 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: Oboehotty
Date: 2006-11-16 02:24
Hi everyone,
I am in one of those frustrating and annoying reed slumps. Unfortunately they seem to be happening more and more often lately. Short of quitting the oboe altogether (which has crossed my mind often!) simply because of the demons we call reeds, does anyone have suggestions for how they bring themselves out of a reed slump? This one seems to be lasting for a couple of months -- which is even more frustrating. Knife sharpening is not very successful lately either -- even with brand new knives.
How does everyone get themselves out of a reed slumps short of hurling knives at inanimate objects and throwing one's oboe across the room... thanks in advance!
Shawn
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Author: vboboe
Date: 2006-11-16 05:56
Sounds like you could really use a vacation :-)
... buy a variety of other people's reeds awhile, just reed-fix to make them work OK for you without a knife (fine emery paper works)
... take your knife to a professional knife sharpener and have it reconditioned, maybe pickup some tips
... this all costs more, but it's as good as a vacation, and paying somebody else to do it for you is a break from it all, and you're worth it
... while on hiatus, play music you really like and enjoy to pamper yourself and lift your spirits
... do a complete oiling, cleaning, screw check, case cleanup, etc. for that beautiful instrument and admire its craftsmanship in detail
... mull over how would you like to cut your reeds better, your way, not necessarily by the book, experimentally visualize how you can get out of that 'should' way of thinking when making reeds
... cut your reeds intuitively when you're feeling refreshed & inspired (and have a wonderfully sharp knife!) and have all day to do them
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Author: d-oboe
Date: 2006-11-16 12:34
We've all been there. And remember, you're not alone! The first thing to do is ask for help - don't be afraid to do this. I know you're probably at a point where you probably can't just put the oboe away for a while, so the best thing to do is not stop, but find someone who can help you through.
-Find a professional oboist. Talk to them, get their advice! (That's what they're for!)
- If you bought a Landwell knife, try contacting Daryl Caswell (who owns landwell) on the phone. He should have some good tips. (I don't have his number right now, unfortunately. Check University of Calgary directory maybe...? )
-Go for a walk. (Swear while you're doing it if you have to... :P)
Most important....you didn't start playing the oboe because you liked sharpening knives for hours a day, and breaking useless reeds. Most likely, you liked the sound...and you loved, and still do love the music. The music!! That's why you're here. Don't forget that!!
d
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Author: cjwright
Date: 2006-11-16 12:45
I second all voboe and d-oboe said. The other thing is if you don't want to take it to a professional knife sharpener, take your knife and grind the heck out of it on a diamond stone. If you don't know how to correctly regrind your knife, start a new string.
I take out old "great ones" that I've saved and critically analyze them to figure out why they were so "great". Then play around with some blanks messing around with the same concepts.
Finally, I'd just start using some new knives if all else fails. Nothing like a brand new rigotti double beveled and a brand new albion to scrape up a great reed.
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Author: oboist
Date: 2006-11-16 17:50
Hello Shawn!
...the only thing I can tell is ...try not to be too nuts with the reeds.In an other words as Tabuteu use to say we never have a good reed we just try to play good on a bad one.
I used to make some 300 reeds a year in a search for perfect reed.Now I adapted method that says make a reed with good basic qualities-pitch and response and play it! try to adjust to the reed more than adjust reed to you.
You will see that after some minutes of playing on not so great reed you will be able to control it and also nobody will notice difference . Also remember that you sounds the way you want to on any reed.The only things matter how comfortable reed is ,overall responce pitch and flexibility.
Belive me I play in symphony, chamber and have more than a dozen of students and my reeds are really not perfect but I do the job every single day.Another point is to make reeds really fast in order not being depended on them and not tread them with to much of" respect"-:)) It 's just a piece of junk so don't let it ruin your life.
