 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2005-07-05 21:54
Vis-a-vis our recent threads on reeds and reed making, I got to thinking about the biggest mistakes I made with adjusting reeds when I was starting out -- and I'll bet others of you have things to share along these lines, too.
So . . .
I think my biggest reed-adjusting mistake was scraping (not clipping) too much off the tip (trying to make the reed easier to play), so that I ended up with a weak tip and a reed which didn't last very long.
And the corollary to this is, I didn't try to adjust parts of the reed *other than* the tip -- I was afraid to try it.
So, what dumb newbie things have the rest of you done?
Susan
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Author: rgombine
Date: 2005-07-06 15:01
overtying a blank and not realizing it until I had scraped the dumb thing into oblivion trying to get it to vibrate.
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2005-07-06 17:44
So, rgombine, what exactly is "overtying" (question coming from someone who has never tied a reed, nor seen it done)?
Susan
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Author: vboboe
Date: 2005-07-06 18:13
... HAH! my absolutely BIGGEST rookie mistake was buying an "official" reed knife that doesn't ergonomically fit in my own hand, doesn't balance the knife's weight on the burr in the right place to hold it appropriately, ratio between junction of blade and handle wrong for my hand to hold it safely, basically too long a knife blade for the job ... I've filleted several reed spines with that machete!
Always select any precision cutting tool ergonomically to hand ... not the other way around ... methinks men's larger hands like the official reed knife, but they're wrong for smaller women's hands
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Author: rgombine
Date: 2005-07-06 21:43
Overtie = when you tie on a blank, you tie the string past the end of the tube. Any amount of overtie can be a bit of a disaster.
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Author: d-oboe
Date: 2005-07-07 00:03
I think the most annoying rookie mistake that I see is too much definition, too soon. The students try to make the reed *look* finished, without any regards to whether it vibrates or not. Most beginners are afraid to really scrape at blank reeds, in fear that it might leave them with a dead reed.
To help alleviate this, in the beginning, I have my students scrape only half-way down the reed, and then once they have think they have got it right, they show me, and then we scrape the back down. This forces them to make the heart and tip vibrate well before using the back to adjust. Usually we manage to get a satisfactory reed, because the back wasn't scraped away too soon.
As well, rookies tend to loathe scraping their tips down. In a long scrape reed, gouged at the usual 0.6, the only way to achieve balance and stability is to have the tip very thin. A thin tip allows the rest of the reed to be scraped down thin enough, and it allows the back (especially the top of the back) to be scraped fairly thin. The important thing for the youngins to remember is that it isn't a thin tip that makes a squealy chirpy reed, but it's an *unbalanced* tip that makes a chirpy reed. In other words, if there is too much definitio between tip and heart, there will be chirp.
And lastly: blend. What is the blend, and where is it located on the reed?
The most important blend is the one between tip and heart. If this isn't correct, the reed won't work. Where is it? It is *above* the heart. So, if the heart starts at 67, the blend will normally have an upside-down "U" shape starting around 68. Many students, when thinking they are thinning the tip for better response, are actually thinning the blend, which essentially ruins the reed.
The other blend is the heart-back blend. This one isn't as crucial, but there shouldn't be any catches, or bumps. It should be smooth. There can be a great amount of definition between the two, but it should be smooth. Like a steep hill, but not a cliff.
D
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Author: Ashley91489
Date: 2005-07-09 14:01
Well, since I haven't actually started reed making yet, I can only really comment on the adjusting I've done.
Most reeds I get seem to open, maybe a little to hard. At first, I was doing like you did, taking it only off the tip to make it easier to play. Sometimes I would just scrape down the whole reed a tad (with the reed rush I had on hand for my clarinet reeds; that probably wasn't great either).
Now, after some research, I've found some of the proper ways of adjusting reeds.
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Author: vboboe
Date: 2005-07-10 17:59
Hi Ashley
... it's usually a good idea to *** blow-in *** all new reeds before making any adjustments ... most commercial reeds are sold on the expectation they will play right away, so get the right hardness for you, and expect your new reed to play for you
It's better to have a new reed that's more open to begin with, because playing will flatten it down anyway ... also, you'll find harder (and more open) reeds much easier to play if they're well wetted through first ... a little bit extra time soaking (but not too much) can make quite a difference
*** Blowing-in *** means ... pre-soaking bone-dry brand new reed for about 20 minutes (that is, until it's nicely moist and pliable for playing, or up to 30 mins if it still seems too stiff) ... then play on it awhile.
Put it away in airy container, and tomorrow, soak only as long as needed for playability, then play it awhile again.
After a few days of this blowing-in process, your reed will be more conformed to your own embouchure ... it's easier to tell what it's doing for you or isn't doing for you
After this preliminary blowing-in period, then you adjust it ... remember, all reeds blow sharper with age, so if your reed is crowing about right, only a bit flat of C already, don't sharpen it up by tipping or scraping, it'll blow-in up to pitch by itself with more use
But, my experience is that commercial reeds blow several semi-tones below C in naturally comfortable embouchure ... the goal is to make your reed play C-harmonic overtones in the oboe, which is a C instrument, so you play most of the pipe in tune with itself (even so, oboes have some notes a bit out of tune, you have to lip these into shape)
If you're tight embouchure, like me (almost ready to transition to more flesh on lower lip, hoboy, these lip muscles need to be really fine-tuned to manage the buzz!) then you can probably lip up a reed crowing at very flat C just right.
On the other hand, if you're loose embouchure ... playing flat most of the time ... tone still honky ... medium reeds still seem too hard or too open ... then maybe your embouchure needs some extra firming up, strong enough to play for an hour, before using any knife or razor blade to adjust any of your reeds
... although, it's more rewarding to play in tune, so this would mean you'll have to choose to practice reed-fixing to suit embouchure as it is just now, and go through a lot more reeds while you're bringing your embouchure up to par (medium reed / play 1 hour) ... it's a money/learning trade-off decision
... to save money try *** drinking straw exercises *** to speed up the embouchure process ... while you're practicing knife skills on the garden canes mentioned to you in earlier post
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Author: Halcyon440
Date: 2005-07-28 17:21
Gosh I've made a lot of mistakes and am still making them. My most recent oops was that I scraped the tip to an even thinness throughout. I was so proud of having made it very thin for a change. However my teacher said the thinness should have been more tapered. It should have been slightly thicker near the center and thinnest at the end. My reed ended up sounded VERY shrill and chirpy since it was so thin everywhere.
I too overtied one the other day. I also cracked two reeds by putting pressure directly on the center of the reed while trying to thin the tips.
Hilda, adult amateur
"Nobody is ever patently right about music." - Vigil Thomson
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Author: Shelley
Date: 2005-08-13 14:09
Not so much with actually making a reed (I've screwed up every aspect of that) but this is something I still do on rare occasions...
When putting the reed in my mouth, I 'catch' it on my teeth and damage the preciously delicate tip. Then, the swearing begins. This always seems to happen to a really good reed!
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Author: cjwright
Date: 2006-02-07 07:23
My best rookie mistake: 3 months into playing I decided to give my oboe a "bath". I stuck a garden hose in it and turned it on. Well, the oboe definetely came out cleaner! Thank god it was a school instrument, and all repairs were paid by the school district.
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