Author: d-oboe
Date: 2004-10-10 15:50
I would just like to add a few things...
- To be able to play softly, one has to be completely "open" on the inside.
- A lot of students don't realize, or sometimes aren't even aware, as to how much of a difference it makes when one is open and resonating on the inside.
- Being open is the only way to make the best use of the responsiveness of the reed. The more unresponsive the reed, the more open we must try to become. (Of course there is a limit to open one can get: the most important thing, above all else, is that the reed responds)
- It is crucially important (I'm very serious!!) that to become anything of an oboist, one must learn to play on less-than-perfect reeds. The two things that reeds must have is response and pitch...if one has a reed with those two things, one should be able to play decently.
Now, getting back to the original point: in order to play softly (or better yet to play in control in any dynamic) the control has to come from as far away from your embouchure as possible. Your embouchure is the last thing that should be changed. The muscles I use to control my tone are about at my belt line...in other words very very loooowwww.
I hope this gives you a good intro to breathing...
D-oboe
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