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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000002.txt from 2003/05

From: Reedsoaker@-----.com
Subj: Re: [DR-L] opening throat upper register oboe
Date: Thu, 1 May 2003 11:20:55 -0400

Hi Marianne,
The throat is a tricky area. I believe that any time you concentrate
too much on the throat, it creates tension. I had many teachers growing up
that constantly stressed the importance of an open throat. I have come to
believe that a better description would be "natural and relaxed". Doing
exercises on the reed alone like you describe are useful to teach your throat
the range of motions required. You must practice the mechanics involved. When
it comes time to play music, you need to listen for the tone you want to hear
from yourself and trust that your body will make the proper adjustments. When
you focus on the necessary adjustments, you tend to do too much and make (in
this case) the throat tense, and therefore unnaturally closed.
I tell my students to develop a "third ear". It's job is to sit in
front of yourself and listen to the music. Expect the music to sound the way
you want it to and your brain and body will gently make the adjustments
necessary to achieve this. You must have practiced the mechanics well
beforehand for your body to know what to do.
I suspect you are "overdoing" what your teacher describes. I remember
doing the same thing with support. I would tense my abdominal muscles as much
as possible thinking that was good support. What I created was a lot of
tension. I was working way too hard and it sounded like it! Now I feel a
column of air with energy and freedom allows me to achieve the best results.
The abdominal muscles are certainly working to achieve this, but in a natural
way. I hope any of this is of help.