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Re: tone

Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2008-05-22 16:16

Lots of good advice here. One thing that I have found helpful in regard to tone production is to underlay my air with the vowel "ah". Consciously form the inside of your oral cavity to make an "ah", and listen for that "ah" in the tone which you produce. This may be a variant on the instruction to not bite the reed -- it's hard to bite the reed when you are trying to say "ah" while making an oboe embouchure! Saying "ah" while playing also helps keep your corners firm, your chin down, and the middle of your lips pillowed.

Something else that comes to mind here is to be sure you are keeping your airstream consistent, not stopping and starting (or waxing and waning) with each note (play "on" the air, not "with" the air). Lack of a consistent airstream can lead to the somewhat forced ("intense") quality you mention.

I second the suggestion to get a high-quality recorder (I use a Sony mini-disc) and get into the habit of recording yourself during practice now and then. Play the same passage on several reeds, verbalizing which reed you are using at any given time (because during playback, you will forget which was which). Doing that, I found that reeds that I subjectively thought sounded pretty good sounded quite bright from the objective perspective of the recording. In general, the reeds which I subjectively felt were least bright sounded the best on the recording. That is good information with which to proceed in real life.

Progress in learning to play the oboe proceeds by inches, not feet, in my experience. And sometimes a very slight change in how you do something will yield significant results. You are asking the right questions!

Susan

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