 The Fingering Forum
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Author: Torus Tubarius
Date: 2002-12-04 22:31
Is it just your G going sharp? I'd be willing to bet your F# is pretty wicked as well. These notes are chronically problematic on the oboe. Is it both octaves?
A really sharp G is often caused by having too much reed in your mouth. There is unfortunately a very narrow margin between having too much reed in and too much reed out of your mouth on G's and F#'s, but it is a margin you must remain within in order for these notes to be in tune.
Another contributing factor could be you're either biting down on the reed which tends to pinch the notes to a higher pitch (and create a pinched sounding tone as well), or your teeth are too far apart which causes your tone to be wild and unfocused; this means your emboucure will not effectively control the reed, allowing it to do what it wants to do... and one of those things it would love to do is produce a really really sharp G and F#.
Another possibility could be that you have a pad leaking somewhere. Check your G and G# keys first to make sure they are sealing properly. It is also possible that your hand position is not allowing you to cover the hole in the G key completely; that will cause the pitch to shoot up drastically, but this produces more of an intermittent problem that a chronic one.
My bet is that you have too much reed in your mouth though. Definitely give that some thought first.
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