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About UsAt Mechlin Reeds, we take care of you, so you can take care of the music.
We do things a little differently here. You'll notice that we don't offer a gazillion options. That's because we do custom work- you tell us what you're looking for, we make it happen. We make great reeds, just the way you like them. Tell us a bit about your instrument and what sort of playing you're doing, and we'll find you the perfect match. It doesn't matter if you're a beginner or a seasoned performer. Want prepared cane to make your own reeds? We do that, too. We also make instrument supports to alleviate aches and pains from doing what you love. Tell us where it hurts- we can help! All of our products are made in the US and Germany. |
OUR HISTORY |
After several years of making reeds for other oboists on campus at the University of Michigan, Kate Eakin started Mechlin Reeds in 2004, as a way to pay for grad school.
Since then, Mechlin Reeds has grown to provide reeds tailored to individual needs for musicians all over the US, Canada, and Europe. With the launch of All Thumbs REST in 2012, the company expanded into ergonomic instrument supports, saving oboe and clarinet players everywhere from tendonitis and other performance-related ailments. In 2015, we welcomed the patent-pending Weightless Winds, designed to relieve neck and back pain for woodwind instrumentalists of all sorts. A version of Weightless Winds for larger instruments is in the works. |
WHO MAKES THIS STUFF, ANYWAY?
KATE, owner and oboe family reed maker, is the oboist and English hornist of the US Air Forces in Europe Band and its woodwind quintet, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. [Don't worry- US orders still pay domestic shipping!]
She's traveled a ways from her native Louisiana to make music, including a BM at the University of Michigan, MM at McGill University in Montréal, teaching at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Palestine, and a season with the Orquesta de la UANL in Monterrey, Mexico, in addition to extensive touring in Central and South America. After five fabulous freelance years in Chicago, the Air Force seemed like a good way to slow down, so she packed up the shop and moved to St. Louis for several years with the band at Scott AFB, prior to her present assignment.
Kate has performed with the Milwaukee Symphony, New World Symphony, and Chicago Civic Orchestra. Her previous contracts include da Corneto Opera, Millennium Chamber Players new music ensemble, Battle Creek Symphony, Dearborn Symphony Orchestra, and the Peoria Symphony. She is presently on leave from the Quad City Symphony.
Kate has previously served on the faculties of the Sherwood Conservatory of Chicago, Columbia College Chicago, and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. Her teachers include E. Earnest Harrison, Nancy Ambrose King, Alexa Zirbel, Pierre Plante, Merrill Greenberg, and Grover Schiltz.
MICHELLE, bassoon reedmaker, has performed with orchestras across North America and Europe, and is also a founding member of Trio Auloi.
She has Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from New England Conservatory, where she studied with Rick Ranti and Richard Svoboda, and also did graduate studies with Marc Goldberg and Patricia Rogers.
Michelle currently lives in Germany with her husband, a clarinetist. She fills her spare time with traveling, baking, and assorted crafting adventures. Michelle and her reeds can be heard playing with Trio Auloi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzDxpvOA6-w
RAYMOND, seamster extraordinaire, sews Weightless Winds.
When he's not doing that, he makes custom church vestments, altar pieces, and all manner of fabric art. He also makes some pretty awesome quilts, which you can check out here: http://nachograndmasquilts.com/category/news/
DANIELLE assembles All Thumbs REST and helps out behind the scenes. She's otherwise a very busy mother of four.