A reed (or lamella) is a thin strip of material that vibrates to produce a sound on a

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...

. Most

woodwind instrument Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and r ...

reeds are made from ''

Arundo donax ''Arundo donax'' is a tall perennial cane. It is one of several so-called reed species. It has several common names including giant cane, elephant grass, carrizo, arundo, Spanish cane, Colorado river reed, wild cane, and giant reed. ''Arundo'' a ...

'' ("Giant cane") or synthetic material. Tuned reeds (as in

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica in ...

s and

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a ree ...

s) are made of

metal A metal (from ancient Greek, Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, e ...

or synthetics. Musical instruments are classified according to the type and number of reeds. The earliest types of single-reed instruments used idioglottal reeds, where the vibrating reed is a tongue cut and shaped on the tube of cane. Much later, single-reed instruments started using heteroglottal reeds, where a reed is cut and separated from the tube of cane and attached to a mouthpiece of some sort. By contrast, in an uncapped double reed instrument (such as the oboe and bassoon), there is no mouthpiece; the two parts of the reed vibrate against one another.

Single reeds

Single reeds are used on the mouthpieces of

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitch ...

s and

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

s. The back of the reed is flat and is placed against the mouthpiece. These reeds are roughly rectangular in shape and taper towards the thin tip, which is rounded to match the curve of the mouthpiece tip. All single reeds are shaped similarly but vary in size to fit each instrument's mouthpiece. Reeds designed for the same instrument look roughly identical, but vary in thickness ("hardness" or "strength"). Hardness is generally measured on a scale of 1 through 5 from softest to hardest. This is not a standardized scale and reed strengths vary by manufacturer. The thickness of the tip and heel and the profile in between affect the sound and playability. Pieces of cane of different density or stiffness, even if cut with the same profile, will respond differently due to those differences.

How single reeds are made

The

cane Cane or caning may refer to: *Walking stick or walking cane, a device used primarily to aid walking * Assistive cane, a walking stick used as a mobility aid for better balance *White cane, a mobility or safety device used by many people who are ...

used to make reeds for

single-reed instrument A single-reed instrument is a woodwind instrument that uses only one reed to produce sound. The very earliest single-reed instruments were documented in ancient Egypt, as well as the Middle East, Greece, and the Roman Empire. The earliest types o ...

s is grown in the southern coastal regions of France and Spain and, in the last 30 years, in the Cuyo area of Argentina. After the cane is cut it is placed in direct sunlight for about a month to dry. The cane is rotated regularly to ensure even and complete drying. Once dry, the cane is stored in a warehouse. As production requires it, cane is taken to a factory's cutting department, where it is cut into tubes graded by diameter and wall density. The tubes are cut into ''splits'' and made into reed blanks. Blanks are tapered and profiled into reeds using blades or CNC machines. Completed reeds are graded for strength by machine.

Double reeds

Double reed A double reed is a type of reed used to produce sound in various wind instruments. In contrast with a single reed instrument, where the instrument is played by channeling air against one piece of cane which vibrates against the mouthpiece an ...

s are used on many instruments, such as the

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

oboe d'amore The oboe d'amore (; Italian for "oboe of love"), less commonly , is a double reed woodwind musical instrument in the oboe family. Slightly larger than the oboe, it has a less assertive and a more tranquil and serene tone, and is considered the m ...

English horn The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an alt ...

bass oboe The bass oboe or baritone oboe is a double reed instrument in the woodwind family. It is essentially twice the size of a regular (soprano) oboe so it sounds an octave lower; it has a deep, full tone somewhat akin to that of its higher-pitched c ...

