How to make reeds at high altitude (Making reeds from Houston to Boulder)

[@kthybrown007]

I am so glad you made this video. I live in the Portland, OR (wet, near sea level) area and recently traveled to Santa Fe, NM (7200 ft and DRY) to play in a festival with a group. I anticipated that reeds would be a challenge, so I took 40 reeds (oboe + EH) in various stages of finish. I arrived two days before the performance, and that evening soaked all of the reeds and let them dry. (I don't know why, but it seemed like a step in stabilizing them). The next day I spent about two hours in the hotel adjusting and playing on reeds. I did not finish any new blanks I had brought, as I had a number of both oboe and EH reeds that were playing well at that point. The next day was the performance and I arrived early to the warmup to find that nearly all of my playable reeds felt harder than the day before, so I was intermittently scraping during and after the warmup. I had four good, playable reeds ready for the concert (or so I thought). The oboe reeds played well. I had a big EH solo in the next-to-last piece that begins in the middle section. Just before the solo, there is an inner part the EH comes in on, and when I went to play that, the reed I had just played well during the warmup would not make a sound. I managed to squeak out the first part of the solo, then during a rest, changed reeds, and finished in on my also-not-playing-well "second chair" reed. Each phrase started on low F which hardly would speak and I found myself sort-of "faking" that note. I am sorry to make this so long -- it was a trying experience, compounded by a cancelled return flight, last minute rebooking unable to check luggage and "donating" two beautiful reed knives to TSA... Is there anything in my saga you see that you would have done differently?

[@OboeFiles]

Hi Kathy what an adventure to be sure! I think I handlers the situation well. My philosophy changes with elevation reeds, but when I go up to altitude I like to tie a fresh piece and just do a single day scrape. Luckily they dry out pretty quick so I can finish it as the day progresses. I’m def no expert with the elevation shifts tho!! Are you going to get to back and try some different reed ideas? Let us know plz!

[@Addison-lq4te]

2:32 thought you were about to hit us with some Peppa PIG bro