Author: vboboe
Date: 2009-07-18 05:32
tons of water, both of you? in summer weather?
OK, maybe it's air conditioning ...
some common wet problems can be corrected by the player
prevention is worth a ton of quick fix fussing
newly wetted up reed may have free water between the blades
suck it dry (quietly) while warming up reed in mouth before putting it in oboe
oboe's top joint isn't hot enough yet to evaporate condensation
keep those octave keys completely shut until the top joint's hot enough by first warming up oboe on long tones, one octave scales etc only as far up as half-hole Eb
when there's a continous dripline out of the bell, it's safer to open octave holes than when there isn't (safer meaning a bit less likely to have moisture problems higher up, but even a dripline isn't a fail-safe guarantee)
make sure mouth is dry by swallowing excess saliva before tonguing off
and aim to play most of the time with a dry mouth (between meals kind of dry)
make sure player is well hydrated so saliva isn't gummy and sticky, once some of that splats the 2nd 8ve inside it's like glue
posture
don't play oboe to the floor in vertical position like a clarinet at any time
if oboe's played vertically rather than lifted up, moisture tends to collect on the miniscule reed-well ledge where it will saturate the cork, attract more water, gurgle. and eventually spill over, so lean slightly back in seat, particularly during warmups, and keep the bell elevated in the zone above knees about level with belly button while playing
elevation increases gravitational pull on the 'ceiling' of the bore, encouraging moisture to drip to 'the floor'
don't sit there still as a rock when playing, circle, bob, dip or swing around at your waist-line just a little bit, enough to change the elevation fractionally up or down, also remember 90 or 180 degree direction shifts at the waist are like whip lashes to moisture
air, be sure you're blowing strongly, this doesn't mean play loudly, it means blow with pressure, otherwise the moisture's just going to hang out up there in the top joint simply because it's not being blasted down the pipe
other methods to remove excess moisture
if the suck & blow quick fix isn't enough, also try this
blow across 2nd 8ve with pinhole embouchure subito sffz as if playing flute, this is to break surface tension of water stubbornly clinging inside the tiny hole, unless that's removed by blasting, it will continue to attract more water indefinitely
if the reed well has water in it, or if there's a lot of spluttering at the octave vent, use cig paper to blot the vent, and also use oboe silk to mop up like this
drag dry silk evenly in one pull through top joint only (not whole oboe) from reed well downwards (never other way) and do that once only -- not actually intending to dry the bore, simply pull silk slowly enough to absorb excess while the silk drags a definite moisture pattern trail down-hill
then warmup top joint by blowing through it until it's hot first before opening octave holes, if you just warmup the outside of top joint in your arm pit you're not blowing hot air through the pipe and the inside is where the condensation is happening
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