Author: hautbois
Date: 2008-01-13 20:51
Claire -- I would be reluctant to send water, soapy or otherwise, down the bore of my oboes.
I suggest you oil the bore lightly (and swab out the excess after it has had a chance to sink into the wood -- preferable overnight) to counteract any channel which the instrument may have been forming for moisture to follow. And then pay close attention to how your warm up when first playing the instrument. If the instrument is cold to the touch or if there is a draft or chill in the room, then warm the top joint under your arm before playing. Then, first play low notes, for which all the octave vents and the pads in the upper joint are closed, for awhile, during which time the interior of the top joint will become warmer, reducing the possiblity of condensation from your warm, moist breath in any of the toneholes (not to mention reducing the possiblity of a crack forming!). Then, during rests in the music, hold the instrument again under your arm (I like to wear a sweater or jacket for the purpose of providing additional warming area for the instrument) to keep it warm to avoid that condensation, trying not to hold it horizontal, but in a more vertical position. Occasionally look down the bore of the instrument from the top. If you see a column of water going down the side of the bore opposite from the tone holes, don't swab -- let the capillary action of the moisture continue to draw moisture to that side of the instrument and down the bore. If there is water instead traveling down the bore near a tone hole, swab thoroughly.
Once water is in a key, before you swab, blow across the tonehole and then blow through the key into the tonehole to encourage moisture to go back to the bore. Then swab and blot the tonehole with cigarette paper. I keep a photography lens blower (just a rubber ball with a short tube which I can aim at the tonehole) in my case, as using it is less noisy than using my breath.
Good luck.
Elizabeth
|
|
The Oboe BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
