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Re: What is the "dark" oboe sound?

Author: RobinDesHautbois
Date: 2010-09-11 11:04

Excellent work Mike!
If you have more work on the matter did you / can you / would you publish a paper? A relationship between words, frequency analyses and characteristic instruments would be amazing. You wouldn't, by any chance, have anything with a Laubin - at least anecdotal comparisons? Some people have also suggested that different makers are more flexible in the tonal variances. My 1985 Loree (standard) allows me to get almost any tone by making reeds differently.... though it tends to prefer the bright.

There remains the problem of vocabulary versus perceived sound. I don't know commonplace people trained to recognize frequency patterns and this is why we use metaphors from painting (or weather or beer!). Talking about square and ellipse only transposes the vocabulary to another set of metaphors for which there is no standard interpretation.... unless one is used to seeing the graphs.

I think the comment about tonal quality versus style of playing merits more attention too. It is true that dark/mellow sound is often (but not always) accompanied with tempered dynamics, sluggish articulation and overall soggy style. Shrill and bright tonal qualities often characterize the players of the 1950s-1970s that would play with such contrast in articulation that it was almost satirical...... we seem to have forsaken those styles, but I often find there is something to learn from them.

I keep saying that I prefer the dark/mellow sounds, but in fact it depends on the repertoire. Again lets contrast the baroque with Transylvanian dances with 1950s jazz with traditional Celtic gigs with modern fusion and so on (or even just what you would want in Smetana in contrast with Haydn). I keep hoping to bring back the baroque sound to the modern instrument because I feel safe that the other sounds are easily obtained and are in no danger of disappearing.

Robin Tropper
M.A.Sc., B.Mus., B.Ed.
http://RobinDesHautbois.blogspot.ca/music

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What is the "dark" oboe sound? new

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2010-09-10 17:10