, heckelphone,

bassoon The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuos ...

contrabassoon The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower. Its technique is similar to its smaller cousin, with a few notable differences. Differences from the bassoon The reed is consi ...

sarrusophone The sarrusophones are a family of metal double reed conical bore woodwind instruments patented and first manufactured by Pierre-Louis Gautrot in 1856. Gautrot named the sarrusophone after French bandmaster Pierre-Auguste Sarrus (1813–1876), w ...

shawm The shawm () is a conical bore, double-reed woodwind instrument made in Europe from the 12th century to the present day. It achieved its peak of popularity during the medieval and Renaissance periods, after which it was gradually eclipsed by th ...

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, ...

nadaswaram The Nagaswaram (nādḥasvaram) is a double reed wind instrument from South India. It is used as a traditional classical instrument in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, and Kerala. This instrument is "among the world's loudes ...

and

shehnai The ''shehnai'' is a musical instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is made of wood, with a double reed at one end and a metal or wooden flared bell at the other end.others. The two reeds vibrate against each other and not against a mouthpiece. In the case of the

crumhorn The crumhorn is a double reed instrument of the woodwind family, most commonly used during the Renaissance period. In modern times, particularly since the 1960s, there has been a revival of interest in early music, and crumhorns are being pla ...

, and

Rauschpfeife Rauschpfeife is a commonly used term for a specific type of capped conical reed musical instrument of the woodwind family, used in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. In common with the crumhorn and cornamuse, it is a wooden double-reed inst ...

, a reed cap encloses the reeds and the reeds do not contact the player's mouth.

How double reeds are made

Double reed manufacturing begins the same way as that of single reeds. ''

'' cane is collected, dried, processed, cut to manageable sizes, and separated into various diameters. The most common diameters for American-style oboe reeds are: , , and . Many American oboists prefer one diameter at one time of the year and a different diameter at other times. The tubes are split into three equal parts and the pieces that are not warped are chosen. A reed made from warped cane will not

vibrate Vibration is a mechanical phenomenon whereby oscillations occur about an equilibrium point. The word comes from Latin ''vibrationem'' ("shaking, brandishing"). The oscillations may be periodic function, periodic, such as the motion of a pendulum ...

consistently on both sides. The split pieces are gouged by machine to remove many layers and drastically decrease thickness, which eases the scraping process for the reed-maker. Finally, the gouged pieces of cane are soaked, shaped on a shaper with razor blades, and allowed to dry before the final steps. The shaped piece of cane is then re-soaked and tied onto a "staple" for

reeds or formed on a mandrel for

reeds. Double reeds are tied in place with thread. Finishing both bassoon and oboe reeds requires the reed-maker to scrape along the cane section of the reed with a scraping knife to specific dimensions and lengths depending on the reed style and the musician's preference. Bassoon and oboe reeds are finished when the reeds play in tune or can make a sufficient "crow"-like noise.

Quadruple reeds

Quadruple reed A quadruple reed is a type of reed by means of which the sound is originated in various wind instruments. The term "quadruple reed" comes from the fact that there are four pieces of dried palm leaf vibrating against each other, in pairs. A quad ...

instruments have four reeds, two on top and two on bottom. Examples of this include an archetypal instrument from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

, the

shehnai The ''shehnai'' is a musical instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent. It is made of wood, with a double reed at one end and a metal or wooden flared bell at the other end.pi from

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, and the

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand ...

n sralai. Having four reeds instead of two produces a very different tone and set of

harmonics A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the '' fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', ...

Free reeds

There are two types of free reeds: framed and unframed. Framed free reeds are used on ancient East Asian instruments such as the Chinese shēng and Japanese shō, ancient Southeast Asian instruments like the Laotian

khene The ''khene'' (; spelled "Can" in English; Lao: ແຄນ; th, แคน, , ; km, គែន - ''Ken''; Vietnamese: ''khèn'') is a Lao mouth organ whose pipes, which are usually made of bamboo, are connected with a small, hollowed-out h ...

