Author: Loree BF51
Date: 2008-06-17 02:26
jhoyla, all the way from Israel, has suggested that I share some more memories of studying with Ray Still. Although he is coming out with his own book, I would still like to share what I remember.
He started out with the concept of a "basic position" for playing the oboe. I'm sure that almost anybody that has seen him playing either in person or on TV has noticed that he has a very straight up and down posture and this is where he (and his students) starts from. Only by holding the head level, is it possible (usually) to have the throat be as free, as possible. I remember he said the throat should be "slack", i.e., not tight. Then, he would take the student's hand and hold it against the area of his stomach, just at the top of the rib cage,just below the chestbone. He would then show you how to breathe for playing the oboe properly, as well as learning how to breathe properly without the oboe! He showed you that it is not necessary for the shoulders to rise at all, i.e., all the "action" is taking place in the stomach-lungs-diaphraghm area. I believe he goes into this in some detail in a paper that he wrote for the Linton Company. Maybe, its still available. I'm sure he will cover this extensively in his forthcoming book.
Then, he had you do an exercise of crouching on the balls of your feet (front part of the foot) like a baseball catcher, but with the back straight and head level. Then, you slowly raise yourself straight up with no shaking (yeah, right!) of muscles allowed. This is one, tough exercise (!), but already he was beginning to teach you, how you have to learn to control the muscles in your body and eliminate as much tension as you possibly can, in order to play the oboe, as freely, as possible.
When I first heard him, both in person and on TV concerts, I thought he had the most perfect vibrato I had ever heard. Strangely then, he would say that he didn't teach vibrato as such, but simply set up the conditions for it to occur naturally. What a novel concept! I'm getting a little a head of myself here, though. However, these basics are all part of the foundation that is absolutely necessary for more advanced areas to develop well. So, back to the next basic. He would ask you to pant like a dog and this was really tough, especially trying to do it quickly, like he could do so, very quickly. If you "try" to do it quickly, the breath apparatus not wanting to cooperate, can be a problem. Only, by finding some way of "fooling" the musculature, can you become as good as a dog at it.
That's it for now, more to follow.
|
|
The Oboe BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
