Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2004-04-08 01:44
Just reporting in here. It's been a week or so since I asked the question about tone quality, and of course, I have been practicing and experimenting during that time.
What really resonated with me was Katrina's suggestion of not closing any part of your mouth over the reed. So I started thinking, "What if I could play the reed without ANY mouth contact????"
Well, that is not really possible, because it's got to be in (or rather, held up to) the mouth in order to get the focused air. But just telling myself to try to play without touching the reed at all, while still keeping the air focused as if I were playing, say, a little trumpet, really does wonders for the evenness of my tone in all registers, and even across the dreaded c - d "break".
I also like the idea that the oboe is "held up to" the mouth, rather than put IN the mouth. And I am thinking right now about a performance of a very early opera (Monteverdi?) that I saw years and years ago, played on period instruments. There was this instrument that looked like a clarinet or oboe, but sounded more like a trumpet. Crumhorn? Sackbut? I don't remember. Is this an oboe cousin?
So, anyway, I am observing some forward progress in my playing.
Susan
|
|
The Oboe BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
