Author: vboboe
Date: 2007-12-01 18:16
<<However, those who play on short scrape reeds (usually europeans) tend to pull their lips further in than those playing long-scrape reeds>>
... hm, yes i think that's what i was doing in my first 18 months or so, it was a revelation to roll my lips out and play just the reed-tip in front of my teeth instead of firmly between my teeth, which meant most of my lip flesh was rolled over teeth and tucked behind them. This muffled my sound considerably, just blowing lips forward increased decibel level immediately
my memories on u-scrape was more reed in mouth with a generally firm 'bite' on the junction between scrape and bark areas for mid register, loosen the bite pretty much for low D down, with some roll-out too
going up, had to increase air pressure for high A to high C, rollover a bit more, add more bite and some overblow above that -- but maybe my student u-scrape reeds back then were as 'bad' as beginner commercial reeds are here
i'm finding american style reed is less reed in mouth due to the way it's cut, and more notes are playable in that position, including up to high D and maybe Eb, but 1st 8ve high E and up needs rollover into heart and a little bite for me to get those upper notes, early days maybe for me on that yet
... or my reeds still aren't cut quite right yet
so, to summarise embouchure differences i've experienced so far, i think Brit embouchure (of 30 years ago) was somewhat firmer on U-scrape but also had to be more mobile for roll-in and out, whereas on A-scrape a looser embouchure stays more in the same place with less mobility in lip rolling up and down the reed
as a transitional compromise for my two embouchure styles in culture shock, i find A-scrape reeds with broad back windows and a thinner heart smoothed finely into blend work for me at the moment
hm, it might be informative to observe and study the actual mouth profiles of oboists in various countries, compare to the overall frequency in similarity of lipline in that particular country's dominant cultural group
for instance, thin-lipped wide mouths are quite frequent in Britain, and fuller lips are quite prevalent in America, so perhaps this may have a lot to do with preferences for reed cutting and embouchure playing styles?
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