You make a reed, play it awhile and then it wears out. Right? That's the assumption that most double reed players make, but I never have been quite comfortable with that theory. Many's the time I have gazed forlornly into an "old" reed that could once do marvelous things, but would now respond only with a great deal of huffing and puffing. "If only I could get those little particles out of the inside of the reed, " I would think to myself and, oh, how I've tried! Running pipe cleaners through the reed would leave fuzz inside the reed and prying around inside with a plaque would often result in a split tip. I've also tried dipping the reed in peroxide and running a high powered stream of water through the reed. None of these measures have worked for me or anyone else I know. Now I've finally found a cleaning method that works and it's quick and simple. I'm using ultrasonics.
I'll start with a little background. Basically, ultrasonic waves are any sound waves beyond the range of human hearing which is generally less than 200 or more than 16,000 cycles per second. To put it in perspective, remember the "A" we tune with vibrates at 440 cycles per second and an octave above that is 880. Although the existence of ultrasonic waves has been known for many years, it has only been put to widespread practical use since World War II. One very useful application of ultrasonics has been in cleaning. Dust, oil, grease, tarnish and rust can all be removed with ultrasonic cleaning without any damage to the article being cleaned. The only requirement is that the article being cleaned must be able to tolerate the fluid in which it is being dipped. When used in cleaning, ultrasonic waves are always sent through a liquid medium in which the article being cleaned is immersed. When I found out about this it struck a chord. Would it work on reeds? They are soaked in water. I immediately set out to experiment with it and found the preliminary results so exciting that I had to share them with you.
I cleaned a total of 52 reeds--28 oboe, 4 English horn, and 20 bassoon reeds once (no contra bassoon reeds were tested) and of those 52 reeds, 21 were available to be cleaned a second time one month later. I exposed oboe and E.H. reeds to the ultrasonic waves for one minute and bassoon reeds for 2 minutes. The playing time on the reeds ranged from 2-100 hours. All of the participants (except 1 oboist and 1 bassoonist) played daily for more than 1 hour with an average daily playing time of 2 hours and 45 minutes. The participants were college students and professionals with a range of 1.5 to 40 years of playing experience. All but 2 oboists soaked their reeds in water before playing and all used Glotin cane.
The most dramatic change was in the tone color. After cleaning the reeds, 19% had no change, but 75% of the reeds were darker (75% oboe, 100% E.H. and 70% bassoon)! 3% were brighter after cleaning. We found that cleaning the throat end of bassoon reeds had a marked effect on the tone adding more resonance and darkness to the sound. Most of the reeds did not require another break-in period after cleaning (82% oboe, 100% E.H. and 95% bassoon). Some reeds had a change in the pitch level, but the change was towards more stability and on bassoon reeds the E and F (that are the first notes to go flat as a reed starts to show wear) were brought back up to pitch. 28% of the reeds were more stable after cleaning and the rest had no change. When we examined the dynamic range of the reeds after cleaning, 35% of the reeds improved some, 27% were much improved and 8% were very much improved. 14% of the reeds improved very little and 16% none at all, but most of these reeds had been rated as having very good dynamic response before cleaning and didn't have much room for improvement. We also looked at the resistance of the reeds with 17% improving very much, 6% had much improvement and 35% said there was some improvement. 17% of the reeds improved very little and the rest none at all, but again, those reeds were rated fairly resistant to begin with so there wasn't much room for change. After one month, 21 reeds were still in use and 61% of them were helped by a second treatment (including those that were described as being "worn out").
The cleaning process does seem to work on prolonging the life of reeds although I can't, as yet, say how much. I have been cleaning my own personal reeds after each time I use them and I have been using the same batch of reeds since Christmas. I am theorizing that the cleaning process removes some of the particles embedded between the fibers in a reed allowing it to vibrate more freely. Although I didn't include single reeds in my study, informal trials by my single reed acquaintances seem to produce the same results.
Many questions have yet to be answered about cleaning reeds with ultrasonic waves and I am already working on some of them. I would like to hear from any of you readers who are interested in this procedure or who might have some suggestions. Let's hope this new cleaning process will result in less time spent making reeds with more time left for making music.
I would like to thank Prof. William P. Baker and the double reed students of The Ohio State University and my colleagues in the Charleston Symphony Orchestra for their assistance and support.
Lora Lynn Snow
Route 1 Box 200
Bidwell, Ohio 45614
(614) 367-0219
Lora Lynn Snow has a bachelor's degree in music education and a master's in performance from The Ohio State University. She previously taught woodwinds at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and played in the Arkansas Symphony and the Little Rock Chamber Orchestra. She is currently a member of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra in Charleston, W. Va. and a teacher in the Gallia County Local Schools in Ohio. She and her husband Tim, reside on a small farm outside Galipolis, Ohio.