Author: cjwright
Date: 2006-10-17 01:25
Judy,
Please be careful when using the terms "crowing" and "playing". I think you're confusing us all. Crowing has a very specific usage when discussing oboe, and it's taking a reed and putting your lips clear on the string and blowing to get a shrill sound. The pitch of this sound should be around a C. The purpose of this sound is to get an idea of the kind of reed it is, and is probably most important while making reeds.
Putting you lips on the reed (not the string) as if you're going to play is considered playing on the reed. This is very different from a crown. So when you say "I was blowing a high A note" then we assume you were playing on the reed.
d-oboe says "To heck with the crow..." however I think most of us would disagree with this statement. If the reed is not crowing at C, or slightly above a C, it's not playing up to pitch, which would force you to bite or compensate for the lower pitch (unless you have a ridiculously sharp instrument, which being a the fox model that you have, it shouldn't be.) I make my reeds almost entirely by crow until i'm really ready to start thinning the corners of the tip of the reed. I've never had a reed that didn't have a good crow and didn't function well, nor have I have ever had a reed that crowed below a C that I played up to pitch. Obviously sometimes your aperture (opening) closes up, making your crow a higher pitch, but if you open it up to where it's comfortable it should be around a C or a flat C sharp.
What reeds are you playing on? Cheryl's? As mentioned previously, I think she plays on very hard reeds which are low in pitch, so an "A" crow would not surprise me. Send me an email at coopsdeloops (AT) gmail.com and I can discuss this a bit more with you.
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