Author: vboboe
Date: 2008-02-02 17:00
hi boboboe
i've been 'sleeping on it' about your keen desire to get really specific about changing your sound now, you're certainly ready to make some good moves in that direction
what ohsusan said is very important for you to take to heart, but today, right now, perhaps maybe it just doesn't make sense to you and perhaps you won't be able to make sense of it until you've got some more playing experience than 18 months to help you figure it out -- so print a copy and keep it with you for future reference, one day you'll say "aha! i know what she means"
let's instead talk about your oboe, and your reeds, and how your long tones sound to you
what kind of oboe are you playing?
make, model, modified or full conservatory, plastic or wood?
Depending on your instrument, the oboe you have may only be able to give you so much towards improving your tone, but right now it probably isn't a serious issue
Warning! there's no rush to change the instrument, because 18 months embouchure / air support isn't fully developed and you can still get lots and lots of improvements going there
what kind of reeds are you using? brand name/s, plain scrape or structured scrape, and what strength?
How old are the reeds you're using right now? Figure out approximately how many hours in total you've been blowing them
Depending on your answers here, maybe changing your reeds can really help make a positive diff to your sound right away
OK, when you practice your long tones, what are you noticing that you don't like?
Such as -- can you go the distance and blow the full time value? or not?
does the sound suddenly start and is really "blatty" at the beginning?
does your sound wobble about up and down a lot, you just can't keep the note really steady and pure?
do you 'sag off' near the end, the pitch goes flat noticeably?
does your sound 'whimper' or trail off weaker as you get near the end?
you can do mp-mf quite well, but f to ff are really hard, and/or p to pp impossible?
you keep going up (sharper) in pitch the longer you hold the note?
you keep going down (flatter) in pitch the longer you hold the note?
the sound just isn't "nice" any way you blow it -- what notes sound worse, do any notes sound nicer, more like you want them to sound?
so take a few days practicing your long tones and really listen to how your long tones sound to you (maybe record them and play them back to hear them again) and see if there are any differences between day 1 and let's say same day next week, try to answer some of these questions, let's start there
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