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*****The Reed Report: Issue 58*****
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first to see this important information.

In this issue:

-A Note from Maryn
-What’s Happening at MKL Reeds?
-The Reed Tip
-Oboe Reed Trivia

Please add “[email protected]” to your whitelist or address book
in your e-mail program, so that you have no trouble receiving
future issues!

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A Note from Maryn
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Monday 1:22 p.m. EST
Batesville, IN

Ever hear this?

“The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”
– Chicken Little

As silly as it might seem, I have definitely felt this way about
being an oboe player sometimes. Mostly, it’s reeds that will do
it, but it can be anything that starts to make you feel out of
control.

I don’t know how other musicians feel, but it seems to me that
oboe players have a propensity for feeling like the whole world
is spinning out of control when one thing isn’t right. We lose
focus on the music, or the effect it will have on people.

Instead, we obsess about our gouging machines, or the reed box
that isn’t filled with anything “good.”

When you feel like this, get some perspective!

Take some time and do something else that you really like doing
and remember how it feels to be excited about something for the
RIGHT reasons.

Don’t be Chicken Little!

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What’s Happening at MKL Reeds
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Part one of the Reedmaker Network Welcome Kits just went out
today! (And a special surprise will be coming in the near
future…)

If you missed all of the hoopla over it, you can get the details
here:

http://www.mklreeds.com/rmn.htm

The websites are coming together and we are really excited to be
jumping in to help everyone improve their reedmaking.

We’re really focusing on helping each person individually, so if
you have any questions in the meantime, please don’t hesitate to
call us.

And just in case you missed it, yes we will still be providing
the best oboe reeds we can for everyone else who wants to buy
them. 🙂

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The Reed/Oboe Tip
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If 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 are
just starting out.

http://www.mklreeds.com/downloads/reed_diagram.pdf

Feel free to pass it on to anyone that can use it 🙂

For the advanced players, just having a simple chart like this
where you can put a big red X over the areas you need to keep
your knife away from can be a good reminder.

I’ve solved many a reed problem by just remembering the basics.

Stay tuned… we’ll jump into more advanced tips in the next
issue.

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Oboe Reed Trivia
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Each week we feature a bit of oboe trivia to help keep your oboe
brains sharp. Sometimes the questions are easy, sometimes they
are not so easy.

Each Friday night, all of the correct answers we receive from all
of you are put into a hat and one lucky winner is chosen to
receive a special prize.

Congratulations to last week’s trivia winner, Patricia Sharpe!

The Stravinsky work is Symphony of Psalms. You can take a look
at the complete instrumentation here:

http://tinyurl.com/mwkw5

The Rite of Spring comes close to the instrumentation we listed,
but it has an extra piccolo…

Patricia, just let us know via email where you would like your
prize sent.

Here’s this week’s question:

What composer didn’t write a solo work for the oboe?
a. W.A. Mozart
b. Samuel Barber
c. Igor Stravinsky

Submit your answers via email to [email protected] by Friday at
5:00PM CST to be included in the drawing.

Good luck!

Thanks for reading. Until next time…

Happy playing,

Maryn Leister
MKL Reeds
[email protected]
http://www.mklreeds.com