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Re: UNCSA Clarinet Job

Author: concertmaster3
Date: 2010-10-18 06:31

Funny that you should mention this. A violinist in an orchestra I'm subbing with just asked me the same thing.
Her initial comment about it was that no one phrases a line like an oboist does, and that most string players try to shape their lines in that same way. I think it has to deal with the use of air. Since most double reed instruments have excess air, they have an almost never ending bow to use, and can keep going when others can't.

In terms of technical abilities, most string players have a good (visual) understanding of the relationship between pitches, as it can be seen on the instrument itself (perfect 5ths are the same finger, on diff. strings, 3rds are 2 fingers apart) much like a pianist would. Because of that, I think string instruments, along with the piano, are a great foundation instrument to begin a music career. With that foundation, you learn tuning various intervals (which is a big part of double reed playing because of the flexibility of pitch), vibrato (which relates really closely to string vibrato because you change it depending on what kind of sound you want, i.e. speeding it up and slowing it down to do a crescendo/decrescendo) and style of music played (violins and double reeds have coexisted in much of the same time periods).

I have an oboe student who is a cello major. She's always wanted to play the oboe, and is picking it up pretty quickly. Her biggest things to overcome are just learning to use the breath, and I've been able to relate it to the use of the bow. I've found that my fastest learners on double reeds are string players and saxophonists.

As a violinist, I've used a lot of my oboe technique while playing the violin. The "developing vibrato" probably is the biggest. There's also a certain meticulousness that is seen between many oboists and violinists (think how many violinists you see practicing at a conservatory and how many double reed players you see making reeds constantly).

There's probably more that will come to me later, but it is 2:30 am here! lol.

Ron Ford
Woodwind Specialist
Performer/Teacher/Arranger
http://www.RonFordMusic.com

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