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Re: Moved up to better reeds, now oboe sounds like flute and/or clarinet. Normal?

Author: HautboisJJ
Date: 2007-04-26 16:40

"Question: how do people playing on European scrape reeds get their oboes to not sound quite so piercing? Just lots of practice? Tremendous embouchure control?"

Yes a lot of practising, but don't you guys do that too? =)

There is a misconception that European scrapes (which is impossible to define!) are difficult to play and would easily sound nasal. If one listens to the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra one realises how DARK the sound can be, and no they do not play the "modern American scraping"! And yet one wonders how similar the old school Philadelphia players were with the Vienna Philharmonic oboists! (Whom apparently all like Yamaha so much.) I play a "Dutch" reed which is supposed to have a rather short length and wide tip but to compensate how relaxed my embouchure is (i cover the reed a lot but try to take in as little reed as possible), i have to lengthen the scraping, usually quite a bit. Just listen to great Dutch oboists such as Bart Schneemann, Han Meijer, or Han de Vries and one realises how rich and resonant the oboe sound can be, without sounding nasal.

But of course, some players i know really make their reeds hard. And i mean HARD. I do not agree with it but it works for them! It really is a matter of how you want to sound. Nothing can sound human or musical if it is not 'easy', which i think applies to reeds, so INTENTIONAL 'tremendous embouchure control' is a no no. The reed must be free blowing, unedgy, resonant, no need for taking in extra reed or biting for higher register and that is roughly what i aim for. (Reading the crow thread, i think i should start experimenting whether all my good reeds have a consistent crow pitch. I never took notice!)

Dutchy, you should try one of K Ge's English reeds just for the sake of trying it, they make great reeds! (They usually need a bit of adjustment though.) Maybe your reeds are simply too stiff so get them adjusted!

Regards,
Howard

p.s. Everyone , my teacher replaced his old ultrasonic cleaner with a new one, it's not that expensive, and BOY DOES IT WORK! I revived all my old reeds with it! Works great, and i think its not necessarily obtainable only from double reed shops (which sells them at absurd prices), but also from other general stores. Do try it out!

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