and money only to end up frustrated and with maybe one or two decent reeds to play on. So what can we do to increase the number of reeds that actually play easily, make a nice sound and last longer? A lot of people will tell you that you need to ‘break in’ your reeds in order for them to work. But what does that actually mean and is there an ideal way of ‘breaking in’ reeds? Let’s find out.

(For the purpose of this article, I rely on my own experience as a clarinettist. I play on a Buffet-Crampon ‘Tosca’ Bb clarinet, Vandoren M30 mouthpiece, BG standard leather ligature and mainly Vandoren V12 reeds (strength 3.5). I don’t want to go into detail about equipment and essentially it doesn’t matter too much which setup you play on as long as you feel comfortable and flexible with it. I have found that the way I break my reeds in worked for different types of mouthpieces and different brands and types of reeds)

1. Have patience!
A good reed doesn’t have to be perfect the first time you play on it. And let’s be honest, most of them are everything but perfect. Give the wood time to adjust to the humidity and temperature levels. It usually takes about a week for a reed to be ready and fully playable. I would start by taking the reeds out of the box and playing just a few notes on it, for instance a scale or some arpeggios.

This doesn’t take longer than ten seconds per reed. After that, put the reed flat side up on a flat surface and let it dry. If you put the flat side down, the curved side will dry faster and cause the reed to warp. Finally, put the reed back in the box. I repeat this process once a day for about three days. This could be part of your daily practise routine at the start of your practise session.

2. Have even more patience!
After the first three days, I essentially follow the same process only increasing the amount of time I play on each reed. I would play on one reed for about two to three minutes and I would make sure I play staccato as well as slurred notes and play loudly as well as quietly to see how the reed responds in all the registers of the clarinet. Remember to let your reeds dry after each time you play them!

By now, you will already notice that some reeds work better than others. I seem to find with this procedure is that about five out of ten reeds do tend to play fairly easily and make a nice sound by this point. This obviously varies from box to box. Some people also mark their reeds in different colours so they can remember which ones are better. I think at this early stage, this doesn’t really matter because the reeds quite often change drastically over night.

2. Make adjustments.
Adjusting a reed is actually an art in itself and there have been written hundreds of articles and books on this topic. I only want to share one very useful adjustment which is essentially the only one I use. Firstly, if your reed is basically good and it plays okay, but it is either a little too hard or there is a lot of air in the sound, take the reed and place it horizontally with the flat side against the flat surface of the mouthpiece, below its opening.

Press it very firmly against the mouthpiece with the thumb of the one hand whilst with the other hand, you flick a finger against the end of the reed to make it ‘wiggle’ back and forth. This makes the reed more flexible and focuses the sound. After you have place the reed on your mouthpiece, just press it gently once or twice right on the heart (the curvet part of the of the top half). This will help the reed find the ideal position to vibrate more freely. Of course this won’t solve all the reed problems one might encounter, but in a lot of cases it has an effect.

4. Rotation – The key to long lasting reeds
If you have found several good reeds, there is no point in ‘saving them up’. The way to make reeds last longer is to rotate them. That’s to say : play on all of your reeds, all the time. For instance, in a practice session which might last an hour, play on several reeds instead of just one.

This keeps their humidity level up and at the same time doesn’t wear down one particular reed. With this method, I find that my reeds can last up to a month sometimes. And if I give them a few weeks rest after that, I might be able to play them again for some time.

So the things to keep in mind when you are breaking in reeds are PATIENCE and ROTATION. These are in my experience the two key points to finding more reeds that at least come closer to the ‘perfect’ reed. Finally I would like to say that in the end a reed is just a piece of wood, and if this one doesn’t work, there is always another one, so there is no point in getting frustrated.

In this spirit : Good luck and have fun!

About the Author: Max Mausen is a young clarinettist, currently based in London. He began his studies at a local music school and later at the Conservatoire de Musique de Luxembourg with Marcel Lallemang. Max is currently studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Julian Farrell and Andrew Webster. He is a keen chamber musician and performer of contemporary music, working together with young composers including Tom Bassett, Peter Yarde Martin and Raymond Yiu. Max plays on Buffet-Crampon instruments and a Vandoren M30 mouthpiece with V12 reeds.

www.maxmausen.co.uk