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Re:

Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2010-01-03 04:14

OK -- let me speculate for a moment about what is happening here, and then give an idea for how you might fix it.

I'm just going out on a limb here and suggest maybe it is a matter of how you are using your air, rather than your embouchure or your reeds, which is creating the problem. What you may be doing is what oboists sometimes call playing "with" the air rather than "on" the air.

This is a habit I got into in the early months of my oboe playing. I could play short notes quite easily, but couldn't do a good legato line. When I tried to play a long line, it felt like I was pushing bricks, or playing on popsicle sticks. And the tone was not resonant or flexible.

I realized at some point that what I was doing wrong was giving each articulation its own short burst of air, essentially stopping and starting the air (micoscopically) with each note. This is what is meant by the term "playing WITH the air". It's a no-no, because it doesn't allow you to play with the sustained air pressure needed for good legato and resonance.

"Playing ON the air" means keeping the air going at all times -- keeping the pressure on -- and letting the tongue alone create the articulations. That's what creates the fluidity and ease and resonance.

Try this: make a normal rolled-in embouchure, and prepare to start the sound. But as you start the sound, DON'T TONGUE -- just hoot very freely from the back of your throat (keep the embouchure firm, not letting the air escape). Once you get a tone established this way, keep it going as you play some legato scales up and down the whole range of the instrument.

How does it feel? Is the tone more free? Can you keep that "hooted" tone going and add articulation? If this seems difficult, I suspect you have been doing it like I did at first. Try this approach over and over again, until starting the air just a bit ahead of the tongue becomes natural. It will get easier, I promise.

Susan

Post Edited (2010-01-10 21:34)

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