I opened my new package of reeds, and popped one in my mouth. It felt a little funny, but I hadn’t had a reed in my mouth in two decades, so I figured I just didn’t remember. I sucked on the reed while assembling my clarinet.

My corks were dry and disintegrated cork powder dusted the inside of my case. Fortunately I still had cork grease in my case, so I applied it to my corks, and with the familiarity of having done a task countless times, I had my clarinet together without even thinking about it. With my mouthpiece and barrel assembled, I prepared to slap on my reed, fasten my ligature, and check the seal between my reed and mouthpiece. But the reed was too big. No satisfying slap for me.

I don’t know if I inadvertently ordered bass clarinet reeds or if they were erroneously sent, but that’s what I have – not B-flat clarinet reeds. You know I tried to see if I could make that reed work, but alas. I thought today was the day. Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s back to Amazon I go.

And that’s my bit of creativity for today.