One of the most common mistakes made by young oboists (and maybe old oboists too) is playing on oboe reeds that are just too heavy for that particular player. I’ve been there, and I have certainly done that. And I saw many of my colleagues struggle with the same issue, especially when we were in [...]
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Scraping an oboe reed blank is a little like creating a shell for the reed to live in. It isn’t really an oboe reed yet, but it has to be a good enough shell so that the reed can eventually take shape within it. It seems like a rather abstract idea now, so just remember… [...]
Read MoreLet it be known that I like band directors, and that without mine long ago I would not be sitting here writing about what I know about the oboe. He was (and probably still is) a wonderful man who encouraged me, taught me what he knew but then was humble enough to say that he [...]
Read MoreThere are many excuses for not making your own oboe reeds, but in my opinion, one of the poorest excuses is money. Let’s face it, playing the oboe is an expensive proposition. If you haven’t realized it already, then let this be your warning. If you don’t want to spend any money at all, then [...]
Read MoreQuestion “How do I know what my oboe reed strength is?” Answer I never bought into the whole reed strength phenomenon, so I don’t know what to tell you. Make your own and it won’t matter. If you have to buy a “strength” just remember that harder doesn’t mean that you or the reed is [...]
Read MoreWhen you’re looking for a good reed to play a solo performance, just remember this: Make sure you can play the reed out of your ear. That means the reed should be easy enough to get through your piece 2 or 3 times in a row without getting tired. So if your reed has you [...]
Read MoreIt’s amazing what 4,000 feet will do to an oboe reed. 30 days ago, we moved out of the mountains of Flagstaff Arizona. Flagstaff Elevation: 7,200 feet above sea level. Now when you’re an oboe reed company, that type of elevation can be a real deal breaker. It was for us. So we stopped selling [...]
Read MoreI remember this reed lesson pretty well. Even though it happened almost 15 years ago (eekkk…). The idea was to give myself a simple “cheat sheet” that I could refer back to as I made reeds. It was basically my profile of the “perfect reed.” I created a quick list of the major things I [...]
Read MoreGot a question recently about how to tie your knots when you’re making an oboe reed. It’s hard to explain in words, so take a look at the video and see if it’s clear. This video is actually part of our reedmaking course, The Beginner’s Guide to Making Your First Playing Oboe Reed… In 9 [...]
Read MoreHere’s what happens to dead oboe reeds (in this case, a bassoon reed) in our house. My son really gets a kick out of this. I wish I could have so much fun when my reeds kick the bucket.
Read MoreIf you aren’t planning to learn reedmaking now or anytime in the near future, the best thing you can do is learn how to scrape the reeds that you do buy. To do that, you’ve got to know the parts of a reed. Here’s a very simple diagram that will make it clear if you [...]
Read MoreWe’re only about 18 days away from our big announcement at MKL Reeds. If you are reading this blog and haven’t signed up for our newsletter, The Reed Report, you are going to miss out. Before you play another note on your oboe, go and get your free subscription. You’ll get some free gifts and [...]
Read MoreIt’s probably no surprise that we get a lot of questions from present, past and future customers about oboe reeds. That’s my business of course. We get questions like: “Do I need a soft reed or a hard reed?” “How should I know what reeds to order?” “What do I do with oboe reeds if [...]
Read MoreI always love trying different shaper tips–not only do they offer me different options and “feels”, but they can feel different on different gouges, so I often revisit unused shaper tips when I redo my gouge. Having recently gotten both of my gouges worked on, I went back through my shaper tip collection to see [...]
Read MoreI certainly don’t profess to know everything about reedmaking….in fact, I kind of like being presented with the odd reed problem now and then. It challenges me to do some investigating and create a solution for a specific reed issue. In the end, I learn a lot and my reeds get better… I do have [...]
Read MoreI was cleaning out my desk the other day and came across my whole collection of Monumental Reed Notes. The collection is actually just a stack of Post-It-Notes from my years of study with Richard Killmer at Eastman. I thought I would share some of them with you. Don’t worry about the detail… at first. [...]
Read MoreIt’s always fun to travel to festivals and gigs out of town, but it can make for unpredictable reeds. Planning ahead for multiple scenarios with a case full of gorgeous reeds is the ideal situation, but how realistic is it to make a reed in one city and expect it to be the same somewhere [...]
Read MorePlaying the oboe is hard enough as it is, so I try to keep my reed philosophy as simple as possible. I believe there are only a few things that make a good reed. The rest, as they say, is just opinion. A good reed must have: response – if it doesn’t make a sound, [...]
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How do you know if you'll like an oboe reed before you play it? You can't. When the rubber finally hits the road, it hardly matters if the reed is a great one, perfectly customized to your every desire, if it just plain doesn't work well for you. 
My name is Maryn Leister. I am a graduate of the Juilliard Pre-College Division and the Eastman School of Music, where I was a student of Richard Killmer. After graduating from college, I lived in Nashville, TN, then headed to Knoxville, TN, New York City, and finally Chicago...
