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Re: tone

Author: Dutchy
Date: 2008-05-22 15:56

Quote:

If I were discussing horn tone, I'd say that the tone was too much buzz and not enough air, but on oboe I don't have a buzz and consequently don't know how to get more air in the sound.

I know exactly what you mean here. I would second "what kind of reed are you using". I didn't start getting really nice tones until I moved up from the mass-produced factory reeds to handmade reeds. For me, certain brands of the factory reeds produce a pronounced buzzy, brassy sound that the handmade reeds just don't. The handmade reeds are much more refined, smoother, less piercing.

When you say your teacher's tone is more "dark" and your tone isn't, what you probably mean is that your tone is more piercing, shrill, nasal, even squeaky, than hers. "Piercing, shrill, and nasal" = "bright". Bright isn't necessarily bad, in the right hands.

This is something that in my experience can be fixed a good deal by switching to a different reed. What brand are you using?

Also second the recommendation for long tones. I'm a believer. [grin]

My "long tone" exercise goes like this: Chromatic scale from Low Bb all the way up to the top F, holding each note for a reasonably slow (not agonizingly slow, in other words) count of 16. This takes me 10 minutes by the clock. It made a great deal of improvement for my tone within only a couple of weeks.

One more thing that helps me a lot: to try to visualize the air support as a continuous column of air reaching from my diaphragm all the way to the bell. This improves my tone dramatically whenever I remember to do it. Apparently I'm in the bad habit of playing off my chest, and, especially, subconsciously focusing on the embouchure and correct fingering alone to produce the notes, and my tone gets thin. But when I remember to visualize that column of air, and focus on "support the continuous unending column of air" instead of "breathe just as much as you need to in order to get the notes out", my tone sounds much better. Immediately.

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