Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2006-03-21 13:08
vboboe asked:
<Hey ohsusan, so that's what was going on, eh? your sound wasn't blending in with that 'tuning police' post a few months ago because your sound isn't refined enough yet?>
In a nutshell, yes. I seemed to vary between not having my embouchure tight enough, and then having it too tight, much like a (bad) clarinet embouchure. In either case, the oboe was not always stabilised enough to allow a consistent pitch.
According to my present teacher, the corners of the lips need to be quite firm, without actually clamping down ("biting") on the reed in the middle. And one dare not "pull back" those tight corners, but more or less pull them *in*. The visual effect is of a straight-line, rather than smiley, mouth.
(And yes, I do use a mirror to check this throughout my practice session and lessons.)
Also, the chin needs to be down and rather elongated. When one is doing it right, it just happens that way naturally. She said I was "bunching up" my chin. I think a "bunched up" chin is probably diagnostic of biting.
The "tuning police" issue may actually be separate from my tone production issues. A "both/and" situation. I had received a bushel-basket full of compliments about my sound and the fluidity of my playing from the director and colleagues of my other group. And my first teacher, an outstanding bassoonist, invited me to have a joint recital with her last summer. I can't think she would have done that if my sound was THAT god-awful. It's just that, perhaps, in the second group, the bar was set a little higher.
At any rate, the experience of being found wanting certainly triggered in me a useful period of self-examination, and I am pleased with what I hear now (I tape parts of every practice, as well). I sound good, but I'm still in the phase where I have to be conscious of what I am doing all the time, so I have had to revert to simpler repertoire for the time being, and I am re-doing Barret.
Two steps forward, one step back?
Susan
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