The Oboe BBoard

The Oboe BBoard The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Re: Tuning on the Oboe

Author: Bucky Badger
Date: 2003-05-17 03:01

I learned way back that you cannot simply pull out a reed that plays sharp. What you have done is created a gap where water can collect and gurgle.If you make your own reeds you can scrape/cut to bring it in-tune. At this point in your oboe playing, play against a tuner maybe and relax the lips. My muscle action alone you can sharpen/flatten the pitch when playing quite a bit. Usually with a too soft reed and muscles not yet in full control you will pinch up and play sharp. You could get a stronger reed but you may lose some reed control.
Personally when starting oboe I would go with the soft reed and relaxing the lips. Try for a good tone on the instrument even if sharp. It will take a teacher and some modelling techniques to get a pleasant vibrato on the instrument rather than the sound of blowing thru a pipe. It will come in time thru listening to records and the instructor.
The beginning things to concentrate on are a decent tone,and measured breathing so you don't pass out. Learning Technique is down the list of things to do now.
I only know of "french cut" and "german cut" reeds. Each person homes in on the sound they want and work the reed to give the results; which I suppose can be called the "American cut" if you happen to be American. But I learned the instrument 1961 to 1967 basically and we only talked about the two main cultures contributions to the oboe--french/german.

jim buchholz

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics