Author: Dutchy
Date: 2008-12-02 16:04
Second that no, a harder reed won't help you play Bb and C. You have to learn to do the "pouty kiss" thing, and actually, my experience (as an adult beginner) is that actually the harder reeds make it even more difficult to play low, because you tend to ram down on the reed in an effort just to make it sound in the first place, which is the exact opposite of what those low notes need. They need to be caressed and cajoled into sounding, and a hard reed won't allow you to do that.
If it feels to you as though your embouchure is "squeezing" the reed, then that means that you're clamping down on the reed, and that's definitely a problem--your lips shouldn't be "squeezing" the reed at all, they shouldn't be clamping down at all, they should be encircling the reed in a rounded, muscular, cushiony embrace, not "squeezing" it. If your reed is so hard that you feel like you must clamp down/ram down/squeeze the reed just to get it to sound, then you need a softer reed.
Question: So you're using a Fox reed now? How old is it, i.e. how many other oboists before you have used it? Because if it's the "School's Oboe Reed", it may have its tip so worn down and banged-up and chipped that it really is less than optimal, and playing those low notes requires an optimal reed. The Foxes play low notes well for me, but not if it's a used (abused) and wrecked old reed.
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