[Moek611]

Recently added a tenor to my alto and am trying to figure out the right set up. I bought a few Legere reeds (1.75, 2 and 2.25) to pair with my yanagisawa mouthpiece 6 (the one that came with my horn).

1.75- allows me to effortlessly start notes without having to pierce through it. Low notes are a joy. Easy to get a more breathy (sub tone- don’t really know what that means) sound which fits my sound concept for tenor. On the higher notes it’s a little thin sounding. Overall really like it

2.25- feels more like playing my alto. (My setup there is a Meyer 5 and 2.25 legere reed). Easier to drive the notes and create strong and full sounding notes. Much more difficult to explore fallloffs or slurs (again I think that’s what you call when you quickly blendinto the note you plan to play). Comfortable as long as I play loud. Easier to play Loud too

2- Just don’t like this size. Felt like in between two worlds.

I’ve been playing on the 2.25 for the past few weeks assuming I will grow into it. But am I making a mistake. I’m particularly concerned that I am steering away from what my natural sound concept was with this reed. But then again, maybe I will grow into it. And producing a big strong sound is important to me too.

Appreciate any insight. Thanks and love this forum!

 

[Saxophone Strange]

There is benefit to harder reeds. A lot of time it is in the resistance that you can get better harmonics and have more control over them. That is not to say that you must play harder reeds, it just changes things. The thing is that if you have the air support and you have the embouchure strength and your mouthpiece can handle the reeds (curve and tip opening) you won’t appreciably notice the strength difference negatively. If fact you may prefer the harder reeds because of the tone and also so that they last. Though I do not now play 4.5 and 5s I did. I remember doing so partially because I put so much air through a horn I would just kill softer reeds.

There are a lot of people who will advocate larger tip softer reed, and I agree with that if you have an aggressive baffle. Outside of that I tend towards suggesting moderate reeds 2.5-3s; 3.5 if you blow hard. I would even say that if you aren’t playing a particularly high baffled piece smaller tip harder reed can actually help you develop better control and strength over those harmonics.

 

[1saxman]

Same here - you're doing okay and there's nothing extreme or ill-advised about what you're doing.

 

[Heighmy]

It's a lot of trial and error and recording yourself. No one reed or one brand is going to be perfect, but if it crosses off the most boxes, thats a winner.

 

[John_Dikeman]

I'll agree, there is no right and wrong here. Lots of different set ups work for different people. It's all about how you play the horn and control your airstream and embouchure.

One thing I will say though is I find it can be a helpful learning tool to go through a period working on harder reeds. Helps build up stamina and most importantly, proper breath support. If you're playing soft reeds because that's the best set up for the sound you want and whatever other requirements you may have, that's great. But it shouldn't simply be because you can't play harder reeds.

Similarly, if you're only playing hard reeds I think it can be useful sometimes to spend some time with soft reeds to remind yourself to play with no pressure on the reed. Coming from a 4 to a 2 can be as difficult in many ways as the other way around. Trying to get the high end to speak at high dynamics without closing off, remembering to voice each note to get it too speak. With a hard reed it becomes a lot easier to just blow hard and those notes will come out. Also if you check your 4 after playing and see it's slightly bent, that means you're squeezing and effectively lowering your tip opening.

Basically I think it's good every now and then to switch it up, if only in the practice room. It's pretty hard to know what works best for you if you haven't spent enough time with each option to actually see what it can sound like.

 

[swperry1]

When I read the 1.75 I thought you were too soft. When I read the 2.25 I thought you were too hard. Seems the 2.0 that’s ‘between the two worlds’ would be the obvious choice.

 

[B Flat]

Try cane.
Regardless of what many believe, Legere strengths are not consistent with each other let alone with cane.
I agree with the benefits of playing a reed that’s on the stiffer end of your limits, but I wouldn’t judge that with synthetics of any kind.
Eg: I like a 3.5 Rico Royal on baritone, yet when I play a Legere 2 on Baritone it feels like I’m working way harder for a sound that I can get from a sloppily soft cane reed.

 

[reedcusa]

Recently added a tenor to my alto and am trying to figure out the right set up. I bought a few Legere reeds (1.75, 2 and 2.25) to pair with my yanagisawa mouthpiece 6 (the one that came with my horn).

1.75- allows me to effortlessly start notes without having to pierce through it. Low notes are a joy. Easy to get a more breathy (sub tone- don’t really know what that means) sound which fits my sound concept for tenor. On the higher notes it’s a little thin sounding. Overall really like it

2.25- feels more like playing my alto. (My setup there is a Meyer 5 and 2.25 legere reed). Easier to drive the notes and create strong and full sounding notes. Much more difficult to explore fallloffs or slurs (again I think that’s what you call when you quickly blendinto the note you plan to play). Comfortable as long as I play loud. Easier to play Loud too

2- Just don’t like this size. Felt like in between two worlds.

I’ve been playing on the 2.25 for the past few weeks assuming I will grow into it. But am I making a mistake. I’m particularly concerned that I am steering away from what my natural sound concept was with this reed. But then again, maybe I will grow into it. And producing a big strong sound is important to me too.

Appreciate any insight. Thanks and love this forum!

Had similar experience. I've had great luck clipping a 2.00 for my Meyer 5m. For comparison with cane I play a Royal 2.5

 

[florian]

Use what you feel comfortable with. Use the strength that allows you to play soft but also very loud and that gives you the possibility to shape your sound in all the ways you need and want to. If the reed can't do this with your mpc it is the wrong one (as long you are able to do all this as a player).