Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2005-03-27 21:25
LOL, Dutchy!
Our kids are all out of the house, so we don't have them as implicit critics. My 92-year-old mother-in-law lives with us now, but she is stone deaf, and just figured out a month or so ago that what I play is not a flute, which is what she always called my clarinet.
So, our only critic is the dog. Interestingly enough, the clarinet (especially the bass clarinet, which my husband plays) drives her to howling fits, but about the oboe she has as yet made very little comment.
I've seen that photo on the oboeforidgets site. I see what you mean about it looking like she has a smile going on there. Actually, if you look at her lips only, they are very straight, and the little smiley thing in the corners is just her cheeks pinching together. She's got one heck of a flat chin, though!
I have seen a photo of Tabuteau (the founder of the American school of oboe playing, even though he was French, and French-trained), and he does in fact seem to have his lips drawn back in a way that my teacher would not approve. And don't even think about his posture!
The trouble with photos of people playing the oboe is that the *real* business part of the embouchure doesn't show on the outside. In my favorite book (the one by Jay Light), he goes into some detail about the difference between what he calls the "Cabbage Patch Doll" embouchure and the "Anteater", and he includes humorous line drawings of each. His point is that we should aim for a feeling of roundness and the lips being "pushed in", rather than a feeling of narrowness and the lips being "pulled out".
I had read all this early in my oboe playing experience, and I certainly *thought* I was doing this, but what I found out is that I wasn't doing it to the degree necessary. I would go "ooo", or whistle, and round it in, but really I wasn't keeping it rounded enough. The lips have to be very, very pushed in and round -- for me, to the point where at first I felt like I could hardly do it.
Now that I have learned a better embouchure, I can tell you it *feels* very much like how the "anteater" drawing looks -- but it doesn't actually look that way, at all. It just looks straight, or a little bit down in the corners.
As far as the "open" quality of the embouchure, that is, again, an inside job more than something visible. It's just a way of saying that your top teeth and bottom teeth should be held apart as much as you can without muscle strain -- probably consciously, at first. After a while, you will just do it "naturally". If your teeth/jaw is open, your chin can't help but be down. If your jaw is not open, your chin may be jutting up or out.
More power to you! It WILL get better.
Susan
Post Edited (2005-03-27 21:35)
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