Author: Dutchy
Date: 2005-06-16 13:22
Whoa, good, what a relief, it helps a LOT just to know that I'm not the only one. I was worried I'd missed a memo somewhere on "how to play Alt-Eb", or maybe my hands were just the wrong shape or something. Good to know that others struggle with this, too.
My right elbow does tend to have to stick out to the side in order for me to "get" the Db--this is bad? Good? Are opinions divided in the Oboe World as to whether your elbows should stick out or not? I don't want to get into any bad habits here. I already discovered that I've been tending to close the G key with the flat bony part of my left-hand ring finger, rather than the pad, and I'm assuming this is bad, because it tends to lead to more of the "this hole is not closed completely" squeaks on the Alt-Eb. But then trying to arch my finger more over the G key so as to close it with the pad puts my left-hand pinky in an even more awkward position.
I find myself envying sax players--when my daughter was starting clarinet, her band teacher told all us parents at the "get to know your musical instruments" meeting, that the more work the instrument does, i.e. the more keys it has, the less work the player has to do, and he held up the sax as an example of an instrument that, in his opinion, calls for very little work on the part of the player (for this reason, he said, he did not allow 5th graders in his music program to start on sax, he made them start on clarinet first).
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