Hope it helps
with really warm wishes
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Author: Baron
Date: 2006-11-16 20:00
what i would do is buy reeds from a pro. They genarally make pretty good reeds
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Author: JRJINSA
Date: 2006-11-17 03:20
I would buy 10 hand made reeds and just pick and choose the reed for the day. Reeds have moods just like humans. Pick from 10 and you're guaranteed a good day. Works for me every time! Of course, there's an initial investment but at least you know you're bound to find a good one in the bunch!
You may want to steer away from making them. Good luck.
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Author: JRJINSA
Date: 2006-11-17 13:33
I wish. It's a tough initial investment but makes for good days *always*. That's worth every penny. Nothing worse than having good intentions to practice and play only to find you can't because the reeds are finicky.
This instrument tries one's patience in so many ways...you really have to be die hard passionate to stick with it. Anyone that makes it the first two months should stick with it, always. A rare breed plays the oboe.
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Author: hautbois
Date: 2006-11-17 14:18
Shawn -- Hold onto those lesser reeds. In a different season (summer or spring) they might have merit, and you will see that you are a fine reed-maker, just out of season.
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Author: Oboehotty
Date: 2006-11-18 03:34
Thanks to all who contributed. As usual, I have related the problem to two areas - I will share for those still learning (as I will continue to do!).
I resharpened all of my knives -- swore at them several times, then re-sharpened again. Luck!
I also evaluated a lot of old and new and good and bad reeds -- found that I am scarping too much of a flat plane on a curved object -- hence loosing the overall countour of the reed that helps the sound and vibration. Also, I found I was over refining the reed too quickly (duh!).
I did all of this amidst playing the last two days worth of rehearsal for a Masterworks concert with the symphony -- Bizet Symphony, Brahms Haydn Variations and Mozart Violin concerto! All second oboe -- it was just dandy, except all of those lovely low Dbs in Brahms and that amazingly nasal B natural and C in Bizet! ;-)
In search of the perfect reed, I found none -- however I did identify some laziness in my reed making in time to make several reeds for a concert tomorrow!
Thanks to all who made suggestions -- all appreciated! Sometimes I forget how amazing it is to get paid to play my instrument professionally -- amazing and annoying this profession of ours! ;-)
Shawn
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Author: Craig Matovich
Date: 2006-11-21 21:05
I see from the many good responses you have some great advice here, and from the topic threads that you are a bit more relaxed now.
Good. A slump on top of the regular demands is hard to take. I know. Once, while oboist for the First Army Band I became so frustrated I seriously considered quitting, going to drive jeeps at the motor pool or something...
Let me share some selected wisdom I picked up later from some great teachers and players:
1) Don't smash, don't throw a bad reed. Its just a staple waiting for reincarnation. ( Told to a large group of Oboists by John Mack at this summer camp in 1981). And avoiding this particular negative energy is a reward in itself.
2) Once played out, keep the best one or two reeds you make per year for future reference. ( Told to me by Richard Rubenstein and some great advice as it turns out... amazing the similarites and differences over time and perhaps more so, the appearance and dimensions of the good old reeds compared to the current reed concept. )
3) Exercise the greatest care in cane selection. This is difficult to do until you begin gouging your own and a little expensive at first. But do the math, and you will see the machine pays for itself rather quickly in savings compared to buying gouged cane, especially so for gouged and shaped cane. The other big economy here is in times savings which also translate in $ and reduced frustration.
4) Get some good instruction and a couple decent manuals for reference. I have many and like the Weber reed making guide very much. There are other good ones by Jay Light, Peter Hedrick, etc. The advanced topics are especially helpful.
5) You already mentioned your knife. But keep focused on that topic. I have had the greatest knife success since using a ceramic hone ( about 1/3 inch in diameter, 8 inches long mounted in a wooden handle). Once the basic knife sharpening is done on a stone or diamond sharpening surface, I can use only the hone for weeks. The idea is to treat the burr of the edge.
Holding the bevel up 15 -30 degrees, I push it across and down the hone a few strokes after first drawing the flat back side across the hone to 'remove' the old burr.
This really works, is somewhat manual but with practice becomes easy to duplicate with success.
