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 ...
Advantages: Covers all aspects of playing/history of clarinet Disadvantages: May be too in depth for the average player!
If you play the clarinet and interested in finding out a little more about it than the fact that it?s black, about 2 feet long with a single reed, try Jack Brymer?s ?Clarinet? from the Yehudi Menuhin Series. If you don?t play the clarinet, may I ask why not?! You can pick one up quite cheaply and they are as easy to learn in the early stages as the recorder, but sound a lot cooler-go on- I dare you! Once you?ve mastered the basics this book will serve as a valuable friend and teacher through the more taxing grades. I picked it up at about grade 5, and still pick it up for advice today, with a music degree under my belt. If you?re vaguely serious about the instrument, it?s worth the mere £9.95 it will put you out of pocket.
A word on the author- Jack Brymer was clarinet king. His recordings of the Mozart clarinet concerto and quintet ...
Advantages: Great Quality and Sound Disadvantages: A bit expensive
After starting the clarinet at school i asked for a buffet B12 clarinet for christmas. I kept this clarinet until the last year of my A levels but my clarinet teacher advised me that i needed a new one to progress further. Because of this i then started to try many different clarinets. I tried nearly every model and every make and narrowed it down to a Buffet RC and a Buffet R13. The reason i chose an RC prestige was because of the dark mellow german tone compared to the R13 prestige which gives a brighter french tone.
This clarinet served me well through my degree, i gained a first in major performance with this clarinet and enjoyed every minute of practicing with it. now i am a woodwind teacher i would always tell the pupils to go for Buffet as they make outstanding clarinet. Even the most basic models are well built and sound good ...
![Brahms: Clarinet Quintet; Glazunov: Rêverie Orientale; Mozart: Quintet Movement in B flat [SACD]](http://imagesb.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/small/045/Brahms_Clarinet_Quintet_Glazunov_Reverie_Orientale_Mozart_Quintet_Movement_in_B_flat_SACD__6623045.jpg)
