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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000057.txt from 2003/07

From: PhilFrei@-----.com
Subj: [DR-L] Anti-note glitches
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2003 14:04:12 -0400

Hi -

I've been working on the F-major arpeggio on oboe. I'm noticing that in going
to or from low C to F (forked), if at any point the "E" finger is off and the
C finger down, not only does nothing sound, when the "E" finger finally gets
down or the "C" finger rises, the new note takes a while to kick in.

In most cases where there is a glitch, one simply gets some sort of
intermediate note, or if there is silence, it disappears as soon as one arrives at the
correct fingering (e.g., half-hole D to A, when the half-hole closure is
incomplete but the rest of the fingers reach a proper A). But in this case, the
glitch seems to disrupt the ability of the oboe to play the next note. What a
curious thing, if that is what is occuring.

Do other people get this effect too? Going from G or F# or E to C and back is
no problem, so I don't think it is a matter of the reed or of the oboe
adjustment. But the forked-F C interval seems extra touchy, I think because of this
effect, and much harder to bring up to high speed.

I'm wondering also if there are other "black hole" fingering glitches that
disrupt the oboe's ability to play the next note. Oh, probably the attempt to
reach 3rd octave D, when the half-hole is not opened in time, qualifies as an
example. That one is so notorious they've built new keys and fingerings to
circumvent it.

Phil Freihofner
Oakland