Author: mschmidt
Date: 2005-07-15 23:21
Oh, thank you for these posts. I've played the oboe off and on for the last 30 years, and the first I heard of "blow-out" was in a newspaper piece in the Portland Oregonian a few years back, where players were being interviewed about their instruments. I thought it sounded pretty wild at the time, but you can't have a very good conversation with a newspaper. Goodness knows I've tried many times.
Recently I was looking at the very page listed in the first post above, and once again had the same reservations. I wrote Paul Covey about my reservations and asked him a few questions, but he hasn't replied.
The history of science is littered with geniuses who understood things very well but were way off base on others. I wouldn't discount Paul Covey's expertise in general based on his organization's repeating a common "myth." Especially since it improves the market for new instruments! Mr. Covey fixed up my old Prestini pretty well back in the early 90's and it seems like he's getting pretty good prices for the instruments he makes. Anyone who makes oboes played by pros ought to know something, I think.
If my comments about the history of science make you wonder, let me just say that I'm a chemistry professor and I know how hard it is to really <i>know</i> anything with a high degree of certainty, even when the number of variables are relatively few and easily controllable. I've often thought about doing "scientific" studies about reeds or oboes, but have given up very quickly. When they make a synthetic robotic embouchre that can be standardized, we may be getting close to beginning to think about standardizing the study of reeds, and from there we might start thinking about oboes. But until then, I take any pronouncement about instruments, reeds, staples, or anything else with a truckload of salt. It's an art, and probably always will be.
Mike
Still an Amateur, but not really middle-aged anymore
|
|
The Oboe BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
