 The Fingering Forum
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Author: saxy boy (oboe)
Date: 2002-01-25 03:09
Ok a few questions on the oboe. What the heck is the diff. between the "forked" F key, and the F Resonance key, and where on the oboe are they found? I have a 3/4 full conservatory oboe (it has low Bb), and my instructor says i'm missing the right hand "A" trill key , and the left hand F key, as well as the "banana C". What does the right hand "A" key do, and what would the alternate C be for? He says i need it for a piece.
Thanks, and sorry for being dumb
Saxy Boy
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Author: Aaron
Date: 2002-01-25 18:23
Hola. I can honestly say that no one has ever explained to me to my satisfaction what the right hand A trill key is for. First, let's make sure we're talking about the same key. Right at the bottom of the top piece of the horn, on the right side, there's a long slender key that when you push it performs the same function as the G#/Ab key you push with your left pinky. I believe by the A trill key you mean the key placed immediately above and on top of that key that when you push it raises the G# key and lowers the bottom two finger keys (the A and the G). The only thing I can imagine this might be useful for is if you were trying to trill from Ab to B. Otherwise all other trills, G/G#, G/A, Ab/Bb, A/Bb are possible without this key. I wonder
Anyway, the other ones I can handle. The banana C key is used when you have to trill from C to C# below the staff. What you do is press the banana key with the very tip of your right ring finger as you play 123 123 and hold it down. This will generate a low C. Then just press the C# key to produce a C#; this allows the trill and prevents you from having to slide back and forth from the regular C key to the C# key.
You're not playing on an oboe with a left F? Oh man I feel for you. You will be so relieved if you ever get one with it on there. I assume you know what it is, just a key you press with the left pinky that does the same thing as the regular F key you push with you right ring finger.
I'm not sure what you mean by the forked F key. On many oboes, there has been added a key called the "F resonance" key whose only purpose is to try and make the forked F sound a little less stuffy (with varying degrees of success). It opens up on almost the opposite side of the instrument as the side where the Eb key opens up, just above the low C key's hole. It opens when you are pressing the right ring finger and not pressing the right middle finger--as you would do in a forked F 123 1-3. It closes when you press the middle finger to make 123 123 so as not to distort the sound of the D.
What's interesting about the F resonance key is that the fact that it is line almost perfectly with the Eb key as you rotate the horn around is no accident. Many books will tell you that if you're playing on an oboe without an F resonance key, you can actuate the Eb key with 123 1-3 to try and clarify the sound of the forked F. To me and a lot of other people though, this makes for an unnatural, dry sound in the forked F despite how much more easily it sings (try it for yourself). So the solution was to place an automatic key in the same location in the bore, but to make the diameter of the whole it was covering smaller so as to produce less of a distortion of the tone. If you look at the F resonance key, you'll notice that its hole is slightly smaller in diameter than the Eb key hole.
If you have a left F though, a lot of this forked F nonsense is moot, unless you're playing a passage with an extreme case where you have a combination of Db,Eb, and F that makes use of the left F impossible because of the need to use the left Eb instead.
Anyway this is long enough. Good luck!
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Author: beckee
Date: 2002-01-27 15:59
hi! just to clear up the forked f. on my oboe ( not a conservatoire though so this may be of little use if yours is!) its like playing a d, but without the middle finger. the right hand trill key (again on mine) is used to trill to Bb, especially B to Bb. hope this helps, although if your oboe is conservatoire fingered it probably won't!
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