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Re: consitently sharp

Author: hautbois
Date: 2008-03-27 18:12

Boboboe -- At least you are aware that you are sharp! That is half the battle.

First check the calibration of your tuner.

Until you make your own reeds and can select the length of staple and cane to suit you and your oboe, you can consider making a temporary modification to the reed well of your instrument. Find some tubing (aquarium tubing, or other misc. pieces of plastic or rubber or silicone rings or washers lying around) of the right diameter, and insert it into the reed well (effectively lengthening the reed). Try different thicknesses of the ring -- 1mm and up -- until you find the right pitch on your instrument. When doing this (or just pulling the reed out a little in the reed well, and marking on the cork with a pencil the juncture of cork to reed well in order to easily find again the appropriate length), the relative intonation of your instrument might change. Recently I had to play a concert at 435, and found that my middle octave Cs were prone to sinking in pitch, for example.

There are ways as well to make an existing reed flatter in pitch; are you making adjustments to your reeds, or accepting them 'as is'? Some of the flattening techniques also can create instability in pitch and should be undertaken in very conservative steps, one at a time (e.g. lightly dusting the heart or lengthening the tip or scraping the blend between tip and heart).

Finally, though I do not order reeds from a supplier, my guess is that some will customize their reeds if you make a request, such as a lower pitched reed-

All of the above assumes that you are correct that your embouchure is not the problem.

Elizabeth

Post Edited (2008-03-27 18:44)

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