 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: RobinDesHautbois
Date: 2010-06-09 10:15
The blend is the chapter from Jay Light's book that really hits the nail on the head. A stepwise (sharply delineated) blend will be more responsive and usually help with stability in those famous Lorée unstable notes. The off side is that, depending on how the rest of the reed is scraped, the resulting sound can be clear, crystalline and possibly buzzy.
I value the process of reed-making more than the final look. The following is for European "short" scrape reeds (mine are often long scrape, but the overall principle is the same).
What I do is start with a stepwise blend and a fully straight tip (no V at all) while the heart is still very thick. When the reed is playing to my liking but still hard (but not perfectly responsive), I do the V by "rolling" my knife on the sides of the blend. This warms the tone. The tip might get too long this way (and the sound a bit buzzy), but it can be chopped a bit.
The response should not suffer from it, however I usually end my scraping by ensuring the last mm of my tip is thinnest. Most important that there should be no sign of any bumps on the tip or the heart. The warmth and roundess of the tone comes from the gradual aspect from the heart to the very edge of the tip and also from thinner sides in the heart. The opening also changes the overall quality.
With this technique, I get a warm, responsive and stable reed every time as long as it was tied properly - although the full process is important.
Robin Tropper
M.A.Sc., B.Mus., B.Ed.
http://RobinDesHautbois.blogspot.ca/music
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mjfoboe |
2010-06-07 01:26 |
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cjwright |
2010-06-07 02:02 |
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oboedrew |
2010-06-07 23:00 |
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mjfoboe |
2010-06-08 02:19 |
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RobinDesHautbois |
2010-06-09 10:15 |
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The Clarinet Pages
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