Author: Phil Freihofner
Date: 2008-12-22 11:28
Hi -
I think there are two main things that affect pitch. One is the strength of the cane. As cane gets weaker (as it is scraped thinner, but also as it wears down), it tends to slow down in its movements and this will drop the pitch.
The other thing that effects pitch is the degree to which the reed closes when you play it. The theory here is that the shorter the standing wave inside the oboe, the sharper the pitch, and that the endpoint of the standing wave is not the tip of the reed, but the point to where the reed closes. If the tip just barely closes when you play the oboe, then indeed the wave will go all the way to the tip, but usually the standing waves ends somewhere in the blend or near the top edge of the heart, I believe, depending upon how hard you blow and how much you bite.
Thus, to make a sharp reed flatter, one of the following may help: (A) Cane weakening. Scrape a little off of the reed (weakening it)--exactly where depends on what sort of side-effects you can best live with. Generally, to minimize side effects, scrape towards symmetry. But also try not to scrape at points that cause the reed to close more, (such as the windows often do). (B) Pinch the reed open--but this may have side effect of making reed more difficult to play softly than prior.
To make a flat reed sharper, one of the following might help: (A) Pinch and hold the reed shut. (B) Try taking a little off of the windows. Sometimes this can weaken the back a little which allows the reed to close more easily. But be careful as too much will weaken the cane, causing flatness. (C) Clipping a bit off of the tip can help but is kind of dicy. There are a lot of variables, and sometimes rebalancing is needed to make it work. If, in clipping the tip you also work the blend line a little further into the heart, basically remaking the tip further down the reed, and avoid any other weakening of the heart, this can work IF in the process you haven't weakened the reed overly, causing more flatness due to flabiness. It's sort of a cane-addition-by-subtraction operation, if it works. If the reed is already on the weak side, though, it's probably best to avoid making the blend go down further, and you'll just have to hope the reed plays with a shorter tip.
I hope this helps. There are so many interactions, that one particular strategy can have entirely different effects on two different reeds. Also, pursuing a single strategy can first give one effect, then another if you overdo it. So test and reevaluate often.
http://adonax.com
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