Q. Have you always been a good reedmaker?
I was always good at making oboe reeds, perhaps by necessity. I remember my first oboe teacher trying to coax me into giving her one of my reeds. I often made my reed an hour before the jury or concert. I have helped former teachers and professional reedmakers analyze and improve their reeds.
Q. Have you ever had trouble making reeds?
The first time I encountered any unusual difficulty was upon moving to sea level. I did not anticipate the effect the change in altitude had on my reeds. I sought guidance from several teachers who were helpful, yet none pinpointed the root cause of my frustration with reeds. Eventually, I adapted to sea level and began to make reeds that seemed okay to me — though I was not exactly sure, at the time, what I did differently.
Q. Have you made reeds professionally?
I worked for one of the best and earliest small reedmaking companies for a few years. I scraped 100–200 reeds per week and received instruction and feedback on my work. I am certain this contributed to my skill growth.
Q. Why did you write your books?
I began teaching oboe and reedmaking in my late teens, shortly after winning my first professional orchestral position. I realized the standard reedmaking texts were failing my students. Some students followed the instructions literally: scraping the tip "as thin as possible" resulted in removing the entire cane portion from the staple on the first scrape. The illustrations were not drawn from the perspective of the reedmaker, nor to scale, and confused the students. Surprisingly, some illustrations were not physically possible! There was no comprehensive guidance on finishing reeds or gouger adjustment. At one point 60% of my students were left-handed, and there were no texts devoted to teaching them.
Some students purchased reeds with a wide range of quality and serviceability. Some reeds were so stiff that even an athletic, largely-built swimmer could not sustain a note for more than a few seconds without turning red and getting dizzy. Other reeds had lovely tones and were so unstable and flat that they hindered progress on the oboe. I did not want to spend valuable lesson time adjusting these reeds. I thought the ideal course of action was their becoming self-sufficient reedmakers — or at least able to adjust purchased reeds.
Q. What was the best way I could help my students with their reed making?
Write and illustrate books containing the most useful information I acquired. My students could have reedmaking instruction and concepts organized for them at their fingertips for the price of a lesson or two.
Q. Does your reed room really look like the drawing in the book?
Yes. Every possible aspect of the room has been optimized for ergonomic comfort, acoustics, lighting, and ease of work or productivity.
Q. Who influenced your reedmaking?
I learned from influential oboists including John Mack, Laurence Thorstenberg, Ronald Roseman, Bert Lucarelli, Stuart Dunkel, Eric Barr, Stevens Hewitt, Ralph Gomberg.
Q. Why did you publish your book in this format?
In 2009 I showed my first attempt at writing and illustrating a book to one of my students, an MFA from Yale. His expertise is printing, graphic design, and book publication. He encouraged me and explained I would need to improve my layout, design, and illustrations to create a true book. (He thought that the other “books” on the market did not meet the critical definition of “book” as used in the industry.)
Q. How many books will you publish?
I set out to write a multi-volume set on the "American style" of oboe reedmaking. To date we have published three books, all facilitating a better understanding of oboe reeds and reedmaking through detailed illustration, explanation, and instruction of the process—including knife sharpening, gouger adjustment, and finishing the oboe reed. The final volume of this set remains unpublished, and there are other projects to consider.
Q. Why limit your book to the “American style” of oboe reedmaking?
This is my area of expertise. All of the information contained in my books is derived from personal experience: techniques and approaches I have tried, used, and taught.
Q. Was it difficult to write this book?
No. I already possessed the knowledge in my head. I composed most of the book sitting in waiting rooms. The difficulty lay in learning to illustrate and measure everything exactly because seeing and perceiving dimension, proportion, and scale are very important to reedmaking.
Q. How do you know the instructions work?
Like testing recipes in a cookbook, I followed all of the instruction in the book to ensure the intended result would occur. These tests included following the right- and left-hand specific instructions and illustrations.
Q. Will the instruction work for me since I use a different shape and gouge?
I tested the instructions using different shapes and gouges. I was able to make reeds following the instructions in the book. It is certainly possible that a shape or gouge exist that will not work with these instructions, and another purpose of the book is to help identity those unworkable elements.
Q. When have you found the instructions do not work?
Some people skip the intermediary steps and use the summary at the end of a lesson. In this case, it is possible to overlook an essential step or part of a step. By carefully following the steps in each lesson, one will know when and how the reed started to fail by either over- or under-scraping or scraping the wrong areas.
Q. Does your book teach teachers how to teach reedmaking?
No. That was never the intent of my book. The Encyclopedia is divided into lessons that organize the material making it easier to teach or learn the subject. The expectation is that the teacher as a subject matter expert may use the book as needed, or a student may teach themselves about reedmaking.
Q. Does your book use measurements?
Yes. The book details many sets of measurements and proportions that work and that are used by me and others—in fact one point of the book is to experiment with measurements guided by the principles. Ultimately measurement is better at diagnosing a flaw than making something “correct.”
Q. What if I use different measurements?
Both volumes contain white space (margins) and tables with blank columns and rows to record YOUR (or your teacher's) notes and measurements.
Q. Does your book teach how to play the oboe?
No. My books cover posture, tone production, and tonal concept as they relate to crowing, adjusting, and playing the reed. Specific advice from a book about how to play the oboe may or may not apply to individual students. I teach oboe playing in private lessons.
Q. What else is special about this book?
The book provides a systematic framework to fabricate and analyze reeds using a progressive, logical method. The Encyclopedia may serve as a textbook or reference and fosters a comprehensive appreciation of the reedmaking process detailing its concepts, procedures, tools, supplies and machinery involved in the reedmaking process.
Q. What is a complaint about your book?
A few readers find the book challenging. They remark that it is too detailed. However, reedmaking (and oboe playing) succeeds or fails based on small details, or series of details. Often, upon their re-reading the book, I will receive a note of thanks that they were able to finally understand that which had eluded them for many years using other books and teachers.
Q. Isn't there enough information available about reeds on the internet?
The internet is filled with information on reedmaking, photos and discussion on reeds. However, high-quality, accurate information may be indistinguishable from other points of view. Perusing the internet, I frequently see reeds and instruction with many of the problems and errors my book addresses. Some of the advice is simply wrong!
Q. What is the goal of your book?
To help each player envision and construct the optimal reed for their voice using practical, reproducible empirical methodologies. This process is not about copying other famous players and their reeds. Reading The Encyclopedia is an exploration of self-discovery to find what works (and what does not work) and how to evaluate reeds, reedmaking, and oboe playing at the personal level.