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Re: Tuning on the Oboe

Author: Kai
Date: 2003-05-19 09:16

What Jim has said is very true. If a beginner on the oboe has problems with intonation, he almost cannot be faulted, for it take years of practice for the embochure to be strong and flexible enough to play even just a decent scale. Having said that, one advice I find useful is to remember that air support (and not lipping) has to be very strong to support your notes and that includes the pitch too. Understandably, beginners are inclined to use lipping to bend up pitch (or down) so as to be in tune with the rest but that invariably becomes a bad habit. Lipping is used, inevitably, but minimally.

As for the different kinds of scrape, though German and French were 2 extremely strong (and sometimes extreme) influences on the oboe sound, but both 'scrapes' themselves were shorter than the 'American' scrape.

I have enjoyed listening to both American and non-american oboists. It would not be fair to say that one scrape is better than the other. In the context of American orchestras and wanting to blend in with the section, then I guess 'the american scrape' would be the only way to go!

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