Author: vboboe
Date: 2005-08-02 03:03
Difficulty with low notes?
-- after checking out the oboe as already recommended for leaky pads or other problems needing adjustment, or oh-no, a crack in the upper joint! some other common reasons lower notes don't speak for beginners are:
... reed isn't moist enough & therefore not flexible enough yet (very common for beginners)
... oboe hasn't been warmed up properly yet (ditto very common)
... not closing or covering upper tone-holes with fingers properly (surprise!)
... pressing fingers inadvertently on other keys in the upper joint, such as the C# or D trills, or the D trill on the lower joint, or the half-hole, or an octave key (yeah)
... moist-enough reed isn't responsive enough for the lower register (usually needs a bit more wood shaving)
... i'm also re-discovering in the mists of many-years-ago forgotten oboe technique legends, lower notes speak better when played nearer tip of the reed, middle notes in the heart of the reed, upper notes further down over the tone windows, and really high notes down on the unscraped wood just above the binding
... all of which are a mere few millimeters adjustment up and down the reed from the half-way point ... and yes, you do need a good reed already
... have to do lip roll-over and roll-out for this (or "nibbling" as i learned it long ago) which is easy enough when you're exercising your lips just on the reed all by itself, but not so easy when it's in the oboe with all that weight below it resting on that right thumb
... so a more practical solution is lift-lower oboe *** just a tad *** using right thumb to push oboe reed deeper into mouth as you go higher, and lower the right thumb so oboe's own weight draws reed out again as you go lower -- it's a tiny adjustment either way *** just a tad ***
... and oh yes! just remembered mouth formations, such as low eh's, mid ah's, upper oh's, high oo's, etc. ... mouthing each of these vowel sounds with lip muscles reshapes mouth cavity as yet another technique (along with adjusting the relative amount of lower lip cushion and upper lip 'bite") to help deal with flatness / sharpness, intonation and, you guessed it, getting the lower notes to speak up
... so try this combination -- push your ha-ha (breath from abs) with mouth shaped for heh-heh-heh nearer the tip of the reed for those low notes and see how that works?
... if you really have to blow a lot harder for the lower notes, check the interior bore to see how glassy smooth and shiny it is ... if it's rough or pebbly or grainy even in small patches ... well, it needs help ASAP.
Start with a careful bore cleaning first to see if it's yucky klingon stuff, and if that doesn't help, consult a repair specialist
... anyway ... vowel mouthing ... low E to low F is usually change-over from "eh" to "ah", usually helps brighten stuffy F's a bit ... such as on this rental YOB411 i'm using, with its definitely dull F resonance key, doesn't help forked F's at all ... sounds much better as forked F with Eb as resonance, which tangential thought methinks doth associate with the next, read on ...
... tried out a wonderfully mellow advanced pro-student Buffet awhile ago, no F resonance key at all, had to play only forked F's ... maybe some oboes out there, even with F resonance key fitted on them, are still bore-tuned harmonically for forked F's using the E-flat key?
Bottom line after meandering through all of above (like some music I'm trying to figure out how to phrase just now!) ... maybe, just maybe, you might have to play your particularly fussy and quirky oboe using E-flat as resonance with forked F to get it?
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