 The Fingering Forum
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Author: luigi
Date: 2003-12-11 02:21
My wife is playing a Yamaha 411, that hasrecently been serviced, in a New Horizons Band after a 50 year recess. She plays in a quartet that consists of an oboe, clarinet, flute and violin. The director says she is hard to hear with the orther insturments. What are the options to improve her edge or projection in that type of group?
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Author: d-oboe
Date: 2003-12-11 15:54
that's strange! usually it's the other way around...that they can only hear the oboe and not the other instruments. There are a few things she can do to perhaps solve the problem:
1. Ensure to play near the tip of the reed
2. Play with an "O" shaped embouchure. (Like a drawstring bag---> this way, equal pressure is applied to both the sides, and the top and bottom of the reed, and thus ensures no biting of the reed. It makes for a rich resonant tone.)
3. Ensure the back on the reed is thin enough (not too thin though) that the heart is thick enough, and the tip is thin enough. I would guess that she's playing on a store reed? If that's the case, their reeds tend to have too thin hearts, thus not allowing for any body or projection in the tone. Perhaps look into getting some professionally hand-made reeds.
4. I would also be tempted to say that, since she's been away for 50 years, that the instrument has no doubt become unfamiliar, and her muscles are not formed to the instrument. Practice long tones with crescendos from the quietest possible, to the loudest possible, within control in both extremes.
d-oboe
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Author: the_oboist/flaustist
Date: 2003-12-11 23:16
First make sure you have she has a good reed and then work on embouchure, like what d-oboe said. I have that exact oboe and after working on my embouchure have had no further problems with projection.
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Author: luigi
Date: 2004-02-08 22:55
Reeds were the solution. My wife was told by her director of a private source in Texas that is a professional oboist and makes reeds. Two reeds were obtained that are in the medium range. These project at least twice as much as her prior reeds. At a ten-foot distance and in the upper range hard blown notes are so penetrating that there is ear discomfort. Four of her prior reeds were also handmade and in the medium soft or medium range. The rest were store reeds.
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