Hang in there.
I also liked the advice to buy a backup stock of reeds for a while. I agree, I would not sell you my best reed but I throw out some that are better than I've ever seen purchased...
I think I disagree with the advice to make reeds quickly. I play cane I've had in my possesion anywhere from 10 - 20 years ( I used to buy a lot of it...) and it always seems to want to change for a few days in various ways.
There is something rather magical about a fresh reed, I agree. but that fades quickly when the change happens mid-concert.
I would advise getting a case for 20 reeds, build it up and eventually you will have a few old friends, some still strong in mid-life but stable, and a few new magic ones you can play now and then.
Nowdays, I usually have that case full, and my drying board of another 40 reeds in various stages. Problems still happen, even a 'slump' now and then but it does not get in the way in public anymore.
Good luck with it,
-Craig
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Author: d-oboe
Date: 2006-11-22 02:10
There's an old adage....An apple away keeps the doctor away. And well, it applies to reeds too. One a day keeps the conductor away!
I know some people who go on about making 5 reeds a day - that's fine for them. For me, I really can't fathom the idea of sitting at a desk for that long scraping and scraping...the mind really gets too tired (and bored, frankly) to really learn and be productive. Rather, I like to make one per day (or maybe two, every other day if it's a busy time) and try to learn something, and make assesments on my tying/scraping on a daily/frequent basis, instead of a) spending my life making reeds or b) getting stuck without a good reed. I think it's a mistake to believe that once you are professional (I don't mean you personally, just in general) you can just "make reeds" and that's the end of it. There's should always be some learning going on - music, reeds, whatever!
And of course, the perfect reed doesn't exist. It can't! Why?
a) it's made of an organic substance - it will have a different make-up every time. Therefore:
b) exactitude is impossible - it will always be an approximation
c) our expectations of a what consists "the perfect reed" are always higher than how the reed actually is.
Of course, we have all had that really really good reed....when was it...? 1995 or something...?
**Perhaps approach your reeds with NO respect to the tone they produce at all. Go solely for function. From the blanks make reeds that respond extremely well first, raise them to an approximate pitch, and *then* you can start the stabilization process.(this should solve your "refining too soon" problem) After you have satisfied those first three, the tone will come naturally...and there's no need to have the "perfect" reed. Because really, your tone is only as wonderful as the muscles (lip, abdominal) and wind that supports it.
D
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Author: cjwright
Date: 2006-11-22 03:24
"Perhaps approach your reeds with NO respect to the tone they produce at all. Go solely for function."
I will say that this is incredibly hard, particularly for us who have such a strong tonal concept that we manipulate our bodies, often negatively, in order to compensate for a terribly reed to get the sound we want.
I was reminded this morning in my practice session. I practiced for 45 minutes straight and was dead by the end of the session. I couldn't figure out why I was so tired in my first practice session, and I decided to switch reeds.
When I pulled out one of my "decent-good" reeds, I realized how blown out the other one was, and how much extra pressure I was applying with my lips (not biting though) to close down the reed, to add extra resistance. Unfortunately, this pushes the blood/oxygen out of your lips, and results in fatigue much faster.
So, the moral is don't mess around with blown out reeds. They're counterproductive to what you're trying to build, and will only get in your way.
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Author: d-oboe
Date: 2006-11-22 11:28
In a blown out reed....is the problem the "sound" of the reed, or that...
a) the reed has become too sharp
b) the reed is too closed/weak the match the physiology of the oboist
c) the reed has no octaves left in the crow
These are all related to function alone, and are easy to asses. If I had a reed that "sounded ok" but behaved like a,b and c, I wouldn't waste my time on it either!
D
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Author: cjwright
Date: 2006-11-22 12:09
My blown out reeds are...
1. Don't have the built in resistance that I make them to have, which I would say is little resistance.
2. The reed gets a bit sharper, but the octaves get flatter and therefore are saggy in the upper register
3. The opening is closed to a point where I have difficulty getting louder than a mezzo forte.
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