How to Break in Clarinet and Saxophone Reeds!

Want to know why I was breaking in so many reeds? Check out my full Vandoren reed review and comparison here! ( • Review and Comparison:... )
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Please let me know if you have any questions down in the comment section below!
Reed storage/equipment shown in this video:
Vandoren Hygro Case
D'Addario Reed Guard
Galax Double Sided Reed Case (hard to find outside of Japan)
Boveda 58% 8 gram 2-Way Humidity Control Pack
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[@GabrielPerboni]

"...everyone has a different relationship with their equipment..." (at 3:25) is a great piece of advice for any musician (for anyone, really) anyway... As a visually impaired person, I get little benefit from most videos about clarinet around the web. However, your detailed way of explaining "little things" brought great improvements both in the care I take with my equipment, which obviously reflects in the quality of my practice and the pleasure I have in playing. Thanks for being thorough 😜

[@theomegamuffin7346]

Never thought of it this way and I feel the difference!

[@ParkHouseCreations]

That’s great, I hope it continues to help!

[@batsai]

Yep. 10 hours sounds about right. Subscribed! Great video.

[@ParkHouseCreations]

Hah! It must be funny to hear your own words quoted back to you! Thanks JK!

[@1cleandude]

Just finished day one with my Rico reeds! Thanks again🙏🏻

[@ParkHouseCreations]

I hope the method works well for you!

[@jefft9729]

Great video. Excellent information perfectly presented. By the way, all the reeds you tried sounded very good.

[@ParkHouseCreations]

Thanks Jeff!

[@nelsondevereauxmusic]

Love this

[@benjamin-lieb]

Great information, thank you! It sounds like saliva is important in your process, and water wouldn't work? Are you saying that there is material in your saliva that is getting into the tubes?

[@liamkearney3353]

once a reed is fully broken in, how long should one play it for? would you recommend playing a 2 hour concert or practice session on a singular broken-in reed?

[@josephromano6534]

Thanks for your videos. Do you need to break in synthetic reeds in a similar way? I'm only recently experimenting with them, and do appreciate their consistency at this point in my comeback.

[@ParkHouseCreations]

It’s been a while since I’ve played on plastic reeds. But in my experience they tend to “break in” a little bit over the course of the first practice session or two, but I’ve never found that they needed a special break in process to play their best!

[@josephromano6534]

@@ParkHouseCreations Thanks again. It's my first try at plastic reeds. First tried the Legere and was pleasantly surprised. But after one of your videos, I got A Silverstein, which I much prefer. Still not convinced about them, but great for practice at this point.

[@mariana36770]

I've just started to play clarinet and am learning Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, so I am guessing this reed breaking in process isn't something I should be concerned with right now? About when should I start to worry about this stuff?

[@ParkHouseCreations]

Honestly, I don’t think it is too early to start implementing some kind of break-in process (whether it is mine, or another, more simplified version.) Having good reeds that play consistently well will allow you to improve more quickly. Reeds that aren’t broken in, or over-playing a singular reed can make it change very quickly and it will ultimately make playing and progressing more difficult. Thanks for watching and best wishes on your new clarinet journey! You picked a great instrument!

[@Carter_Saxophone]

Do you ever sand the reeds flat during/after your break in process?

[@ParkHouseCreations]

Very rarely and only if I feel like really digging into the process of working on a reed. If a reed starts to warp I will sand the back to flatten it, but then that usually requires other parts of the reed to require adjustment as well, to compensate for the material taken from the back. Different spots on the vamp generally end up needing to be adjusted and the tip sometimes has to be clipped. If I just sand the back without the other steps I generally find I lose the quality of sound that I want from my reeds. But everyone has different tolerances and preferences, so I totally understand if someone prefers a reed that has had its back flattened without the other steps! Most of the time it’s just more time than I would like to spend, so I stick to the break-in process in this video.

[@Carter_Saxophone]

@@ParkHouseCreations I play saxophone and I just today started conditioning my reeds with your method. I hope it calms the tendencies that my reeds have to warping so I don’t have to sand the back. I also never really thought about taking material off of the vamp after flattening the back. That sounds very useful. Thank you for the help!!

[@ParkHouseCreations]

I hope it helps!! Thanks for watching!