Hello:
I have been learning clarinet as an adult hobby for the last year or so and just in the last month have started learning bass clarinet, which was my ultimate plan all along. My ambition is simply to be good enough at some point to play in the local community band. I have an old Vito resonite bass with Fobes Debut mouthpiece and have been using Vandoren #2 reeds. With these I get very nice sounds in the chalumeau range and okay sounds across the break. But once I get up to high B and C in the clarion, too often the "bottom falls out" of my sound, as if I had released the register key, and I find it hard to sustain those notes, never mind anything higher. When I use a #2.5 reed, it is easier to sustain those higher notes and get into the altissimo, but the overall quality of the sound throughout the range of the horn suffers--it feels more resistant and the sound is too "breathy" or "woolly", if that makes sense.
SO my question is, given the instrument and mouthpiece combo that I am using, would it be better to stick with the #2 reeds and work on the "voicing" to get those higher notes? Or would it be better to persist with the #2.5 and work on the voicing to improve the overall sound in all registers? I realise of course that hitting those higher notes is not the first priority for a beginner, but I really just want advice about which reed would be better to work with at this stage.
Thanks very much for any help or advice you can give!
I have been learning clarinet as an adult hobby for the last year or so and just in the last month have started learning bass clarinet, which was my ultimate plan all along. My ambition is simply to be good enough at some point to play in the local community band. I have an old Vito resonite bass with Fobes Debut mouthpiece and have been using Vandoren #2 reeds. With these I get very nice sounds in the chalumeau range and okay sounds across the break. But once I get up to high B and C in the clarion, too often the "bottom falls out" of my sound, as if I had released the register key, and I find it hard to sustain those notes, never mind anything higher. When I use a #2.5 reed, it is easier to sustain those higher notes and get into the altissimo, but the overall quality of the sound throughout the range of the horn suffers--it feels more resistant and the sound is too "breathy" or "woolly", if that makes sense.
SO my question is, given the instrument and mouthpiece combo that I am using, would it be better to stick with the #2 reeds and work on the "voicing" to get those higher notes? Or would it be better to persist with the #2.5 and work on the voicing to improve the overall sound in all registers? I realise of course that hitting those higher notes is not the first priority for a beginner, but I really just want advice about which reed would be better to work with at this stage.
Thanks very much for any help or advice you can give!
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