Although the basic prescription of balancing the reed is a simple one, it would be unrealistic to expect immediate professional results.

Reed adjustment is a skill that takes time to learn; the experience gained from experimenting with hundreds of reeds leads to an intuitive feel necessary to produce a good reed.

Be patient.

A reed may take days, weeks and perhaps months to adjust and play well. Nothing is gained through haste.

Be satisfied with only small adjustments each time, and remember that a reed will generally not play correctly the day it is worked on. A day or so later, it will play better and may be adjusted again at that time.

Work calmly.

Have enough reeds in the "life cycle" or process of preparation, maturation, practice, rehearsal, performance and retirement so that you have no need to hurry. You will not have enough good reeds unless you constantly buy and work on them, thus preparing yourself for future playing.

After a reed has been balanced enough to play on, begin practicing with it several minutes at a time up to but not beyond the point when it seems to tire. Work with the reed gradually and increase the time that you play on it, never pushing it beyond its limits. Like almost everything else--from a new employee to a newborn colt--if you push too hard too soon, you will break its spirit or stunt its ability. If you think of "training" a reed in this manner to your individual specifications and needs, you will eventually have reeds with great playing qualities and endurance that will not let you down during the most demanding performance.

A principal difference between the professional and the amateur clarinetist is that the professional is extremely choosy in selecting potential reeds to work with. Instead of trying to use the majority of reeds in a box, the professional selects only the few that have the potential to become very fine reeds. Although following this principle means spending more money on reeds, the extra expense will pay off in beauty of tone.

Even among the reeds initially selected for their potential do not expect every one to become a good reed. Some will never work no matter what you do; some you will go too far with and ruin; others you will not go far enough with for one reason or another.

Certain reeds will be fine for practicing scales, learning notes on a new piece or at different hours of your playing day. Others will have a particular ability to do one thing extraordinarily well--staccato, legato, altissimo register flexibility, a special color--and be unable to do much of anything else. Learn from these reeds by practicing on them so that you may apply to the adjustment of a potentially good reed what the one-dimensional reed has taught you. After all, the best reed is a compromise among many desirable qualities.

It is also worthwhile to save your past "great" reeds for study purposes.

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