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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000067.txt from 2004/05
From: "Angela Wells" <oneflute1oboe@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [DR-L] oboe reeds for beginners
Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 20:46:03 -0400
I made 15 reeds for absolute beginners, in two weeks! And they all worked.
It was for the double reed methods class at school.
All I did was make reeds the same way I make them for myself, then shave
down the blend between the heart and the tip, as well as the heart, until
they were pretty easy to blow.
I'm not saying there weren't problems. The reeds crowed below pitch, and
were a little flat when played too. And of course they didn't have as full a
tone as most people would like an oboe to have.
But that's a sacrifice I decided to make for ease of playing. In my opinion,
that's the number one thing that can help a beginner out. And sure enough,
no one had to go through the frustration of not even being able to produce
sound.
Maybe you could play around with it a little. Maybe a narrower shape would
help the pitch stay up, but remember that it would also feel more resistant.
My advice would be to not try to make reeds with large openings, because
that just makes them loud and requires a lot of embouchure control, and the
students will learn to bite. Similarly, using staples with too large
openings will not help the pitch stay stable.
If you're making reeds for specific students, you may be able to gradually
wean them onto harder reeds as they gain experience.
As for using "bad" cane... it depends on how bad it is, and what's making it
bad.
Warped- no. It will just make leaky reeds.
Soft- yes, as long as it isn't so soft that the reeds are more than 20 cents
below pitch.
Hard- probably not.
Good luck.
:-)Angela:-)
http://www.livejournal.com/users/oneflute1oboe
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