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Re: Blow-Out

Author: wrowand
Date: 2005-07-19 14:59

I have played oboe for over 30 years and have owned many oboes of various brands (Loree, Marigaux, Yamaha) and in my experience, blow-out is a very real phenomenon. The symptoms that I've noticed with older blown-out oboes are:

1. loss of stability in the upper register
2. general loss of resistance throughout the range
3. loss of tone (i.e., loss of what most people find desirable in the tone)

I have no theories on why this might happen and certainly no measurements, but having tried many instruments owned by many different players, oboe blow-out is not at all difficult to recognize. I've also played some very good older instruments (some B and C series Lorees from the '60s and '70s) and I have no idea what keeps an instrument from suffering from blow-out. A good player can still sound good on a blown-out oboe, it's just that he has to work harder to do it.

It really isn't worth debating whether or not it occurs, just try the oboe and if it works well for you then that should be enough. I do suggest trying other, newer instruments every couple of years to make sure that you're not just adapting to a blown-out instrument.
-Woody

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Blow-Out new

Bill_D

2004-06-21 09:32