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Re: low notes

Author: vboboe
Date: 2008-10-07 01:16

... in the hands of a beginner, just the activity of stretching, splatting fingers from E to D and gripping the pipe to reassure oneself that the holes are fully covered often jiggles the instrument and changes the embouchure position & pressure on the reed

so first try fingering Left Eb (which means all right fingers must be down in position already on D), blow steadily to get Eb, then lift left pinky up while still blowing steadily -- and see if oboe goes down to D right away

the left pinky Eb doesn't need as much of a stretch as right pinky Eb

once D sounds then practice alternating E & D, LEb-D-E, E-LEb-D, D-E, etc. to practice repositioning fingers without jarring the reed

the added bonus with starting at LEb is it's higher up the pipe than REb (which is below D in hand position) so it makes more sense to the student pressing the higher up key = plays a note higher than D ... hey, it's a gimmic but it works

the long term goal of course it to make right-handed students develop the use of their left pinky, starting as early as possible

in the very early days, it gets faster results to just blow the reed with mouth around it like a whistle, this is muscular effort enough just holding the two blades in the right position to make a sound, the other refinements can be taken up later when the embouchure is in stronger condition

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