 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: mschmidt
Date: 2009-02-01 02:24
I'm buying an English Horn. I have one identified which seems suitable, and the seller has offered two include 2 bocals out of six that he sent me. Picking out the best one seems not to hard--there was a Hiniker in the half dozen that gives a nice sound, good intonation, and that lets the notes speak well. But what should I choose for the second? One that is "second best," and close to the Hiniker, or one that gives me something decidedly different from the Hiniker? There is, for example, a Mirafone bocal that doesn't sound so great, but makes it possible to play the 2nd-octave-key notes at a most daring ppp. There's a Dallas that maybe allows a bit more projection than the Hiniker, albeit with a somewhat rougher tone. And then there are three others of unknown provenance...
The horn is a late 90's Loree.
mike
Mike
Still an Amateur, but not really middle-aged anymore
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2009-02-01 07:35
The Mirafone crook is really designed for German-type cors so won't work so well with a Loree as you've discovered.
The Dallas is most likely to be based on the Loree type crook (what with Loree being the most popular make in the US).
How about trying the original Loree crooks as well (if they're included)? You might be surprised that the maker's own crook works how you like it to.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: mschmidt
Date: 2009-02-01 16:44
Well, the six bocals originally came with two other horns two weeks ago, and the Lorée was only sent after I rejected the first two horns as unsuitable; some of them may have been Lorée bocals, but I don't know. (Are Lorée bocals marked as such? If so, I don't have any.) No additional bocals came with the Lorée instrument. One of the horns I rejected was in fact a Kreul/Mirafone, and the Mirafone bocal was remarkably stable and in tune with that bocal, but I still liked the sound of the Kreul with the Dallas better. The Hiniker sounded fine on the Kreul, but made the second-octave-key notes unstable.
And my question isn't really which bocal I should pick as my second, but what should I look for (or listen for) in a second bocal?
Mike
Still an Amateur, but not really middle-aged anymore
Post Edited (2009-02-01 16:49)
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Author: hautbois
Date: 2009-02-02 22:07
Consider selecting a bocal which is higher or lower-pitched than the one which is your first choice (depending on whether the first choice is on the sharp or on the flat side), assuming that it does not have any disqualifying characteristics.
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Author: hautboy
Date: 2009-02-15 15:31
I really like the Laubin bocals. I have a loree english horn and I can tell a big difference when I use the Laubin bocal as opposed to the Loree bocal or Dallas Lickman bocal (I think I spelled that right). I have heard great things about the hiniker bocal and I am going to order some to try. Anyway, I feel that the Laubin bocal produces a richer sound than the other bocals I have and the intonation seems somewhat more stable.
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Author: hautbois
Date: 2009-02-15 16:10
Hautboy has expressed what I have found with bocals on d'amores -- the Laubin ones perform miracles as compared with the others I have tried. I have Laubin #s 1, 2, &3, and each found a use depending on the pitch of the orchestra or the pitch of a particular reed. With d'amore repertoire (mostly baroque, though Ravel and R. Strauss also called for d'amore) one is frequently asked to play below A 440, and the #3 one became my most-often used bocal. The most significant improvements which the Laubin bocals provided were to stabilize the pitch (on d'amores often the second octave E and G are sharp -- the Laubin helped there) and to provide a very full and responsive sound throughout, especially in the second octave left hand notes.
Elizabeth
Post Edited (2009-02-16 14:19)
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