Why is my new oboe reed so flat?
Answer this question first - How long have you been playing on your old reed(s)? If the answer is more than 20 hours or so per reed, then I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that your new reed is probably not flat, the bad news is that your embouchure and air production have evolved. If your answer is less than 20 hours, there is definitely a problem with the new reed, and I’ll address that later in the blog.
As a reed ages, it gets brittle and doesn’t vibrate as well. The interior of the reed narrows, and the tip flattens out. All these things will make a reed sharp. To compensate for this, the player loosens their embouchure and lessens their air speed to bring the pitch down. This is why people fall in love with old reeds. These fundamental sound production changes lure the player into thinking the reed is easy to play. They’ve gradually adjusted their playing to the reed’s developing idiosyncrasies. So, when switching to a new reed, the player tries to continue to play with the embouchure and air that worked on the old reed. It was easy on the old reed but now it doesn’t work, and the player thinks the new reed is the problem.
This is where the misconception of “breaking in” a reed comes from. There is no such thing as breaking in a reed. If your air and embouchure are correct, the reed should work right away and if it doesn’t, it should be fixed. Keep your embouchure and air production in order, get new reeds more often, and rotate between at least 3 reeds. That’s the true fix here. As a nice bonus, your playing skills will advance more quickly since you won’t be radically adjusting your air and embouchure to the new reed every time you switch.
Now, if the problem is not air speed and/or embouchure, what could cause a new reed to be flat?
First, check to see if there are any cracks or splits in the reed. Soak the reed and, using your thumb and forefinger, slowly close the tip down while looking at the tip straight on. If the crack isn’t visible to the naked eye, it will show up as a weakness or “V” shape on the tip. A cracked reed will play flat and unfortunately, nothing can fix this reed. If you bought a cracked reed, check immediately with the vendor, and see if you can return it or get it replaced. If you’re buying from a local music store, always check for visible cracks and gaps before you leave the store. You can’t soak it, but if the store won’t let you visually check the reed before purchasing, find another source for reeds. This store is either ignorant about reeds or is trying to get rid of bad inventory. I had a student once tell me a local music store tried selling them a used reed for a discount price. Yikes!!
Next check the overlap of the reed. I know there are folks who prefer reeds with no overlap, but most reeds for purchase have an overlap. Much of the time, the overlap just needs to settle into place and the reed becomes stable and the pitch is instantly better. I can’t tell you the number of times as student has come to me with an unstable, flat reed wondering what’s wrong with it. They hand it to me; I slightly twist the blades and there is a click. I hand the reed back to the student and it’s miraculously fixed. Keep in mind that this won’t work if the reed is flat because it was tied badly. There’s not much we can do about a badly tied reed.
Check the “crow” of the reed. You will have a varying degree of success depending on the reed you have. This test is for handmade or hand-finished American style long scrape reeds, not machine-made reeds, or short scrape reeds. It also depends on a variety of other factors. Keep this in mind and contact me with questions if you’d like guidance.
Here’s the “crow” test: form your embouchure near the string and start blowing on a soaked reed, starting at a low air speed, and slowly increasing the air. A well-constructed American style reed should play an in tune “C” at slow speed and an octave of in tune “Cs” at a higher speed. (If the pitch is higher than C, your reed is probably too short or too thick, and the heart needs to be scraped thinner. This would not cause a flat reed, though.) If it’s lower than “C”, the tip is too long. In this case, first thin the corners of the tip and maybe the sides of the tip and then clip the tip a hairs-width at a time. If you just clip the tip without scraping, you might feel like you’re trying to play on two 2x4s tied together.
Lastly, if the reed is too thin for you, it’s going to be flat. Perhaps the reed was made too thin for the hardness of the cane or perhaps it’s time for you to move from a beginner reed to a harder reed or to a handmade or hand-finished reed. Superior Oboe Reed’s student reeds aren’t made this way, but many other brand’s beginner reeds tend to be thinner than their intermediate or advanced models. Superior Oboe Reeds Student reeds are the same as the professional reeds except that after reed is finished I determined that the cane is softer, or the opening is narrower, making the reed easier for less muscular embouchures to handle.