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Stuffy half-hole C#

Author: DD
Date: 2018-02-15 08:36

I have been playing the clarinet for some years and am a newcomer to oboe. For those of you who know about clarinet, possibly the worst tone on the clarinet is the throat Bb. It is stuffy, airy and weak. The main reason is that the tone hole has to act as both a register hole (which requires it to be smaller) and the Bb tone-hole. To ameliorate the situation, the cork covering the tone-hole could be sanded into a cone shape so as to reduce air turbulence at the exit of the tone-hole.

Now back to oboe. For me, I find the half-hole C# to be quite stuffy and airy. Even some annoying buzzing sound. It could be improved with a better reed, but still not satisfactory. Then it struck me one day that the problem could be due to air turbulence at the half-hole, similar to the situation in clarinet. The air has to exit a small opening from the pad, and then the shape is suddenly a straight cylinder. I then experimented by covering a piece of tape on top of the half-hole key, using the tip of the ball point pen to stuff the tape inside the hole (so the shape formed by the tape is a cone instead of a cylinder), and punch the middle of the tape to let the air escape. The idea is to allow the air to exit through a smooth passage. It's hard to describe in words but I hope you understand. The result is a much improved C#, less stuffy and definitely no more buzzing sound. And it does not compromise other notes using half-hole. I am planning to use some more permanent material to replace the tape.

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