Author: vboboe
Date: 2005-10-14 20:47
very interesting question, would much enjoy reading feedback from as many as possible on this one
Clemens oboe primer says that "every instrument has some notes slightly out of tune and must be adjusted ... but on fine instruments, adjustments are so slight (like all of us have very fine instruments, as if?!) ... some areas in playing range out of tune are ... low D down to low B-flat ... generally a bit flat ... (recommendation is) NOT tighten embouchure but slightly raise right thumb towards face ... area from top G to high C is slightly flat ... students tend to overdo embouchure tightening and play sharp here, (recommendation) boost air pressure instead ... also assume 90% notes we play are likely to be sharp so drop more jaw and/or right thumb to compensate"
with that in mind, and also bearing in mind i'm a renewbie, rebuilding an embouchure which is now in transition from very tight (playing very sharp) to loosening up (now able to centre mid-register notes much more easily) i'm finding some notes particularly troublesome
All my F's, especially upper, any fingering, are very unstable; top pipe B-C transition is ugly tonal change issue; G & G# are very sharp compared to F# which is quite easy to centre and upper octave F# is good too
Mid register notes easily centred are generally a lot harder to centre octave up, especially on 2nd octave key up
Also, now i'm practising both 'pitched pips' and sustained long tones to the tuner (to train ear to perfect pitch & train body to get it and hold it spot on), i'm finding a lot depends on which reed i'm using as to how much trouble i have generally for note ranges, or specifically for any particular note.
Some reeds do beautiful mid register but are unpredictable upstairs, and exactly which note they croak on varies reed to reed, some can do high E but not F, some can only do high D but not E-flat (and i have been able to get high G on one dream reed now dead, so it's not just me)
That now dead dream reed (weep for thee, dearly departed) also played A 440 spot on with very little effort, i swear it was beginner's luck in the scrape, have since sharpened knife several times, completely different blade!
When i was starting out, soft & med-soft reeds had nothing at all to give in dynamics, noticed an improvement on mediums but only able to get mf with a bit extra in reserve for ^ sfz boosts
At the moment i'm playing medium hard reeds with tips really thinned down, can't manage a proportionally thicker tip yet, so although the reed responds very well to fortissimo with a bit in reserve, the tips go into shock when trying to oomph sffz during sustained fortes. Meanwhile these reeds have a lovely sound in pp to mf range during domestic practice, which is plenty loud enough, but that disappears into a pipsqueak in the band room
Since i'm sure my body isn't trained enough to be consistent in any of these basic playing techniques, i'd be interested in feedback from more experienced and physically conditioned players in particular to learn what tuning and pitch challenges they continue to have on a regular basis
And, do american scrape reeds have different note range or dynamic challenges different from european or other scrape reeds?
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