Numero uno: many brands of reeds come in quarter sizes!             (Vandoren V12 & Gonzales, more specifically)  

Ziffer zwei: You have so many more reed options now!  Next time you buy a box, try a quarter size stronger.  Experiment and decide what you like! (Broke? Reeds in your stocking this Christmas!)

Saelie (that's number three in High Valyrian): Once you establish a super amazing strength of reed for yourself, consider the weather.  Look outside, do you see a snowy supernova?  If so, it may be wintertime and fun-fact number three is that the feel of resistance in a reed can change from season to season. The general rule is: cold weather season, use a slightly heavier reed.  Summertime, go a quarter size softer.  

For example, I use Gonzales brand reeds.  I have a pretty resistant mouthpiece, so during the summer I use a 3 1/4 strength reed.  Once the weather turns cold consistently (which in Indiana can be anywhere from October to December) I switch to a strength 3 1/2.  

Tailor that method to your own current reed size and you may notice a lot more satisfaction with your reed cycle!

What to do indeed?  It seems that there are far more reeds in the world than there are ideas on what to make of them once their playing days are over.  Staying right on target with this ratio, I have managed to summon...wait for it...two such ideas for today's entry.  All this genius is exhausting, please somebody stop me.

1. Leave cryptic messages for your roommates.
Nothing says I love you and thank you for not changing the toilet paper roll again like a warning of impending doom via the floor between the bathroom and bedroom.  Using 5-10 reeds per letter, you can make lengthier and more elaborate threats the longer you play clarinet!  If that's not incentive to stick with it, well then...

But what about reed cases?  The Rico Reserve Classics should have the #5 recycling symbol on their reed cases.  (I say should, because I've noticed in looking through my pile that some of them have it and some don't.)  If your county recycles #1-7 plastics you can throw those in with your water bottles and milk cartons!

For those pesky Vandoren cases, and any Rico cases without the recycling label, my only clear option is to revert to a middle-school like state and...

2. Make reed case "bead" curtains!
My great-grandmother left in my possession a giant box of thirty-nine-cent yarn from the Great Depression.  However, some of the colors are less than desirable to be seen in public.

It could be that at this point you're chuckling to yourself at the absurdity of it all.  You're happy that I did it for your amusement, but there's no way you'd ever actually stoop to this level.  That's fine.  Just bask in your content state of denial.  One day two years from now, you'll be cleaning out drawers and come upon that faithful pile of discarded plastic and arundo donax.  Your subconscious mind remembers everything that you ever see, hear, and read, so what do you think will be the first idea to pop into your head?  

Darn that sneaky power of the human mind!  

Happy messaging/curtain making!  And remember, having a social life is only as important as you make it.

Here's a scenario for you: it's the middle of April, the weather has finally taken a turn for the warm, and it has wiped out every one of your decent performing reeds in the process.  Oh, and just as an afterthought, it's the beginning of the week and you have a performance at the end of the week.

During this period, reed playing time is precious.  It's treacherous to spend lots of time practicing on the reeds that you plan on using for your actual performance, because every minute spent out of the case is a potential alteration from the weather.
                                 *End Scenario*

When I begin to break in my reeds, I always date them like this.  These reeds are called F27-1&2 because I started them on February 27th, and they were the 1st and 2nd reeds that I played on.  (I absolutely recommend that you date your reeds; you can label them using any symbols you like as long it's clear to YOU)
I stopped playing these about 2 weeks ago; I used them exclusively on the ROK Tour and they decided to check out early.  OR SO I THOUGHT.
Turns out, with a few different rules to follow than reeds in their prime, old reeds (that you thought were spent) can give you a few decent practice sessions, meaning you don't have to wear out your performance reeds before a concert.  So hang onto those oldies just a little longer and put them to work!

That reed you started two weeks ago is not old.  It is a teenage-reed at most.  Here are my requirements for what counts as an 'old' reed.

• You started breaking it in at least 6 weeks ago. (For this revival experiment, I also worked on an old reed dated February 1st.)
• It has seen some serious battle, as in extensive practice sessions and multiple performances.  In other words, it has vibrated a LOT.
• You have sensed the crotchetiness in the sound (it's my blog,  I can invent words if i want to) and stopped playing on it for at least 1 week (but you haven't thrown it into your reed bucket yet! Good for you!).

Even if you're an avid mouth-soaker, I would encourage you to use water to reawaken your old reeds.  Not only that, but put your chosen reed in your container of choice (empty prescription pill bottles work great), get up, and go take out your recycling.  Or go to the kitchen and wash a dish.  Watch this funny video.  Your thirsty reed has a lot of moisture to catch up on!  Unlike a new reed, which is easily water-logged and should be soaked only for about 30 seconds at a time, old reeds are sealed up from lack of use, dry, and benefit from a full 3-5 minutes in water.

It doesn't need a full week of breaking-in like a new reed, but like an athlete fresh from a coma, it won't like it if you make it run sprints on its first time back in action.

