Author: Dutchy
Date: 2005-03-24 21:00
Well, okay, Suzan, that's in a perfect world. ![[grin]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie5.gif) But in the real world, some of us have to live with OTC reeds.
I've been playing the oboe since...[checks calendar]...March 4, I can now play it for, oh, at least five minutes at a stretch without my embouchure dissolving and my right hand terminally cramping, and what's driving ME nuts right at the moment is precisely the issue of reed flatness. I was given a Medium reed with the oboe, which is a Selmer plastic (used), so I assume that it's a Selmer OTC reed, and it was on pitch (I play piano, guitar, and recorder, so I know how it's SUPPOSED to sound, also I have the Essential Elements CDs to play along with), but it was a bugger to blow, you know? Very hard to get sound out.
So I've been reading here and elsewhere on the Internet, and also a couple of books from the library, and this one website suggested Medium Soft for beginners. So I ordered two Fox Medium Softs over the Internet from Musician's Friend, which is really the top end I can pay for, no $20 custom-made reeds for me, sorry, and they blow a lot easier, but they're FLAT as all getout.
So my question is, which I'm getting to...are all OTC Medium Soft reeds going to be flat as all getout? Or is it just a Fox thing? Or is it just a luck-of-the-draw OTC reed thing? Should I get a couple of Fox Mediums and see if they're flat, too? It's 20 bucks a pop for two reeds, including shipping. I'm not made of money here.
I turn 50 this year, and after having always wanted to play the oboe, but being too shy to speak up in 5th grade when they brought the band instruments around, I finally just went down to the store and bought one. And I'm learning to play it, and I'm looking for a job to pay for it, as I can't expect my husband to buy me a $1300 oboe just for my mid-life crisis.
Someday I may get up enough nerve to ask a teacher to listen to me. Meanwhile, this forum has been a life-saver and an eye-opener the last couple of weeks, and y'all have no idea how much I appreciate you.
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The Oboe BBoard
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