Rico Hemke reeds

Past 3 months since my last posting, have been diligently practicing Book 2 pieces (and completing it after 6 months of work), and some additional materials by tutor. Nothing much to post during that period as they were mostly repetitious work.

This post is to mention that after a few months of playing, there's a motivation to improve on my standings in terms of skill and equipment. Since skill is a measure which takes time to achieve, equipment on the other hand is much easier to attain.

It's good to start with minor adjustment to the saxophone equipment list, such as

- upgrading reeds (different brand, stronger rating, file & cut styles),

- changing mouthpiece (material change to higher grade plastic, ebonite, steel),

- and the grandest of all; change your saxophone (of course this depends a lot on your budget).

All this fun in upgrading is most worthwhile if you keep in mind that most of the time, the skill and practice you put in makes the most difference to the sound. And not the best equipment you buy.

I went and bought a piece of Rico Hemke reed (RM10/pc) and Vandoren Java (RM19/pc) from Bentley Music at Kota Damansara (located opposite Ikea). Tried the Hemke 2.5 rating reed and surprisingly it was easy to blow on the first try. Giving a steady bright sound. Its supposed to be a 'jazz' series range. Probably not too skilled to pull off the 'jazz' motion yet.

Normally the normal Rico reeds I buy (RM5/pc) needs to 'warm up' a few rounds before the sound steadies. This Hemke reed has a better quality cane and is french filed.

Have not tried the Vandoren piece yet. Will update on next posting.