This is a great time to play some long tones!  Start in the easy low register on an unresistant note like E-natural.  Set a metronome at 60 beats-per-minute (or just watch the second-hand on a wall clock) and hold the note for 8 beats.  The sound may take some coaxing; don't lose hope if it doesn't speak right away!  Continue descending chromatically with your long tones, so play Eb next, then D, etc.  If the tone is a bit fuzzy at first, it should start to clear up and find its center by the time you get all the way down to low E, and as an added bonus you've also just played a great warm up!

Don't be afraid to experiment with a little more air than you're used to, I've found that old reeds can be much more sturdy and stand up to a bit more blowing than more sensitive newer reeds.

Close the pores again if you need to by rubbing gently with a spoon or a pen (or even just your finger for a quick fix), and ease into the upper register by playing the same long tone exercise described above, this time starting on B-natural and ascending chromatically up to C above the staff.

It only takes about 15 minutes to revive an old reed and consequently have a pretty lengthy practice session. Compared to my usual several hours of panicked despair, I think I'll take it.  Old is the new NEW!...well...for a few days and then it truly will die a final yet honorable death.

Tonight I had the pleasure of performing a clarinet duet with my good buddy Francisco Brunner for the doctoral composition recital of our IU colleague, Chris Renk.  In the second movement, I observed one measure of rest and resumed playing only to realized that my reed had literally dried out in the air within seconds of leaving my mouth.  Consequently, my long-tone entrance was not the liquid-smooth-multi-overtoned-yet-scarcely-audible pianissimo B-natural that I had pleasantly imagined inside my head moments before.  Instead, it was a thin, strident, and uncharacteristically resistant sound. (Think middle-schoolers learning upper register for the first time)
Naturally this sudden change in resistant shocked me, but I was able to recover decently enough to finish out the phrase with some dignity.

Humidity was low today in Bloomington.  When I checked the weather report later it was listed at 50%.  Now, this is nowhere near as bad as it could be (ideal humidity for clarinet reeds is about 73%), but it was accompanied by a temperature rise of about 10 degrees from the day before, which always makes reeds act a little funny (in unpredictable ways!).

The signs were all there.  
1. I had two coachings and an etude jury this very day in which I warmed up before-hand with a decent playing reed only to play minutes later feeling like I had never gotten it wet.
2. Moments before taking the stage for the Renk duets I frantically changed the reed I had been using because it suddenly responded scratchily and horridly resistant to my soft open-G test notes.  

Open G... No response... Red flag.  

All this having happened, I should have been on the lookout for the aforementioned catastrophe, but my replacement reed had a nice easy response so I figured I was in the clear...

In dry weather, reeds are best in the first few seconds that you take them out of their case, but don't be fooled!  They're time-bombs of dryness!

If you know the weather is dry, keep your performance reed in water up until it's time to take the stage.
Keeping a reed from drying out while you're performing (like, the clarinet is physically in your face and you're blowing some serious sexy tunes) and can't do anything about it?
Well, grasshoppers, when I figure it out I'll let you know.  
In the meantime, here's an awesome picture of Francisco and me playing Chris's duet!

If you don't take private lessons, you probably haven't been bestowed with a whole lot of reed care knowledge other than "Gah! Don't break it!".

If you'd like some lengthier intervals between asking your parents to buy you more reeds, consider applying a few of these easy, time efficient methods on extending the life of your reeds!

1.  Your reed may be caked in the microscopic elements of the meal you ate right before band rehearsal.

Reed cane is like skin, it's got pores.  And just like your skin, when the pores are open, they're absorbing all sorts of gunk.  This gunk is going to keep your reed from vibrating efficiently, thus making you sound poopy.  Try getting in the habit of brushing your teeth before practicing, especially if you've just had a meal.  (If you have trouble motivating yourself to do this, try to visualize the contents of a cheeseburger in a blender being wiped on your reed and left to soak overnight.)   By ridding your mouth of grossness beforehand, you've made it less possible for food particles and other nasties to get stuck in your open-pored reed.  But if you'd like to go even further and fix the problem at the source...

...2. Get those pores closed to begin with!

This method works best on fresh reeds, so the next time you open up a new box, try this.

After you've rubbed it down once (I usually stroke about 10 times) feel it again and notice that it's slightly smoother.  You will need rub down the reed once a day for about a week before it feels completely smooth, so don't be dissatisfied if it doesn't feel like polished wood on the first day!

3. Store your reeds properly!

The plastic cases that come with them are fine, but keep them all together in a tupperware container or a plastic bag that seals completely.  You don't need a fancy reed case; what you DO need is a place to keep your reeds protected from the elements outside.  Reed cane changes with the humidity in the air, and keeping them sealed when not in use will help keep them at the right moisture level for playing, especially if you've applied Method #2 and closed the pores!

4. Are you rotating them? (I'm pointing my finger at you and shaking my head judgmentally at this point)

Ever play on a reed for a long time in one sitting and notice it's got a chunky, almost green color around the tip?  It's water-logged, baby!  It's become so saturated that it's nearly impossible for it to vibrate efficiently.  It's time to put it away for awhile to let it dry out.  That means not playing it again that day, and not in rehearsal the day after either.  You should ALWAYS have at least 4 reeds on rotation so that you are never playing the same one twice in a row.  This is by far the easiest way to make your reeds last longer, so take it seriously!  You'll save yourself headaches (and money!) in the long run!