Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2006-02-16 13:04
Thanks, d-oboe, for your most cogent discussion of the tone production issues we have raised here. This obviously is a subject that hits home for many of us!
I especially appreciate the point about being in tune with the tuner, versus being in tune with the ensemble.
I'm playing (oboe) with a handbell group this weekend. Now THERE is a challenge. Handbells have all these overtones that, in the best of circumstances, sound a little, uh, "tinny". And depending on the technique of the individual ringer, the sound of a bell can begin well on-pitch, or distorted. And once rung, there is no adjusting it. So, you get 11 or twelve people simultaneously ringing two or more of these un-adjustable tones, each according to their own lights. And then you throw an oboe on top of that. It is a recipe for intonation nightmares.
And just to make it interesting, the composer has written the oboe part to lie on and around the dreaded "middle" C -- the one that on the oboe tends to be problematic in and of itself. And the dynamic is given as mp or pp -- long, tapered notes at the ends of phrases.
I went to rehearsal last night using a reed which hit the needle as well as any reed I have ever played, and it immediately sounded flat to the bells. So, now I am contemplating whether I need to change reeds (to one that plays sharp to the tuner needle?) or somehow compensate in my own technique. I love the reed I am using -- it's very mellow and very responsive, and I'm surely not going to chop it off just to meet the needs of this one piece.
How much would you say one can roll in on, or choke up on, the reed, before the oboe tone starts to suffer? Any hints on how to minimize the damage here?
Susan
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