An excuse? The reeds have been the cause of many a clarinettist's unfortunate tone and other mishaps! Hanstoni Kaufmann wants to change that and has written a wonderful guide to improving clarinet reeds. He can look back on over 30 years of experience as a reed maker and corrector: ever since he started making his own reeds with the then principal clarinettist of the Vienna Philharmonic, Alfred Prinz, and was eventually chosen as Prinz's personal reed maker. As a course instructor, Kaufmann regularly passes on his knowledge and teaches clarinettists the secrets.

On 40 pages in A4 format, Hanstoni Kaufmann provides many facts and all sorts of instructive information as well as concise and extremely precise instructions on how to work the small sound generators. The booklet begins with the material, the cane, with its properties, characteristics and vibrational behavior. Kaufmann shows how the reed geometry should be designed and how individual tones can be directly assigned to a region on the reed. The methods of processing are explained in detail using specific techniques, and the author presents the tools required and how to use them. At the end of the booklet, reference sources are given for all materials. The chapter "Correcting and adjusting with a system" is extremely helpful, as it describes common reed problems and how to solve them. Finally, Kaufmann lists numerous analysis steps with diagnoses and correction options.

Correcting clarinet reeds belongs in every clarinettist's library, even if you have no intention of getting to work with sandpaper and chisels. If only because of the interesting information on the reeds and the wonderful illustrations. If you really want to get to work yourself, you would probably be well advised to take a course with the author.

Hanstoni Kaufmann, Klarinettenblätter korrigieren, 40 p., Fr. 29.80, misura Verlag, Lucerne 2012, and directly from the author: mhtk@bluewin.ch