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 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy
Author: ceri 
Date:   2010-06-17 20:21

I live in France and my French teacher used to make all my reeds which ressemble the picture you have posted with a straight (as opposed to a rounded) base. I think French reeds are considerably harder than American reeds and require slightly different playing techniques. (My teacher dismissively likens American reeds to playing the recorder).

I have no knowledge of American reeds so can't offer any useful comparisons (and nor would I claim to have exhaustive knowledge) but I will do any of the following with a reed that is too hard.

Gently squeeze it shut if it appears to be very open. (I don't bother doing this on the plaque, just gently with my fingers).

If the reed still remains too open, you can make it more closed by scraping the sides (this will also darken the tone a little).

Lightly rescrape the whole reed.

The tip should have an inverted crescent on it and you can make the reed easier to play by thinning the tip and the "ears." This is useful if you are having trouble starting notes and playing detached notes. However, beware that if you thin them too much then the 3rd octave notes will no longer work.

I'm not too sure what exactly you refer to with the terms "heart" and "back." The tip should blend into the next part (heart?) without a noticeable "hump." If there is a noticeable hump, then you can try making it less noticeable but proceed with a great deal of caution as this will alter the pitch of the reed.

If only the lower octave is not responsive, scrape the base of the reed.

If the higher notes won't come out, clip the end of the reed. (This will make the reed harder again so the risk is that you end up with no reed because you thin the tip to make it easier, clip it because the high notes won't come out, thin the tip because it's too hard etc.)

To play on a reed like this, you need a very firm embouchure (which doesn't alter for different pitches) - you will find that these reeds are very stable intonation-wise - and a lot of breath support.
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 Topics Author  Date
 Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-16 10:50 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
Chris P 2010-06-16 11:50 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-17 07:47 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
jhoyla 2010-06-16 17:39 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-16 22:45 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-06-18 00:10 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-18 03:27 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-06-18 10:05 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-18 11:05 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-06-18 16:38 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-18 23:37 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-06-18 16:46 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
Chris P 2010-06-16 23:03 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-17 02:06 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-17 04:33 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
jhoyla 2010-06-17 05:50 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-17 06:22 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
ceri 2010-06-17 20:21 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-17 23:28 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
ceri 2010-06-18 20:32 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-19 00:26 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-06-19 01:38 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-06-19 18:28 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
ceri 2010-06-19 13:16 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-19 14:43 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
HautboisJJ 2010-06-19 17:34 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
jhoyla 2010-06-19 21:30 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-20 01:16 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-20 01:20 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-20 05:49 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-06-21 03:02 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-06-21 10:13 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-08-18 06:15 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-08-18 13:23 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-08-20 07:56 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-08-20 10:28 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-08-20 23:05 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-08-21 03:23 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-08-20 23:15 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-08-21 03:37 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-08-21 06:33 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-08-29 00:22 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-08-29 23:02 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-09-06 00:44 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
ceri 2010-09-06 14:48 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-09-07 09:57 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-09-07 09:38 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-09-07 10:21 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
ceri 2010-09-07 14:56 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-09-07 16:10 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-09-07 22:33 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-09-08 00:18 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
ceri 2010-09-08 11:22 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-09-08 12:47 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
GoodWinds 2010-09-09 03:49 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
ceri 2010-09-09 07:17 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
JRC 2010-09-10 15:41 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-09-10 16:56 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
JRC 2010-09-10 18:37 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
wkleung 2010-09-10 19:10 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
JRC 2010-09-10 19:54 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-09-11 15:30 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
RobinDesHautbois 2010-09-11 17:15 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-09-12 00:07 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
mjfoboe 2010-09-12 03:16 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
hautbois francais 2010-09-12 03:23 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
mjfoboe 2010-09-12 12:21 
 Re: Making short scrape European style oboe reeds easy  new
ceri 2010-09-14 12:42 


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