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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000014.txt from 2003/01

From: PhilFrei@-----.com
Subj: [DR-L] Re: Third Octave Melodic F Minor
Date: Fri, 3 Jan 2003 16:58:42 -0500

In a message dated 1/3/03 10:02:29 AM Pacific Standard Time,
doublereed-l-request@-----.edu writes:

>
> I'm having problems playing an F melodic minor scale
> two octaves, specifically E-F-Eb-Db. Everything I've
> found seems either impossible or extremely awkward.
>
>
> Hi,
> There are two solutions to this. They may be awkward for you. First
> off, I assume you're referring to the top octave. You can switch from the
> left hand fingering of E to the right hand fingering of F (I'm referring to
> the G#,D# keys). This frees your left hand little finger to get to the B
> key
> coming down to the Eb. The other solution is to stay with the left hand
> pinkie on the E and F and use the short Eb fingering coming down (1/2, 2,
> 3,
> G# + low C), but you can leave your LH pinkie on both the D# and G# keys
> for
> the Eb.
> Take care,
> Phil Feather
>

On the high Eb/D# coming down (from left-hand F or E), I use a similar
fingering to Phil Feather's: left hand:(1/2, 2,3, G# AND Eb) right hand:
(2,C). On my oboe (basic Loree), it is important to include the left Eb key
(and easier, too) as this closes the outer ring of the D key, which helps
place the note more in tune. But this probably varies from oboe to oboe. The
"normal" Eb (1/2,2,3,B)(2,3) seems to sound a little clearer, so I use it
whenever possible, including doing trade-offs from left to right high F or E,
as Phil described in option 1.

Any new fingering up there is going to be awkward at first. It reminds one
what it used to feel like as a beginner.

Phil Freihofner
Oakland