The Oboe BBoard

The Oboe BBoard The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Re: Trill fingerings

Author: Chris P
Date: 2023-01-04 02:54

If the trill fingerings are massively out of tune, then you would need to have it checked and altered to make them better. Regardless if it's a pro level Loree, Rigoutat, Howarth, Marigaux, etc., the trill fingerings should apply across the board as they're all Gillet conservatoire models which was the system first introduced by Loree in the early 1900s and has become the universal standard (except for some regions like Austria). Each maker may have their own slight differences when it comes to the tunings of certain notes and trills and some makes may work better than others.

For most part, the trill fingerings aren't always spot on in tune compared to the standard fingering for the trilled note - eg. if you play an Ab-Bb trill, the Bb may not be dead in tune with the standard Bb fingering because of how it's produced.

Most of the trills using the perforated fingerplates on the main action (D#-E, G#-A, Ab-Bb) are creating the upper note of the trill by diminishing the ventings to bring that note down to pitch, so that's going to create some problems in itself in terms of the tone quality and tuning of the upper note. If the upper note is sharp, the perforartions can be filled in with beeswax to bring the upper note down to pitch (and the tone quality will suffer) and if the upper note is flat, the aperture can be enlarged and that involves removing metal which s best done by a specialist.

Mid stave B-C#, C-C#/Db and C-D trills involve the trill keys and fairly often the C-C#/Db may be on the sharp side as the lower trill tonehole has to serve two trills. If the C-D trill is sharp or flat, then the upper trill tonehole needs addressing. Upper Eb-F often has the F being on the sharp side as the Eb key is held down (played as Eb with the 1st 8ve key and trilling RH finger 2 for the forked F - 8ve1 xxx|x+xEb). The trills that shouldn't be a problem are low B-C# and then C#/Db-D#/Eb, F#-G# and Bb-C and any other simple trill in both lower and upper registers.

Let us know what trills and trill fingerings you're using and are having trouble with.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics