 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2020-09-10 15:48
Open C# can be used on any instrument where LH1 fingerplate opens fully - it's not just a German thing. I've seen an Italian player use the open C# in the opening of the Strauss concerto on a semi-automatic conservatoire system oboe.
There are German spec oboes where the LH1 fingerplate isn't linked to the linkage bar from LH3 to the 8ve mechanism and they can either be set to fully open or can be screwed to barely move as on most oboes.
B-C# is much easier to do simply by lifting LH1 (as on saxes) with the top plate opening fully (or A-C# by lifting LH fingers 1 and 2) and the tone quality of the C# is nearer to that of the B, although C#/Db to D#/Eb is far easier to do with the usual C# fingering (oxx|xxxC#) as you only have to release that to get the D#/Eb which automatically opens while holding the LH Eb key down.
I'm not even sure how playing open C#/Db to upper D#/Eb is easier as it'll be more lumpy and uneven in tone what with the tonal change from bright and lacking substance in the top part of lower register to full and dense in the lower part of the upper register. Yes it's commonly done on saxes, but even so there are fingerings that can be used either using the palm/high keys as a substitution or other fingerings to give the open C# more substance and better tuning next to any upper register note and to make it more fluid than all fingers off for C# to all fingers on for D, Eb, E, etc.
The only note some fully automatic oboes will have trouble with is altissimo F if the G# key isn't linked to the 8ve mechanism where only the lower 8ve vent opens for the F. For some reason, Yamaha have removed that linkage on their more recent fully automatic 400 series oboes and there are plenty of Chinese oboes with fully automatic 8ves that also lack that link from the G# key. It may be a cost cutting measure, but it has significant limitations for the player. Even fully automatic Howarth S20c oboes have that link in a more basic form (a wire soldered to the perforated LH3 fingerplate that's lowered by the G# key as you'd see on older ring key automatics), so it's a relatively easy thing to add to intermediate level oboes without the expense of extra mechanism.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Diego J. Garcia L. |
2020-09-10 03:51 |
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Re: A few questions about full automatic oboes new |
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Chris P |
2020-09-10 15:48 |
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Diego J. Garcia L. |
2020-09-10 22:13 |
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Chris P |
2020-09-10 22:57 |
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Hotboy |
2020-09-16 22:56 |
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Diego J. Garcia L. |
2020-09-27 21:25 |
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The Clarinet Pages
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