 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: EaubeauHorn
Date: 2019-01-15 22:22
I attended a recital recently in which there were two college professors playing. The difference in tone between them really struck me.....one had a much "rounder" sound and the other a more "strident" sound. I don't know what instruments they were playing, but pretty sure the "strident" one was on a loree. They were similar sized people, with the rounder sound one being a very slightly rounder person, but both of them were on the short side.
So...wondering if the more substantial tone has anything to do with the somewhat more substantial body or should I assign it to reed, tone concept, or just give up trying to figure it out? The more substantial tone was from a player from a different, more humid climate than here, and probably lower altitude, so you would think that person would have been more likely to have reed problems than the local resident.
Oh, and listening to myself last night I'm not in the ballpark of either one of them.
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Author: Hotboy
Date: 2019-01-15 23:21
Each player produces the tone that they hear in their head. The makeup of the reed and instrument support what is in their head.
I saw this illustrated 20 years ago when two pro players with vastly different sounds switched their setups...they swapped oboes with the reeds still in. Both players sounded pretty close to how they did with their own horns and reeds. This demonstrated to me that a player's sound mostly comes from what is in their head, and what you hear is what they want you to hear.
Dane
Bay Area, California
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Author: oboist2
Date: 2019-01-16 01:54
A great deal has to do with the sound you visualise you are making in your head. I make exactly the same sound when playing on my students' instruments. I do believe that your oral cavity and teeth also have some part to play in your core sound. My own sound has changed over the years, and it is, in a large part, as to what I feel is my ideal sound at the time. I have also changed reed style and instruments over the years, and that also bears some part in helping me achieve the sound I want.
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Author: Jeltsin
Date: 2019-01-16 10:49
I have several oboes but they all have similar sounds. If I buy a new oboe it will take a few mounts until it sound like the outers.
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Author: EaubeauHorn
Date: 2019-01-16 21:55
I agree with the "i sound like me" on various instruments, but clearly something physical is going on to produce that sound. I can't make the sound they do because I don't have the technique to do so. I really honestly don't think that you automatically produce "the sound you hear in your head." I think you produce the best sound you are capable of technically, and yes there will be variation, as one can see from "national" sounds or "euro vs US" sounds. If a person could produce the sound they hear in their head, then a beginner could have a pro sound if only they could hear it in their head. It's technique.
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Author: mschmidt
Date: 2019-01-17 00:16
It can be all sorts of things.
I once sat next to a another oboist in an orchestra and I thought, "Maybe if I give him some of my reeds, he'll sound better." Well, he loved the reeds I gave him, but he still sounded the same. I thought, maybe it's his oboe--but then he was complaining about one of the reeds I gave him and wanted me to "fix" it. I tried it on his oboe and could sound much more like myself than him. I just don't think he had the embouchre or air support to sound like I sounded.
On the other hand, I was at another time in a band with someone who also didn't sound quite as good as I did. (I am perhaps understating the difference.) I thought, it must be her. I put my good reed in her oboe and played it. I could make the oboe sound a little better, but not much. It was just a bad oboe!
I have two oboes--one a Marigaux and one a Lorée--and I can't make the Marigaux sound like the Lorée in the upper register. The difference is not huge, but it's noticeable.
Mike
Still an Amateur, but not really middle-aged anymore
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Author: CogentCap
Date: 2019-06-30 22:48
Tone doesn't have anything to do with body shape or size--tall/short, fat/thin, etc. Singers use their faces and bodies to resonate their sound, but not us. Oboe tone is a result of "production" technique: this includes reed, embouchure, blowing direction, support location.
Cogentius
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