 The Fingering Forum
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Author: Accordionmaid
Date: 2002-03-13 20:50
I'm a new oboe player...with no teacher. So, what a great forum this is! I've copied a lot from threads relating to the oboe, for my own reference.
The accordion (which I also...uh,play...) is a reed instrument, but, with the oboe, I find that I really have to think the note, mentally anticipate it, before blowing.
And, it's SO difficult. I'm having a bit of a rough time, but, I'll plod along.
There is a college teacher available near here, but, I wasn't interested in going there for lessons.
QUESTION: How do you know if you've bought a "bad" reed? I can manage to use an old, beat-up reed that came with my used oboe. (That's disgusting, I know, but...I think it had "cured.") But, I can't seem to work the new reeds I've bought. My daughter can manage one of the new ones - a med.soft. So, I know that works. But, I got a Med. hard reed, and neither of us can get much more than a squeak out of the oboe (though we can squeak the reed, alone).
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Author: SaxyBoy2
Date: 2002-03-14 00:09
well i dont play oboe but using my knowledge from sax you shouldnt play on a med. hard you should have a soft or a beginners reed. med. hard is way to strong for you to play on when beginning and lessons can make a BIG improvment!
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Author: Torus Tubarius
Date: 2002-03-14 03:07
How can you tell if you have a bad reed? Well, if the person you gave the money for that reed to works in a music store, that's how you tell.
Find an oboist who makes his own, preferably a professional, and buy reeds from him until you learn to make your own.
The reeds you buy in the store are not oboe reeds so much as they are two crappy leftover pieces of cane that have been shaved down to a smooth taper all the way from the poorly tied thread to the tip. There's no such thing as "medium hard, soft, etc." to an oboist. This ain't saxophone! Oboe reed making is an art, not something you buy in a box.
Sorry to go for the righteous indignation approach, but it's been a bad night, and I will not rest until the whole world is rid of the idea that anyone can actually play on store-bought oboe reeds. We're going to do what we do every night Pinky. Try and take over the World!
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Author: Accordionmaid
Date: 2002-03-14 18:03
SaxyBoy2 and Torus Tubarius...
Thanks! I'm relieved to know that it may not be "just me."
I do hope to get a few decent oboe lessons someday, but for now I'm on my own.
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Author: Kay
Date: 2002-03-17 13:55
For the first few months I played on a rico medium-hard strenght reed, and progressed no end this way. Then I transfrerred onto reeds made by a professional player. I see no reason why people shouldn't START on store braught reeds.
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Author: Torus Tubarius
Date: 2002-03-17 15:20
Is that the American style of reed-making, the so-called Philadelphia school started by Marcel Tabuteau himself, produces a reed with a very distinctive scrape. It's tailored to a particular emboucure, method of blowing, and style of playing that cannot be reproduced on any other kind of reed. Playing on storebought reeds then just makes the beginner start of with bad habits in an attempt to compensate for that reed's shortcomings. You can start off playing on them, I did as well long long ago because I didn't have a teacher and didn't know any better. But I'm just saying that now looking back I wish I didn't because when I started playing on real reeds, I had to change so many things to make the instrument play.
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Author: Accordionmaid
Date: 2002-03-20 12:58
Thanks, I shall have to find a good reed-maker. Then, I think I'd like to make my own.
I really can't believe that anyone could use the reed I bought at the store except for maybe inflating woopie cushions!
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Author: Torus Tubarius
Date: 2002-04-04 06:18
(Raises wine glass). Here here! That's the best idea for use of a store-bought reed I think I've ever heard. Kudos.
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