 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: claire70
Date: 2009-02-19 19:41
I've been teaching for about 4 years or so now, and the majority of my students have been kids, either complete beginners, or who have come to me having studied elsewhere for a few years. But I occasionally get an adult 'returner', ie. someone who played as a teenager, then gave up for several years, and now wants to go back to it.
I've just got one of these students a few weeks ago (she just had her 3rd lesson with me today), and I'm thinking about something I also noticed with another similar adult-returner about a year ago. (Although that one gave up lessons again after a few months, so I didn't have time to work out the answer...) Namely: she plays quite nicely but with quite a small, constricted tone. This seems to be the complete opposite to a beginner, who tends to be quite raucous. The only way I can describe it is that she sounds like I would if I played on a reed which was too soft and closed up for me. However, the reed isn't too soft for her, because obviously she's lost her embouchure a bit. If I gave her something harder, she wouldn't be able to get a sound out.
Does anyone have any tips how I can get her to open up the sound? Or is it just a question of time, as her embouchure develops and she can cope with harder reeds again? Her general technique is quite good otherwise, and she seems to be using enough diaphragm support (inasmuch as one can ever tell...)
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Author: vboboe
Date: 2009-02-20 01:24
... as an adult renewbie i think i've had exactly the same experience as you describe
hm -- parts of the answer seem to be reed, basic embouchure development, air support stamina, and perhaps the way we older folks 'hold our tongues'
softer reeds (with less resistance) just can't do forte with conviction, so until one can play a reed with 'good body' (either meaty heart in American style or short-scrape with lots of lower back wood in U-style reeds), stong tone is basically limited by the reed's capacity to produce decibels -- so methinks there wouldn't be any point commenting on tone to a newbie until the student can do medium reeds
holding the tongue -- the lower jaw is perhaps 'wired tighter' in mature adults than in youngsters, this makes the tongue fit snugly against the upper palate, so 'yawning' the throat open and holding it open is more of a challenge, the muscles aren't used to yawning, we all stifle urges to yawn because either we don't want to be rude, or we just don't want to admit we're tired -- anyway, the muscles of our jaw & tongue get so used to preventing us from yawning, that we have to relearn how to yawn the throat again on purpose to play oboe
even now, it's a constant thing reminding myself to keep the back of my tongue from seeking physical contact with the roof of my mouth, it just automatically wants to go there and stay there -- except when i'm tired and can't stop yawning ...
also, mature adults have a thing about being in control, and so perhaps we newbies grip the reed more firmly than we should to begin with, which narrows the blade to blade width of the playing aperture below optimum for the loudest squawk any given reed is capable of producing -- and perhaps we older folk also take longer to learn how to let all that go again
and, as the embouchure improves and becomes capable of automated fast fine muscle adjustments to tune the reed, it's easier too to adjust the aperture to 'optimum' for volume and good tone at the same time
also, i found as my tender lips gained thicker skin to cope with that buzz feeling, it's easier to produce loud sound which have stronger buzz sensations that don't bother me now
another thing i've noticed is the size of the room i practice in -- i used to practice in a regular size bedroom until i realised i just wasn't blowing firmly enough because the sound seemed too loud in a small room -- and when i took annual lessons, that particular music practice room was smaller than my bathroom! -- so i really closed down a lot there
my summer teacher wanted to get me to play louder because i had that 'constricted small sound', so he made sure we practised in the biggest piano room available, and he also played trumpet boldly to make sure i had some competition !
