| Brought to you this hour by |  | Advertising and Web Hosting on Woodwind.Org! |
Doublereed Archive - Posting 000030.txt from 2003/09
From: "Sameer Al-Abdullah" <simsim29@-----.com>
Subj: [DR-L] Oboe Reeds & Sound Production Philosophy
Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2003 08:04:15 -0400
If I play upon reeds of different schools, I still sound just like myself
Whenever I have tried on someone elses reeds, never been able to produce the sound I hear in my mind's ear!"
And Prof. Martin Schurring once told me that I "will produce the sound that I have in my mind eventually."
From different kinds of reeds I go to another interesting yet mysterious issue, Sound Production!!
I cant help but to think alot about what you guys meant by what you said. I understand that the reeds do have an effect on the sound. BUT how can one produce the same sound if given 2 different reeds??
Again I' m not asking anyone to teach me how to do step by step. But rather explain the basic elements involved in the long process of learning how to produce different colors of sound on the oboe.
For some reason I have always compared the oboe playing to human singing. I really think they are the same, at least in concept. The reeds are our vocal cords and I let you imagin the rest. But really I think the breathing and techniques etc etc on the oboe are similar to human singing.
I have witnessed a singer as well as other people change their voice drastically. I could not believe what my eyes and ears were seeing/hearing. THe singer was changing her voice and immitating other singers. I watched a program about voice production. The expert woman on the show was able to produce at lest 4 different sounds. She explained that it was all in the breath!!
Since I think oboe playing is like singing I started thinking maybe the same thing is applied here?? When you guys say that it doesnt matter what reeds you are playing on you will still produce your own sound, are you doing the same thing?? Is it all a breathing technique? and maybe its your own unique embouchure shape and muscles????
I tried many thing from muffling the reeds, biting more and less, and taking more or less reeds in but got very little disappointing results. My oboe teacher said the same thing. "you will produce your own sound that you like eventaully." I know i will but I just can't help and think about it alot.
Is this something I should know about right now in my early years or should i just leave it alone and let it come by itself?? The same thing happened to me with vibrato. EVERYONE told me to leave it alone as it will come by itself. My oboe teacher in Kuwait told me that she started producing vibrato after 3 years of playing. She also said that no one ever told her anything about it while she was studing in the conservetory in Bulgaria. and now after playing over 20 years she has the most beautiful sound I ever heard. As for my vibrato production, I couldnt wait for another day. I picked up the exercise offered by Prof. Schurring and I was able to do it. But then after awhile of not doing the exercise it came by itself. Now when i"m the least thinking about vibrato while i'm playing I realize that I did produce a beautiful natural vibrato on some sentences. It feels great!! I think its like driving a stick shift. If you dont think about it alot and be less concious about it you will get it and do it perfectly automatically.
Sameer Al-Abdullah
