Author: sömeone
Date: 2005-11-03 04:04
I guess so....
Yes one good teaching i learnt years ago, was that it's important to not apply differentiation into every note you play on the oboe (actually it does apply to every wind instrument.). Yes it's true that the oboe has almost sort of different timbre is every note, and we are trying to technique wise balance the whole range of the oboe, but when we over do it (which was what happened to me.) it will become more of a problem than solution.
ohsuzan wrote:
> You are likely right, that each note does have its own
> "character" -- and what we do when we play a piece, is to
> create an illusion of "line" by making subtle (eventually
> automatic) adjustments in breath and embouchure as we move from
> pitch to pitch.
Right on. Subtle is VERY VERY VERY LITTLE. So as to phrase beautifully one must not consider too much of tonal adjustment in every note, destroying the musical sense of the piece itself. And for beginners, it's actually quite devastating, i don't if it happened to any of you here, but it did me.
Was me years ago, no teacher, no forum, no nothing, trying to make something out of the oboe. And every note sounded different to me. So i tried to tell myself (my band director told me that it's NORMAL for every note to have a different timbre and for problems to arise in intonation in the whole range and so on, like the topic we discussed earlier on.) that i should adjust everything i have (a.k.a trinity factor) to balance the whole register. This in turn, in fact, from the starting, so badly pitched me got even worst everyone was looking at me like i was a flower on a piece of poo. The benifit from all that blind work was that my pitch perception became better, and i was more sensitive with pitch, but the down side of it was that all my bad habits started raging in, and i had no idea.
So stick with hearing and concentration as a tool to your practise. Judge by tone and musicality in practise. Do so even in scales. (scales are the most simple and beautiful form of music anyways.) And do listen to as much recordings as you can get, not just oboe recordings but good orchestral or chamber. Developing relative pitch is very very important. And experimentation should be very cautious. You don't really have to change something technical in every note, but always achieve the musical side of it, sing with your instrument, and i suppose things will improve.
That 'line' idea is very important in playing. It applies to everything. One line in the air. Crescendos, Diminuendos, they occur everywhere. Do play a line in everything. Air has to be focused on a straight line. Air 'pulled out' of the instrument it is in a straight line. Linear playing is good phrasing.
Never ending challenges of the oboe!
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