 The Oboe BBoard
|
Author: ltallas
Date: 2019-01-09 22:55
I have started making oboe reeds. I get to the finishing stage and my reeds play sharp and chirp/ squeak. I tried balancing the tip and clipping. Any thoughts on what csuses squeaks and how can I prevent this from happening. Thanks for your help from someone who finds making a reed to play on, challenging! Lou’s
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: oboist2
Date: 2019-01-10 00:52
Do you have a teacher? Playing sharp may be attributed to other things rather than the reed. Maybe your resistance is too high or the reed opening open and this forces you to play with a tighter embouchure than you are used to. Perhaps your reed length is too short. I have found after many years of making long scrape reeds that if your tip is uneven (a quite common fault made when learning to make reeds, this can cause chirping or squeaking with reeds...so pay special attention to the evenness of the tip. Always keep your bade horizontal to the cane when scraping the tip and make sure your blade has a very good scraping edge, not too much of a burr that can grab or tear the cane unevenly. Keep working on it - you will doubtless make a lot of reeds before you get a good consistency. Also, pay special attention to the blend and make sure your step is not too pronounced. I have found, for myself that an even slope is better than a step.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Hotboy
Date: 2019-01-10 01:57
Sharp reeds will happen because they are too short, too narrow, or too closed up.
Other than that, I cannot advise you because you have not said what kind of cane you are using, whether it is already gouged, shaped, and folded, what length you trim your reeds to, or what length staples you are using.
The problem with chirps almost universally comes from the area where the tip meets the heart. If the center of that location has too much cut away, the reed can chirp. When scraping tip, the best way to scrape is always with your knife at an angle, never parallel with the cut edge.
Dane
Bay Area, California
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: EaubeauHorn
Date: 2019-01-10 22:20
Scraping, unslipping slipped blades, lowers the pitch.
Clipping, slipping the blades, raises the pitch.
From someone else who struggles. I got that far with concepts.
I don't know what a chirp is! I know what a squawk is ... and to me a good reed crows the first C farily easily and then the C an octave down when more air is put though it, air that I would use to actually play. One with pitch that wanders all over the place goes in the trash, for me, because I don't know how to fix that or if it is fixable. I go nuts watching videos on youtube where they just scrape away for a few minutes and bingo have those two Cs. I can't see what they are doing that brings that result.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Hotboy
Date: 2019-01-10 23:35
A "chirp" is an ultra high-pitched noise, approximately an octave above high C (6 leger lines above the staff). It is most common in reeds that have pronounced thick and thin sections and/or a sharp transition from heart to tip.
To the OP, I just recalled something from my early reed-making days. If you scrape the tip of a new reed so that it plays and leave the back virtually unscraped, the resulting sound can be chirpy and sharp. If your reeds are normal length, between 68 and 70 mm long, then you might try scraping the back in the "window" area.
Here's another tip: a technique that works to lower pitch is to scrape the area that connects the spine to the heart...thinning that area that usually makes the reed darker, less resistant, and lowers the pitch.
There are so many possibilities of things you are doing wrong that you really need a teacher in person to see what you're doing.
Dane
Bay Area, California
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ltallas
Date: 2019-01-11 05:00
Thank you Oboist 2 -- I am going to check the tips and be sure they are balanced. and, check out the blend. I do have a teacher but she is so busy I can't get in for a lesson for several weeks. Thanks so much for your suggestions! They will help.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ltallas
Date: 2019-01-11 05:05
Thank you so much for your help. I am using chiarugi staples 47 mm n.2 , glotin gouged and shaped cane. , and I start my reeds at about 73 mm and work from there. I am going to check out the blend and work on that as you suggested. Thanks !
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ltallas
Date: 2019-01-11 05:07
Thanks! I have looked at youtubes too. I think what is best is to have a reed teacher. I am waiting for a lesson but it is a ways off from now. Thnaks for your input. Much appreciated!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: steve1221
Date: 2019-12-11 10:52
As a beginning read maker myself I find it quite frustrating to watch some people scrape scrape poof they get a brand new read that sounds perfect there is however one person on YouTube called the five minute read maker named Janet Ingle she has over 50 videos each approximately five minutes long but tackle just about every tiny little topic on reads they have helped me tremendously.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
