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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000069.txt from 2005/03
From: PhilFrei@-----.com
Subj: [DR-L] Spring thoughts (oboe)
Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 22:57:56 -0500
Spring Thoughts (oboe)
I've been experimenting with the springs on the oboe mechanism the last
couple weeks. I thought I'd describe some of my observations, and get some
reactions. For starters, "The Oboe Revealed" (by Carl Sawicki) has a chapter that does
a good job of describing how to properly adjust springs, and I recommend
people read that or the equivalent before trying any experiments. (He doesn't,
however, go into any concept of how to determine what a good level of tension
might be for a given spring or set of springs.)
At least one person on this list has written of trying to get the key springs
down to a minimum of tension, so that the keys can pressed with a minimum of
pressure. This strategy has a natural appeal, but will get one in trouble if
taken too far.
While most of the springs are used to hold keys open, a lot of them to hold
keys closed, such as springs for the octave keys, the C and B-flat pads, the
A-flat key, the E-flat and D-flat, the trill keys. There may be a few I've
missed. More tension is required to hold a key down AND prevent leakage than is
required to open a key that has been released. Thus, some of the keys (octave
keys, F-sharp, A-flat, D-flat, E-flat) need to have more resistance than the
minimum possible for functioning "normal" keys like A or G.
Thus, if every key were at the minimum functional tension, the oboe would be
very uneven to the touch. It seems to me this unevenness creates unnecessary
technical problems. I would like to suggest the best strategy is to first bring
the tension down to a minimum for springs that hold keys closed, so that they
still properly seal. Then, RAISE the tension on the rest of the keys to
levels that match or achieve a certain balance.
I'm curious about whether others have done this or tried to do this.
A couple possible guiding principles:
(1) A properly "balanced" first octave key should have the same amount of
tension as the A and G key combined. If the Octave key is stiffer than these two
combined, it won't want to close until the A and G are finished closing, and
thus will tend to lag. I've tried several different ways of playing with an
unbalanced octave key: resting the thumb on the key itself rather than resting it
on the wood, using the "Paganini" method of dropping the oboe into the thumb
when playing the octave key, attempting to fix the positions of the oboe and
hand so that the thumb and fingers close together regardless of the key
pressures. Simply making the spring on the octave key lighter and the A and G heavier
so that they counterbalance has removed the need for any of those dodges.
(2) The A and G should have the same pressure. If they are unbalanced, it
will be needlessly difficult to play intervals such as G to middle B or half-hole
D to middle B cleanly. For example, my G was a little lighter than the A, and
on D to B, the G finger became slightly slower to rise causing a glitch in
the interval, especially at faster tempos. When the A spring was weaker than the
G spring, I often found the G finger jumping up ahead of the A.
Similarly, it seems to me there are probably useful balances in the
right-hand keys.
At this point, one my oboe, the keywork is more evenly matched than ever
before, and I am definitely finding it easier to play more cleanly and evenly. The
F-sharp is still a bit stronger than the A and G despite strenghthening the
latter two. To follow this concept to the logical end, on my oboe at least, I
would have to put in heavier needle springs for the A and G. I'm not sure if
I'm willing to go that far, and am wondering if anyone else has tried fully
implementing the concept of "evenness of tension, first".
But it sure would be worth it if suddenly the infamous A-C, G-Bb, F#-A thirds
became easier to play cleanly.
Maybe it's a bit like the difference between a synth keyboard with light
plastic action and the heavier action of a grand piano, where most folks find the
grand piano easier to play evenly and expressively.
Any thoughts? Reponses?
- Phil Freihofner
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