 The Oboe BBoard
|
Author: Oboe Craig
Date: 2011-02-14 23:22
If you are teaching with American-style reeds, it might be helpful to teach the student to produce a double-octave crow on the reeds. The bottom octave usually won't appear if the player is biting, and biting is one of the worst habits for young players. Too much reed into the embouchure is a terrible habit, too.
I'd suggest to check the pitch of the crow using a digital tuner and have the students do that during lessons. Actually, they are cheap... I'd require them to have them at home as well. Even crow as an early part of the pre-warm up.
Eventually, its best to only refer to the tuner at times, and definitely you don't want the kids to be slaves to the tuner, but so much good focus, basic pitch integrity and proof of a decent reed can be had by the judicious use of the tuners.
I think watching the tuner while warming up, and doing scales and arpeggios is a very valid thing, and the physical habits that flow from that effort teach other good things and help to avoid some really bad habits.
I don't really believe in a 'student' reed., so soft or med. is really not helpful, and probably a bad habit waiting to happen.
Chat with the parents, and advise honestly what a good monthly reed allowance should be. At least 2-4 new 'pro' reeds a month, even for beginners will provide major benefits and avoid really expensive bad habits.
There are more great reed sources than I could have imagined while learning this stuff myself. Robin's point about local sources (environmentally similar) is a good one.
Post Edited (2011-02-15 20:48)
|
|
|
lbarton |
2011-02-13 22:10 |
|
ohsuzan |
2011-02-13 23:02 |
|
GoodWinds |
2011-02-14 01:14 |
|
RobinDesHautbois |
2011-02-14 13:57 |
|
lbarton |
2011-02-14 14:51 |
|
RobinDesHautbois |
2011-02-14 15:02 |
   |
Re: flat ready- made reeds new |
|
Oboe Craig |
2011-02-14 23:22 |
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
