[JL]

Over the past few months, like most here, I've been practicing at home but not out playing gigs. Just today I had an interesting experience with my reeds (Rigotti Gold tenor). Practicing at home lately I've been playing at med to low volume so as not to disturb the neighbors and my wife too much. When I was playing gigs regularly, my reeds got a good workout at high volume. And with my wife out of the house more often (pre-Covid) I would also blow the horn hard for at least part of my practice time. But lately I haven't been blowing that hard.

What I've been noticing over the past few weeks is that even my best reeds, although playing well, seemed to play a bit dull and less responsive than usual. I hadn't given it much thought and felt maybe they were just getting worn out. Then today when my wife went to the store, I pulled out the horn and decided to just blast away for a while. After about a half hour I noticed that my reed suddenly was sounding and responding MUCH better, even when I backed off on the volume. It was almost like that reed needed to be played hard for a period of time to bring it back to life! So from now on, I'll spend some practice time blowing full out (I can go into my walk-in closet if necessary).

I have no idea if there's anything to this. And maybe it's just an anomaly that the reed came back to life. Or maybe it's all in my head. But I don't think so. In the past when playing gigs regularly, the better reeds always responded well (prior to finally dying) and I think it had to do with blowing hard at least part of the time on the gig.

Anyone else noticed anything like this?

 

[lostcircuits]

I am not sure if it is the reed or adjusting the embouchure again for playing harder. But I had similar experiences. I attributed it more to taking in less of the MPC and using a bit of a tighter embouchure for playing a bit softer and when I started blowing harder again (similar situation as what you described) I did not adjust back to taking in more MPC and relaxing. Until I did and specifically when I did this while I was recording a clip. In the playback it was like somebody pulled the curtains off.

Maybe it's the reeds, I have no problem with that assumption but in my case it was more me having forgotten how to get a nice and full sound.

 

[1saxman]

I had the opposite experience, in a way. While practicing during the off months and deliberately dialing back the volume (wife, cats, neighbors, you name it), I developed a much warmer sound with a more relaxed approach. On the gig, this continued. When before I would have taken it to the max in many solos, now its more controlled, and I try to hang on to that sweeter sound while increasing the volume. This has been a very satisfying development although I haven't tried it on my back-up/outdoor gig tenor, a Selmer USA.
Because I play a Guardala 'King Curtis', the 'headroom' is virtually unlimited. I guess what I'm doing is limiting it myself to hit that 'sweet spot' and depending on the sound system. Also because of the mouthpiece, I get plenty of projection even with reduced input, which I believe was the crux of Guardala's strategy and the exact reason Brecker went to him with his need to reduce back pressure. Its this kind of mouthpiece that can hang with you if you work yourself up in reed strength and playing pressure - totally unlimited. But I was surprised at how easily I slipped into that more relaxed zone I have been digging for years but never really tried to get to, simply by being forced to play quieter day after day.
There are many examples, but two are the sax on the Sade records and on the Hall and Oates songs, like 'Maneater'. Like any other style, its always a mindset. You decide where you want to go, and you subconsciously find ways to go there during practice. Its easier to do this at practice rather than just showing up on a gig and expecting it to happen, although that's not impossible.

 

[Reet McVouty]

Yes, I've experienced this. Now, I certainly am just pulling this out of thin air because I'm an expert of nothing, but I've always thought that the harder you blow that more moisture penetrates the fibers of the reed and then the reed gets to that saturation of "happiness".

"Happiness is a nice wet Rico reed." Dexter Gordon.

 

[JL]

I had the opposite experience, in a way. While practicing during the off months and deliberately dialing back the volume (wife, cats, neighbors, you name it), I developed a much warmer sound with a more relaxed approach. On the gig, this continued.

Yes, I agree playing at lower volume is valuable in its way, and generally playing softer can result in a warmer tone. But what I experienced here was not so much a change in tone quality; it was almost entirely a noticeable change in reed response--for the better. That can of course result in a better tone as well, but the main thing is that the reed spoke so much better with more resonance, and it happened quite suddenly after about a half hour playing "full on."

As to moisture penetrating the fibers of the reed, that seemed like a possibility, but then just now (a day later) I played the reed again after letting it dry in its holder overnight and it still played fantastic right away. So I don't think that's it. Maybe the fibers actually loosen up a bit after a harder playing session?

And lostcircuits, in this case it doesn't seem like an embouchure issue since it is the reed itself that has changed.

Then again it could just be an idiosyncratic reed and nothing in particular to do with how hard I played it. No surprise that cane reeds are 'idiosyncratic' (in either a negative, or in this case, positive, way) is it? But in the past I have noticed that a reed often tends to improve after playing it hard on a gig, assuming it's not yet getting worn out. I'll have to try this with some of my other reeds and see what the result is. I doubt I'll ever know for sure what's going on with reeds, though.

p.s. I know some on here argue that there's no such thing as 'breaking in' a reed, but this may be an example of that very thing; the breaking in part happening by playing the reed hard and loud.

 

[Saxophone Strange]

Generally when I start a new reed, aside from wetting it, I try to play it low and and with the slowest and widest air possible; then dial in things like vibration point, loudness, break point, how it responds to X, etc... I do a portion that when beginning my practice too. A much more truncates version. Over time, of course, the reed will begin to respond to the way I am playing it and the mouthpiece I use it on. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if your observation of deadness playing soft is in response to how you are playing now vs then. Some reed/mouthpiece comps need more air to widen the vibration to get the sound you are looking for. In a way, you’ve like trained your reed how it should be played likely and yourself how you expect it to respond. Have you tried and new reeds with slower lower air and tried to work up to that sound at a lower volume? Legitimately, you actually may need a slightly softer or hard reed or just different to do this. I know the Rigotti reeds for me are really nice, but they aren’t my favorite for playing soft on my setup.

 

[JL]

In a way, you've like trained your reed how it should be played likely and yourself how you expect it to respond. Have you tried and new reeds with slower lower air and tried to work up to that sound at a lower volume?

I should clarify something here. I'm not actually describing a problem. That's why I called it an 'interesting observation." I probably didn't express what I mean well enough. I'm not having any issue with tone quality or with playing softly (I find value in playing at all volume levels). What I noticed was a significant and rather sudden improvement in the reed's response after about a half hour playing it at full volume. This after not being able to play gigs, where the reeds I rotate get a real 'workout', for the past few months and mostly playing relatively softly while practicing at home.

It would appear that at least some reeds require at least some time playing full on volume to respond at their best. It might be just an anomaly, but when I thought about it, I realized that on many occasions my reed, especially a relatively new reed, would respond better after playing the first or second set on the gigs.

So just an observation, no real big deal, but it could be of some importance. I like filling the horn with air (at any volume) so nothing here that I need to 'fix.' --Aside from being sure to blow the roof off every now and then!

 

[raindog]

I notice a significant and rather sudden improvement in my own tone after about a half hour playing it at full volume. Much better response and tone after dialing down and playing pp.

You got me thinking maybe changes in reed may contribute to that, but I think the biggest change still happens in the player. You are much more experienced player though, so in your case might be just the reed...

 

[DarrellMass]

There is a pretty well known fact amongst players of high end acoustic guitars, that you have to "wake up" a guitar that's been sitting around unplayed for a length of time. This is especially true of rosewood/spruce models. You can actually hear the guitar come to life, as you play it. What you're experiencing could well be a correlation to that phenomena? Just a thought.