 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: purpleyclouds
Date: 2016-08-03 05:52
I've been learning oboe for a month, with a half hour private lesson each week. I've been learning quickly though, this is my second instrument after ~10 years of flute, and am already half-way through my oboe lesson book (Abracadabra Oboe).
However, I have just been offered a rural job, beginning in three months. It is very unlikely that there will be an oboe teacher anywhere within driving distance.
I was wondering from other oboists experience, will it be possible for me to continue playing and learning without a teacher after only a couple months of lessons before I move?
I am finding the reeds the most difficult, my teacher needs to scrape them for me after I buy them so that I can get them to sound. I play European scrape and buy soft or medium soft KGe reeds. When I try to play the reeds as they are when bought, it is very difficult to get sound out, and when I do, it is very thin and weak. I have to put so much pressure into the reed that I get dizzy after only playing 1-2 bars and need to stop and recover. After my teacher scrapes the reeds, the notes just sing out and I am able to control the reed with my embouchure to play both high and low notes.
Could a couple months be enough time for me to learn to adjust my own reeds after purchasing them? Or could I learn to strengthen my embouchure enough within this time period that they won't need scraping?
I would appreciate any advice, I am loving oboe and really don't want to have to give up playing when I move.
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Author: Wes
Date: 2016-08-03 08:54
For a too stiff reed, try holding the soaked reed between the thumb and forefinger for a minute or so to close it up some. You need reeds that freely crow without the oboe and play freely on the oboe without pinching or pressure on the reed.
Somehow, you need to be able to thin the tip of the reed and/or thin the corners of the hump, if it has one, in order to get free vibration without too much work. With a teacher's help, you can easily learn this.
With my American scrape reeds, I get them to crow a C on the tip and on the edge of the thread freely and then they easily play in tune on the oboe with a no pressure embouchure on the reed tip. For a European scrape reed, I have no idea how one plays in tune with them. Good luck!
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Author: purpleyclouds
Date: 2016-08-03 09:41
Thank you for your reply.
I spoke to my teacher today and she didn't seem to think that I'd be able to learn to adjust my own reeds by November. I will try asking again next week, perhaps she would be willing to give me some extra lessons so I can learn it.
I don't understand though why I am having so much difficulty with reeds. Even buying "soft" reeds, I struggle to get sound out of the reed, and get dizzy within only a few seconds of playing. I'll try pinching the reed after soaking and see how it helps. Do you think it is possible that it is something that will just get better with time the more I practice, and I'll be able to play on reeds that haven't had to be softened so much by scraping? I'm finding it very discouraging to not be able to play on a "soft" reed.
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Author: oboi
Date: 2016-08-03 12:50
It will take you a number of months to handle the back pressure of playing oboe. Initially, I easily got dizzy spells. Adjusting to harder and harder reeds is a gradual process. Can you buy a bunch of reeds and have your teacher adjust them for you before you leave? And hopefully you get to see her again (or send you some "harder" ones) when you think you've outgrown/exhausted them? Mind you, if the climate and elevation are significantly different, the reeds might feel totally different anyway.
While within a few months you could learn how to scrape so that you won't rip out the tip, I'm not sure if that's enough time to really know how to do tip and blend work, nor know about the myriad of other factors that can make a reed feel hard. I don't play short scrape, however, and they seem less "complicated" than North American reeds. I think short scrape is significantly harder than long scrape reeds, though, so I have no idea if that's just the nature of that style. If they're of good quality, though, it is difficult to imagine beginner reeds (that is, mass-produced student reeds) to be that difficult to blow through. Maybe there is another manufacturer with reeds more to your liking.
You can certainly still get better at this stage without a teacher, and you're probably well on your way, having already had lessons. You just have to sort out why the soft reeds are problematic for you. Playing for a minute probably will get you dizzy, but it's rather odd to get that after 1 bar. Does your teacher think it's normal? That is, is it you or your reed setup? Does she think at your level you should be able to play those reeds unadjusted? Does she think all of them need significant adjustment before playing (which is sorta bad if they are sold as finished reeds)? One of the most frustrating parts of oboe playing at the early stage is knowing whether a problem is due to yourself or the reed. But if you teacher has vetted the reeds you are playing on now, then most likely you just have to work on your endurance.
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Author: purpleyclouds
Date: 2016-08-03 16:00
Thank you for such a detailed response.
It is such a good idea to have my teacher adjust a bunch of reeds before I leave, I'll be able to get more from her when I come back home to visit family.
I'll have a think about trying other brands of reed, I buy the KGe ones because they are the only commercial reeds my teacher says are good quality. When talking with her today though, she told me all commercial reeds will need some sort of adjustment, and I can't just play on them "as bought".
I tried what Wes suggested about pinching the soaked reed closed for a minute or so. It started making it easier for me to get sound out of the reed. I am wondering whether the problem is my embouchure, perhaps it is too weak to hold the reed tight and in the right shape. I think the dizziness might be because I am straining and pushing so much air on these reeds to try and get sound out.
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Author: Wes
Date: 2016-08-03 22:57
If a reed is too open at the tip, making it too stiff, one can put a common paper clip on it for a few hours to get it to be more closed. This is done very carefully.