nowadays i practise in our house's biggest room
but, even so that's still not loud enough for my orchestra's practice hall, and i'm pooped from blowing by mid-morning break
and that brings us to air support stamina -- it's a marathon athletic event, playing any wind instrument
in the beginning, the chops aren't strong enough to contain the right amount of air pressure needed to get strong tone -- the cheeks pop, air leaks out of the lips -- so, until the chops are iron, air pressure is automatically kept low
the abs aren't used to supporting air pressure for sustained periods of time, don't normally push air slowly and steadily in a controlled manner against resistance in the reed or instrument for periods of time longer than normal breathing rates -- they have to be trained for this
the intercostal rib muscles don't do this kind of squeezing in normal everyday breathing either, so unless the oboe player is already a jogger-runner with strong chest muscles, all the aerobic muscles -- and the porous alveoli in the lungs -- have to be trained to produce, hold and maintain adequate air pressure for strong oboe tone -- until the oboe player deliberately decides it's time to do a breath exchange to fit music phrasing
the older we are, and especially if we're female and not athletic or perhaps not as iron-rich as we could be, the more years' work we need to build up to good playing condition
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Author: ceri
Date: 2009-02-20 12:36
Like the two previous posters, as an adult learner, I have also had (have?) problems with a thin tone. My teacher identified the problem as coming not from tongue position but from simultanously blowing air into the oboe and holding back the air by constricting my throat.
Various things which have helped:
playing a note without tonguing by breathing into the oboe and gradually increasing the pressure/volume of air until the note comes out and then gains the desired tone, then decreasing the pressure until the note vanishes and then bringing it back. This allows the pupil to find out what the "right amount" of air feels like but avoids inadvertant squawks and raucousness which I think a lot of adults tend to instinctively try to avoid.
singing a low "o" and whistling simultaneously and reproducing this sensation when playing the oboe.
breathing in and out noiselessly with my fingers in my ears and then keeping the same open throat feeling when playing the oboe.
playing loudly at the same time as my teacher.
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Author: rickw48
Date: 2009-02-20 13:03
I'm a re-returning oboist. Last time was for about four years from 1996, having not played since 1984 (when I'd studied it full time). Currently I've been playng again since christmas. The big difference I've noticed is that the breathing and support are coming back much quicker . I think this is because, inspite of being nearly 50, I'm in much better shape physically than I was when in my 30s. Largely this is down to commuting about 80 miles a week on my bike.
I'm wondering if this is the heart of the matter for your student (I'm not suggesting, btw, that she suddenly starts training for the Tour de France). There's no doubt that the years take their toll and what you took for granted as a student, you certainly notice the lack of later on. Your student might find that taking some pilates classes would help to develop muscle tone, as the key focus there is on strengthening the core muscles.
And maybe she could try some long, loud low register notes with a deliberately relaxed embouchure, teeth very slightly further apart, just to check that she isn't smothering the vibrations of the reed. I noticed that when I started again I was very aware of how awful I was sounding and had to resist the temptation to muffle the sound.
Good luck
Richard
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Author: D
Date: 2009-02-24 17:48
I'm an adult newbie (having played other wind instruments) - here's my tuppence worth.
The fear/need of peeing/farting. Never underestimate it, especially if the pupil is female and has had children. Tell the pupil where the loo is and make it clear they are welcome to dash out and use it any time.
The sound concept the student has. It could be a determination not to sound raucous and out of control that is causing the extreme opposite.
I love the suggestion above about a trumpet as competition. Excellent idea, anything loud which masks some of what the student plays and allows them to just make a noise and get the notes. Playing in as many groups as the standard will allow and being forced by the conductor to play louder. I know there is the risk of causing yourself damage etc, but I think most people just start to relax the mouth and push from the abs in self defense as it simply isn't possible to do it all from the lips for a whole rehearsal without killing yourself.
Have you tried a lesson on mimicry. Imitate the sound each other makes and both try to make all different types of sounds, discuss as you go how things are achieved, but make her play before talking. Show her good and bad sounds this way. Will help her hearing you sound bad as well as good.
I learn particularly well by imitating my teacher. Typically, I'll sightread something, we'll work on it a bit and there will be a bar or two I'm stuck on. I'll ask her to play it (she'll be complaining it sounds strangled or out of tune on a top note or something), and once she's done it I can somehow imitate it. Don't know why it works, but it does so I won't knock it! Worth a try anyway.
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