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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000013.txt from 2008/01
From: philfrei@-----.com
Subj: [DR-L] Oboe - flat second octave key notes
Date: Sat, 05 Jan 2008 18:02:17 -0500
Hi Shawn -
I was having considerable trouble with the upper register when I was in
my senior year of high school. I was advised to play with more breath
support, as has been advised here by numerous folks. Generally that is
probably good advice, especially with beginners who don't realize just
how much more breath support is need for the upper register compared to
the lower register.
However, one needs to increase embouchure support, too! In my case,
playing with a very open throat and dropped jaw (very little embouchure
support), and fairly stiff reeds (for additional pitch stability), I
had to blow so hard to get the pitch up that my throat started to
develop "Dizzy Gillespie" stretching due to the high level of air
pressure.
Some additional embouchure support is needed up there, too. It IS
possible to underdo this, even if the opposite (biting to compensate
for lack of air) is a more prevalent problem. If your student's concept
is to use the same embouchure for her entire range, perhaps that is
what needs fixing. (If YOUR concept of teaching is that the embouchure
needs to be the same for the entire range, then we will have to agree
to disagree.)
Test: play A and A' with exactly the same breath and embouchure. The
upper A' is flat, of course. Blow harder without changing embouchure
until the upper A' is in tune: the upper A' will be much louder than
the lower A. To get the dynamics to match as well as the pitch, one
must add SOME sort of embouchure support. (Possible difficulty in this
demo: lots of folks are not aware of the additional embouchure pressure
they use habitually, especially since the embouchure continuum is
rarely taught--due to so much emphasis given to preventing biting
overly much.)
One suggestion for achieving extra embouchure support is to press the
reed (add "cushioning") into the lower lip. Ray Still, in a master
class at the SF Conservatory recommended using the 2nd octave key as
the source of the push, as it conveniently corresponds to notes that
could most benefit from this extra embouchure pressure. The nice thing
about this source of pressure is that it has less impact on the tone
than pressing with both lips. But it adds some challenges for
fingering, to be dealing with extra finger pressure on the oboe keys.
(It's not exactly what I do, but it's the easiest to explain, and I
don't imagine I have the best or only solution.)
PS, about the idea of fingering a note higher and playing with a
slacker embouchure, I'm thinking mostly as a special effect, if one is
asked to play, for instance a high d or e at a ridiculous fff or more.
Of course, it is possible to get quite loud with a normal fingering and
open embouchure, I'm having no problem with that! But this is a way to
get even louder, not that the result would be pretty or balanced with
the rest of the oboe's dynamic range.
Phil Freihofner
Albany, CA
Date: Sat, 5 Jan 2008 16:48:18 EST
To: doublereed@-----.org
From: Oboehotty@-----.com
Subject: Re: [DR-L] Oboe - flat second octave key notes
Message-ID: <d46.1be31b9b.34b15522@-----.com>
I have checked the harmonics for A B and C with her. In fact, we spent
an
entire lesson with switching back and forth between the harmonic and
the usual
fingering. She hears that they are flat, but in context always goes
back to
the "flat" position. Horn is in good working condition.
Perhaps I will work more on harmonics --
Thanks for the thoughts,
Shawn
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