, and modern European instruments such as the

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. Th ...

or reed organ (consisting of

reed pipe A reed pipe (also referred to as a ''lingual'' pipe) is an organ pipe that is sounded by a vibrating brass strip known as a ''reed''. Air under pressure (referred to as ''wind'') is directed towards the reed, which vibrates at a specific pitc ...

s),

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...

bandoneón The bandoneon (or bandonion, es, bandoneón) is a type of concertina particularly popular in Argentina and Uruguay. It is a typical instrument in most tango ensembles. As with other members of the concertina family, the bandoneon is held ...

, and Russian

bayan Bayan may refer to: Eduational Institutions * Bayan Islamic Graduate School, Chicago, IL Places *Bayan-Aul, Pavlodar, Kazakhstan *Bayan Mountain, an ancient mountain name for part of Tarbagatai Mountains at Kazakhstan in Qing Dynasty period * ...

. The reed is made from cane, willow, brass or steel, and is enclosed in a rigid frame. The pitch of the framed free reed is fixed. The ancient

bullroarer The bullroarer, ''rhombus'', or ''turndun'', is an ancient ritual musical instrument and a device historically used for communicating over great distances. It consists of a piece of wood attached to a string, which when swung in a large circle ...

is an unframed free reed made of a stone or wood board tied to a rope that is swung around through the air to make a whistling sound. Another primitive unframed free-reed instrument is the leaf (the ''bilu''), used in some traditional Chinese music ensembles. A leaf or long blade of grass is stretched between the sides of the thumbs and tensioned slightly by bending the thumbs to change the pitch. The tone can be modified by cupping the hands to provide a resonant chamber.

Materials

Most

reeds are made from

, but there are synthetic reeds for clarinet, saxophone,

double reed A double reed is a type of reed used to produce sound in various wind instruments. In contrast with a single reed instrument, where the instrument is played by channeling air against one piece of cane which vibrates against the mouthpiece an ...

instruments, and bagpipes. Synthetic reeds are more durable and do not need to be moistened prior to playing, but many players consider them to have inferior tone. Recently, synthetic reeds have been made from synthetic polymer compounds, and from a combination of cane and synthetics. The dizi, a Chinese

transverse flute A transverse flute or side-blown flute is a flute which is held horizontally when played. The player blows across the embouchure hole, in a direction perpendicular to the flute's body length. Transverse flutes include the Western concert f ...

, has a distinctive kind of reed (a di mo), which is made from a paper-like

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

membrane.

Commercial vs. handmade

Musicians originally crafted reeds from cane using simple tools, a time-consuming and painstaking process. Specialized tools for cutting and trimming reeds by hand reduce the time needed to finish a reed. Today, nearly all single-reed instrument players buy manufactured reeds, though many adjust them by shaving or sanding. Some professionals make single reeds from blanks, but this is time-consuming and can require expensive equipment. Among double reed players, advanced and professional players typically make their own reeds, while beginners and students often buy reeds, either from their teachers or from commercial sources.

Care and maintenance

The playing characteristics of cane reeds are susceptible to changes in temperature and humidity. Manufacturers produce reeds in different strengths, indicated by a number (most commonly 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, and 5). The strength is determined by a machine that presses against the vamp (the part that includes the tip and the "heart" just behind the tip) of the reed and determines how stiff the reed is. The machine separates the reeds according to hardness. Individual reeds graded with the same strength/hardness will vary in their playing characteristics. Sections of a reed that is too hard can be adjusted using blades, scrapers, or abrasives.

"Reed players"

Musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

orchestras call for

woodwind Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and re ...

players to each play several different instruments from the single-reed, flute, and double-reed families. In this context, these players are commonly referred to as "reed players". An individual part may call for only one or two instruments, or many more (the "Reed 3" part in Bernstein's ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...

'' calls for

piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the s ...

, flute, oboe,

, clarinet,

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave ...

, and tenor and baritone saxophones).

Notes

External links

The Roots of Reeds
- an exhibition curated by the Museum of Making Music, Carlsbad, CA - detailing the history and migration of reed instruments. * {{Authority control Woodwind instrument parts and accessories