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Re: How Many Of Us Play Howarths?

Author: Chris P
Date: 2006-06-04 11:28

My teacher is a former pupil of the late Anthony Camden (she's a pure conservatoire player on a Marigaux), and the emphasis is more pressure on the upper lip.

The orchestral player I mentioned earlier (who is also a former pupil of Anthony Camden - and also a pure conservatoire player, plays both a plastic Loree and now a Marigaux 901) also plays with more pressure on the upper lip.

And another former pupil of his (who studied alongside my teacher at the Guildhall, and is with the Scots Guards - he's a dual system player on a Howarth S5) also advocates more pressure on the top lip.

And their sounds are very different from each other - my teacher (from Minnesota) has a bright strident sound (though she can't stand the American sound - her teacher in the US was Polish and she always aspired to the European sound, but she doesn't like Heinz Holliger's playing) - whereas the next layer I mentioned has a classic English sound - but he probably won't take too kindly to that as he's Welsh.

I find this gives plenty of control (and solid tuning), especially when playing at pp. I also play on very light reeds as I can get more control on these - especially the bottom notes. I don't like hard reeds as I like an easy life! And anything that makes playing oboe as easy as possible for me is very welcome - I don't see the need for struggling. Though I'm a bit torn between sounds - I like the full, dark sound as well as the bright Holligeresque sound - if it wasn't for Heinz Holliger I'd have never taken oboe up again - it was his recording of the Strauss concerto that got me hooked - I only bought the double Phillips CD for Strauss' wind ensemble (Nederlands ensemble/Edo De Waart) works about 10 years ago (as I used to play clarinet in these at college), and it was an added bonus to have the oboe concerto as well.

Howard, one thing you could do as an experiment is make and add a thumb button (as on saxes) to the back of your oboe, made in the same shape as a thumbplate (a 19mm x 12mm oval with a bevelled edge) made from thick cork or similar to a thickness of about 2-3mm in the middle (standing slightly higher in relation to the tip of back 8ve key when the back 8ve key is held against the body), with an almost flat top side, attached to the body with a very narrow gap between it the back octave just to see how it feels to roll the thumb onto the back 8ve key. Look at the pictures on Howarth's site to see the position of the thumbplate to get an idea what to aim for if you want to try this out.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.

Post Edited (2006-06-04 11:59)

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How Many Of Us Play Howarths? new

Chris P

2006-05-27 13:27