If performance is the glamour of the clarinetist, reeds are surely his bread and butter. Probably no single aspect of the clarinet can, on a given night, influence his playing more than the difference between a good reed and a bad reed.

Yet very few amateur players attempt to learn the skills necessary to adjust and improve store-bought commercial reeds. Instead they often try to find the brand of commercial reeds that suits them best.

This search is fruitless, because, with a few rare and lucky exceptions, the commercial reed out of the box is a very imperfect approximation of the good reed that every player needs.

Why is a good reed so important? More than any technical explanation we can say that a good reed allows the player to express the beauty of the music directly and freely rather than using his energy and concentration in a vain attempt to compensate for the defects of a bad reed.

A good reed will enhance confidence during practice, rehearsal and performance--and conversely, the quickest way to erode confidence is to play on a bad reed. To ensure an adequate supply of good reeds the professional clarinetist learns how to make a good reed out of the raw material provided in the form of commercially bought reeds.

This process is what we call "adjusting" the reed.

As a first step in the art of adjusting reeds the player must know what to look for in a new reed taken out of the box. At this stage he weeds out reeds that will never become playable.

At a second stage he learns to alter and improve reeds that have been chosen initially for their inherent desirable properties. This ability to "adjust" newly bought reeds is a powerful tool in the player's arsenal. It makes him self-reliant--he knows that a plentiful supply of good reeds is assured by his own efforts rather than by chance or good luck.

In this book we will describe the properties of a good reed--its playing characteristics, its tone and its physical appearance. Then we will turn to the techniques of reed adjustment--how to work on reeds taken from the box in order to produce good, playable reeds.

First, however, we should understand the basic properties of clarinet reeds: where they come from, how they are made and how they work.

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