Rotate and break in your reeds. Playing the same reed every day will cause the reed to have fewer total playing hours than rotating between several or more reeds. If possible bring softer reeds with you and don’t break them in or open until you arrive at the high altitude. Changing altitude while travelling can drastically effect how the reed feels too! Higher altitudes tend to add resistance. This could mean a half strength harder or switching to a different cut. I tend to use lighter reeds in the summer when its humid and harder reeds in the winter.
For instance, in New York City the winters are very cold and dry, whereas the summers are very hot and humid. As such you may need to change something between seasons depending on where you live and play. So when the air changes – humidity, pressure, temperature etc it will change how it feels to vibrate it. When you play the saxophone you are vibrating the air in the room. A ligature change can bump you right into the sweet spot of a box of reeds resistance wise.Ĭhange with the weather. But from a player’s view the ligature can make small differences in response and resistance. Ligatures are the least important part of a saxophone setup, and the difference is almost impossible to hear from the listener’s perspective. Your strength preference may simply have changed! It happens more often than you would think. If your selection of reed’s in a box is diminishing try a half strength softer or harder.
Consider that there are hundreds, if not thousands of constantly changing variables that affect your set up. You may then notice that all of the reed’s suddenly don’t work. You may use a certain brand of reeds for several years at the same strength. Different sized rooms, weather or climate can drastically effect reeds as well.ĭon’t be afraid to change – try harder and softer. Make sure your mouthpiece isn’t damaged or worn out, and that your saxophone is not leaking. However if you notice a sudden change in ALL of your reeds, logic dictates it may not be the reed. It is an organic product and even though the reeds are machined to a precision of thousandths of a millimeter they are subject to natural variation. And vice-versa.ĭon’t always blame the reed. Larger tip openings, or shorter facing lengths on a mouthpiece will require softer reeds. Do not worry about the number, just find what fits you. A reed must match your set-up and needs (embouchure, mouthpiece, style etc). This may help to encourage students to develop strong embouchures, but it is not relevant after learning the basics. Some Advice.ĭon’t get hung up on the number. Young students are often taught that stronger reeds/higher numbers are better. Many players also find that not all of the reeds in a box will be playable, although the amount used and how long they last varies dramatically person to person. The way a reed plays may dramatically change after it is played a few times and “broken in”. Most people find that individual reed strengths are not exact within the same box. The ideal method for trying a new brand of reeds is to try multiple reeds in several strengths to make sure an incorrect strength is not causing inexact assessment of the reed, or that a single bad reed in the box does not affect one’s judgement of the brand. Vandorens generally run much harder and a Vandoren 3 is much closer to a Rico 4. For example, a Rico strength 3 reed is not the same hardness as a Vandoren strength 3 reed. It is important to note that reed strengths are NOT equal between brands. So if you want something harder than a Green 3 but softer than a Green 3 1/2 the Red 3 might be perfect for you. For example a Red Java 3 is harder than a Green Java 3, but not as hard as a Green Java 3 1/2. Vandoren intentionally staggers the strength of their reed cuts to allow for ‘in between’ sizes. Vandoren offers a comparison card you can purchase with 1 reed from all 4 different cuts they make to allow you to compare the different cuts of reed without having to buy a box of each.
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