A Bad Clarinet Player Blames The reed (Rico Clarinet Reeds)

Member Name: janharper

Product:	Rico Clarinet Reeds
Date:	07/06/09 (167 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap reeds

Disadvantages: Not consistent, low quality

Rico clarinet reeds were the first ones I was introduced to when I started to play clarinet. These a re natural reeds and tend to vary in quality. I started with a very soft one (they range form 1 to 5) and progressed through to a three. I have never got any further.

Reeds can be expensive and beginning and less practised clarinet players tend to go through quite a lot of them. I have found a few split reeds and ones that were so thin that they were almost like paper at their tips among the reeds in a box of Rico standard ones. Rico reeds are cheap but they are also low quality.

The Rico reeds tend to take time to break in and once they are suitably moist and playing well, they tend to split and have to be replaced.

The Vandoren reeds are more expensive and they last longer but they tend to be a little bit harder than the Rico ones. For example, if I wanted a Rico number 3, I would buy a Vandoren 2 , in order to get the same sound.

Rico also have a Royal and a premium range which are a little more expensive but certainly last longer. The best place to buy these and to try out the range is in a big music store, or online at somewhere like Gear for Music. Rico also do a plastic coated reed which is harder to get used to but lasts a lot longer and you don't have to worry about breaking it in before you can play.

Every clarinet player has their own favourite brand and strength of reed, but I prefer to use a fairly soft one and to change reeds very often, so the low price of the Rico standard ones certainly suits me best. I would rather have a ready supply of cheap, fresh reeds, that try to play with a split reed to save buying new ones.

Rico reeds are great for learners and especially good for children who tend to go through a lot of them because they over wet them and tend to bite on them and cause chipping and splitting at the tip. As any clarinet player knows, you can't get the right sound with a broken, or split reed.

Summary: Good for learners and children