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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000004.txt from 2008/01
From: philfrei@-----.com
Subj: [DR-L] musing about breath/bite
Date: Fri, 04 Jan 2008 23:57:50 -0500
Starting off the New Year with some radical (nutty?) notions.
I was thinking about the whole breath/bite relationship, and how the
dynamics of the oboe tends to be more limited at the highest and lowest
pitches than in the center of the oboe range.
Suppose one had call to play a very loud note or passage in the top
octave. It seems to me that one could theoretically play a half step
(or quarter-step fingerings if one knows them) above the written note
and use a more relaxed embouchure than normal. This should allow the
pitches to be much louder than they would otherwise. Of course one
would have to practice it in order to be able to do something like this
and keep it in pitch and with a decent tone.
But it seems theoretically plausible.
The reverse seems less workable, but maybe it would work for some
reeds: on really low notes, finger a half-step (or quarterstep) below
the written note, and use more embouchure than one would normally. This
might allow one to play notes much quieter than one might be able to
otherwise. Though it seems to me it is generally easier to play very
flat than very sharp, so this seems less likely to work.
Anyone ever experiment with this?
Less radical, making a reed that crows sharp (allows more open
embouchure for louder high notes) or flat (more closed embouchure for
quieter low notes) that allow one to do the given task.
Phil Freihofner
Albany, CA
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