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 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy
Author: RobinDesHautbois 
Date:   2010-08-29 23:02

This question should be moved to a new post/thread. It is a really good question and I'm sure there are other people who could give more up-to-date information on that.

But first, the unstable reeds:
Yes, that will often happen when you take a reed that essentially plays very well, but is either just too hard or(and) too open and then "fix it" by reducing the back.
1. the pictures on my web-site show what I do when this happens: back-up the heart (extend the tip) and then cut it shorter.
2. I have found that removing bark less deeply but farther back is less conducive to this.
3. I think a good number of reed-makers use wire to control the opening with the same objectives as the way I scrape the bark. For my part, I have found that wired reeds feel too restricted. I guess its like a car: speed performance and smooth ride are usually opponents in the design!
4. Someone on this bulletin board (having a Dickens of a time finding the post again) mentioned that European scrape depends more on the gouge than his own technique.... but then he said that about American too! His gripe was not the scrape but the dependency on bark for the quality of reeds.

As for Canadian scrape predilections, I can only remark on what I remember from 15 years ago, as I have been completely out of the scene since then! Remeber that Canada is big, just the province of Québec is the size of Europe! This means that influence is usually confined to the University you go to. In Montréal, there were 2 schools of thought: the French School at the Conservatoire de Montréal (leftover influence from Québec city) and the American school at McGill University (slowly taking over the Conservatoire). The performance of Tombeau de Couperin (and many others) by the Montréal Symphony made Ted Baskin a legend among oboists. Though he does pure American (reeds and playing style), his performances were highly regarded by the French too. (Maestro Baskin plays on a Laubin!)

Students who aimed for a North-American carreer worked on purely American scrape, whereas those who aimed for Europe (usually Germany, but sometimes Paris) did a more Generic European scrape. My own teacher (Bernard Jean) did a hybrid French-American because he promoted soft-lipping despite his Parisian background. The French Canadians generally don't care so much about the reed technique used, so long as it works for you. Everyone I have ever met aims for a warm, mellow tone.

But that's Eastern Canada. There was, and still is, a small but very respectable oboe wave in central and western Canada (provinces of Alberta to British Columbia). What I've seen of their technique is completely unique: no bark and thick, long tip. But central-western Canada is much drier than everywhere else. Though the difference in hot summer and cold winter is extreme, the sensation is not unpleasant like it is along the St-Lawrence seaway (from the Great Lakes through Toronto, Montreal and Québec city) where the weather is more temperate, but more humid and always more bothersome.

My own conclusion gives no satisfactory answers to anyone who wants to follow plans from a book: oboe reeds, being so darned small, are a extremely sensitive to climate. The scraping technique used will depend on 1. how you like to blow (and your physiognomy) and 2. how the weather varies. This - again - is why I value process rather than measurements! (Big toothy smile and wink.)

Conclusions of my engineer-minded experimentation essentially confirmed Bernard Jean's technique while giving a few extra pointers on methodology.

Robin Tropper
M.A.Sc., B.Mus., B.Ed.
http://RobinDesHautbois.blogspot.ca/music

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 Topics Author  Date
 Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-16 10:50 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
Chris P 2010-06-16 11:50 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-17 07:47 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
jhoyla 2010-06-16 17:39 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-16 22:45 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-06-18 00:10 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-18 03:27 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-06-18 10:05 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-18 11:05 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-06-18 16:38 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-18 23:37 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-06-18 16:46 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
Chris P 2010-06-16 23:03 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-17 02:06 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-17 04:33 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
jhoyla 2010-06-17 05:50 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-17 06:22 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
ceri 2010-06-17 20:21 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-17 23:28 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
ceri 2010-06-18 20:32 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-19 00:26 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-06-19 01:38 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-06-19 18:28 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
ceri 2010-06-19 13:16 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-19 14:43 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
HautboisJJ 2010-06-19 17:34 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
jhoyla 2010-06-19 21:30 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-20 01:16 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-20 01:20 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-20 05:49 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-21 03:02 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-06-21 10:13 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-08-18 06:15 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-08-18 13:23 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-08-20 07:56 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-08-20 10:28 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-08-20 23:05 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-08-21 03:23 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-08-20 23:15 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-08-21 03:37 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-08-21 06:33 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-08-29 00:22 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-08-29 23:02 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-09-06 00:44 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
ceri 2010-09-06 14:48 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-09-07 09:57 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-09-07 09:38 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-09-07 10:21 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
ceri 2010-09-07 14:56 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-09-07 16:10 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-09-07 22:33 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-09-08 00:18 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
ceri 2010-09-08 11:22 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-09-08 12:47 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
GoodWinds 2010-09-09 03:49 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
ceri 2010-09-09 07:17 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
JRC 2010-09-10 15:41 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-09-10 16:56 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
JRC 2010-09-10 18:37 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
wkleung 2010-09-10 19:10 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
JRC 2010-09-10 19:54 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-09-11 15:30 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-09-11 17:15 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-09-12 00:07 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
mjfoboe 2010-09-12 03:16 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-09-12 03:23 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
mjfoboe 2010-09-12 12:21 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
ceri 2010-09-14 12:42 


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