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English Horn half hole finger issue

Author: oboegy
Date: 2011-04-05 18:19

Hi,
Here's an issue that's come up as I am playing english horn quite a bit more at present. It concerns positioning of the left index finger on the segmented half hole plateau with its long lower spatula.

I'm a half hole 'roller', not a 'slider' and on the oboe I've gotten quite used to the security of the index finger position being established with the help of the little tab at the bottom of the key being bent slightly upward. This physical tab stop keeps the index finger in just the right position so as to minimize the rolling movement and allow very consistent execution up and down.

On the english horn, however, I'm having an ongoing problem maintaining a consistent positioning of this finger. More often than not, I find my finger has migrated too far down the lower spatula upon opening the half hole. As a consequence, what I think is an adequate rolling motion upward turns out to be inadequate to bring the upper part down to completely close the half hole.

I've speculated about the possibility of adding something (haven't figured out quite yet what might do, but there is quite a bit of clearance around the entire key at that point) around the notch just above the rounded lower spatula so as to serve as a physical finger stop I'm missing so much from the oboe.

Before musing further about possible mechanical solutions, I'd appreciate very much hearing how any others may have addressed and/or mitigated this problem (mechanical or otherwise).

BTW, my english horn is a Howarth XL, where the half hole segment separation is slanted to about the same extent that I've seen on most other makes/models.

Thanks for any suggestions.

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