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Author: purpleyclouds
Date: 2016-08-04 08:27
Thanks Wes, is this a common problem for beginners? I wasn't sure if it just meant my embouchure muscles are too weak to hold the reed in the right shape to play, and I'm needing them scraped to make them soft enough that I can control them.
Do oboists generally work towards being able to play harder reeds as they progress, or is it more of a personal preference and one might always stay with soft reeds? Does the sound quality differ between them by much? I just remember when I was in school, single reed players competing with each other to play harder reeds, and wasn't sure if I should be aiming towards harder reeds over time.
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Author: oboi
Date: 2016-08-04 09:20
I pinch my reeds down when they feel too open when I play. It's sort of an as-you-play sorta thing, always fussing with the reed. I also make sure I don't oversoak when I have a reed that is already quite open when dry.
You do not want to turn blue and feel like dying when playing the oboe. Trust me.... I went through a bout of that while learning the baroque oboe (playing a bad instrument and also my inability to make good reeds) and it was painful (physically and musically). Looking back, what a pointless affair.....
You have to develop your embouchure to get the reed vibrating. The "harder" (which is many factors, not only density) the reed, the harder it is to get it vibrating. Therefore, beginners start with "soft" reeds. I can easily make a reed ultra soft by scraping it like mad. However, it will sound thin, flappy, buzzy and all those unsavoury sounds. A reed that is more structurally robust with have more of a body, fuller sound, and not just vibrate at the tip. Think of it like a blade of grass. It's very thin but just flaps uncontrollably when you try to blow through it. You don't need to be oboist to do it. But does that sound good? No.
I'm at the point where I am purposely making reeds "harder", because I am unhappy with my sound. Some people might stop there, and there are professionals that play on very free-blowing reeds. I find my sound lacking and I like the sound of my harder reeds.... even though I then miss notes or feel more tired when playing. But if I stick to that and train myself to play on the harder reeds, I will have no problem playing them eventually. Ultimately, it's a very personal choice. The key is having a good embouchure (everyone's different, but there's certainly bad technique) and having a good reed that fits your embouchure.
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Author: purpleyclouds
Date: 2016-08-04 09:56
Thank you for your detailed response. I'm definitely finding the harder reeds more difficult to vibrate - I get no sound and don't feel them "buzz", it feels more like I'm just blowing a lot of air through a tube. I think the combination of the large amount of air I am blowing into these harder reeds, and me straining to try and control it, might be what is causing me to get dizzy so quick. I will work on getting my embouchure muscles stronger so I can try and control these harder reeds to get them to vibrate. I'm finding I resort to biting these harder reeds to try and get them to sound, which isn't a habit I want to develop!
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Author: Wes
Date: 2016-08-04 10:38
The reed must vibrate freely which it doesn't do when one bites hard on it. When it can vibrate freely, the reed and the oboe tend to play in the pitch that the oboe was built for. One must face the need for careful work with the reed knife to scrape the reed into submission. There are good books on reed work such as the Jay Light book on American scrape reeds but I've never seen a book on European scrape reeds. In your area, you probably expect to play on European scrape reeds but, in America, we would not do that.
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Author: Oboelips
Date: 2016-08-04 22:10
There are some "How to make an oboe reed" videos online. You can learn to make American or European scrapes. I made my first reed with purchased shaped & folded cane, an instruction pamphlet (the videos are MUCH better) and, since I had no knife, I used a piece of broken glass to scrape with. It worked. I've made far better reeds since, but you've got to start somewhere. My teacher always said that in order to be an "oboist", you had to make your own reeds. If you didn't, you were just an "oboe player". And, he left no doubt that you wanted to be the former and not the latter.
Search for some videos (oboe sites and youtube) and start learning. Even in a rural location, you have to eventually "go to town", and a monthly or bi-monthly lesson then could help keep you from developing bad habits, and keep you going forward.
Remember...in the end, the whole idea is to be able to teach yourself. Be curious.
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Author: purpleyclouds
Date: 2016-08-05 06:33
Thanks Oboelips! Ideally I'd like to learn to do reeds in person with my teacher, but online videos could be a really good supplement. Being able to make my own reeds, or at least be able to adjust store bought reeds to suit my embouchure, is a skill I definitely would like to have!
My teacher has offered that we could have Skype lessons, but I am unsure of the lesson quality you can get out of it. Whether sound quality would make it more difficult to hear how each other are playing, and whether it is difficult to be shown how to do things on the instrument across a computer screen.
Having less frequent lessons in person would be great if I could, it'll just depend where I end up having to move. I could be placed so far away, that the nearest oboe teacher is hundreds of kilometers away. I'd probably return home every few months to see my family and would hope to have a lesson or two when I am there.
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Author: jhoyla
Date: 2016-08-05 19:08
Since you play European scrape you should try and get hold of Linda Walsh's oboe reed making DVD.
Easy to follow instructions and a wealth of other information from some of the finest players today.
J.
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Author: EaubeauHorn
Date: 2016-08-07 06:32
I have a question that may clarify. Can your teacher play on the reeds you buy "as is," or does s/he have to adjust them for him/herself? Because you might have been told to buy those particular reeds with the assumption that they had enough cane on them so that they *could* be adjusted to suit, in which case it would make sense that you turn blue in short order when trying to play on them.
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