 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: ClariTone
Date: 2006-07-14 19:48
Hello Again!!!
I tried doing a search but didn't come up with any relevant information. My new reeds that I bought have what the maker called "windows". I can see these windows on the reed, and wonder what their function is. Do you play reeds w/ windows differently than those without windows (i.e. beginner reeds)?
Also can anyone describe or point me to a source/thread that describes what the difference is between American Scrape reeds and other scrapes/beginner reeds.
Thanks!!!
Clayton
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2006-07-14 21:31
Hi Clayton --
I hope someone will be able to point you to a site that has pics of the various reed types. I've got a couple of good schematics, but don't know where they came from (definitely online, so keep looking).
EDIT: http://www.public.asu.edu/~schuring/Oboe/diagram.html
From what I know, there are short scrapes (German?) and long scrapes (French, American), and U-shaped, and W-shaped, and probably as many hybrids of these as there are possible combinations.
The American scrape is a long, W-shaped scrape, meaning that at the lower part of the reed above the thread, you will find two "scallops" that give the overall appearance of a W. Each side of the W is scraped or carved, removing more or less of the bark of the cane, but leaving an unscraped center spine and side rails. The scraped parts are the parts of the reed commonly referred to as the "windows".
Above the windows, there is an unscraped, or very lightly scraped, thicker section (about half the height of the windows, in my experience) called the heart. Too heavy a heart, and the reed won't vibrate. Too thin, and it is raucous.
Above the heart, where the reed starts to slope down to the tip, is called the "blend". This is where you adjust if the reed seems too resistant to the breath. Less slope = easier blowing. You might notice that the blend is more or less an upside down V, with the sides and edges of the tip noticeably thinner than the center. According to my teacher (who, with her husband, makes the darn best reeds I have ever played), it is the gradation between these sides (I call the them "ears") and the center of the tip that makes a reed sound dark and mellow.
I also believe that the depth of the windows influences the color of the reed tone. As one reedmaker I know put it, you have to have "light" (windows) in order to get dark (tone). I've taken a reed that was good except for being too bright, scraped out the windows more, and ended up with a really nice-sounding reed. Scraping out the windows of a finished reed that is playing at pitch risks making the reed flat, so you have to learn the trade-offs.
There are also American Scrape reeds that have TWO sets of windows -- the second, somewhat shallower, set carved out of the heart.
I like what Martin Schuring says on his ASU site -- reed-making is always a compromise. When you remove cane from the windows, you make it flatter and darker. When you remove cane from the heart, you make it sharper and brighter. You could probably whittle away at a reed forever, trying to get a perfect balance -- and by then, there would be nothing left to blow into.
Susan
Post Edited (2006-07-14 21:34)
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Author: d-oboe
Date: 2006-07-14 22:22
I would just like to point out that American scrape reeds are no more, or no less "beginner" than other types of scrapes. A reed is called "beginner" when it's machine-made, or bulk-made.
"Windows" do not determine the quality of the reed. They are a characterstic of long-scraped (American) reeds. What is a long scrape? Well, it has three main components, from tip to string:
1. Tip - thinnest
2. Heart - thickest
3. Back (windows!) -thicker than tip, thinner than heart.
The tip is the thinnest and smooths into the heart with what is called blend/slope.
The heart is generally a little more roughly seperated from the back, but still has blend. the back is thinnest just under the heart, and gradually gets thicker, towards the string (and the unscraped bark at the bottom)
French and German style reeds - or really almost all European reeds- are short scraped. The American reed evolved from the French scrape, popularized by Marcel Tabuteau.
What is a short scrape? It is a much simpler reed, but is still equally functional. It's essentially a tip - that's it. There is no thick heart, but a gradual slope from the tip to about halfway - or less - down the reed.
In terms of playing these reeds, long-scraped reeds tend to be played at the tip, while short scrape reeds are played more "in."
I would also suggest that if you are trying to really improve, seek out handmade professional reeds, regardless of scrape type. (However, the widely accepted sound in North America is the sound produced by long-scraped reeds)
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Author: d-oboe
Date: 2006-07-16 18:19
"When you remove cane from the windows,
you make it flatter and darker. When you remove cane from the
> heart, you make it sharper and brighter. You could probably
> whittle away at a reed forever, trying to get a perfect balance
> -- and by then, there would be nothing left to blow into."
The one thing that I would say is that heart scraping is probably the fastest way to *drop* pitch, rather than raise it. If the reed is really out of balance, then perhaps it might raise it, but in the final adjustments, it will almost always go down.
"You have to have light windows to get dark tone." I think that is only partially true. I think the reed must be stable (important) and must resist comfortably (more important!) to the breath in order to sound and feel dark when played. In following that principle, I keep relatively thick windows. I find that if I thin the tip way down, and balance the heart to that, I only have to scrape the back enough so that it is proportional to the heart, and so that low notes open up and resonate. In doing this not only do I have better control when adjusting reeds, I get better response, without sacrificing resistance, or pitch. Reeds with bad resistance (too soft or too hard) generally have:
-difficult attacks (thuddy and hard) or,
-unreliable attacks. (soft and squawky - like when you go to play a low C loudly and it jumps the octave. The reed should be built so that one can play low notes both softly and loudly)
I do like what you said about the constant whittling, and then "having nothing left to blow into." I have a few colleagues who will continue adjusting and adjusting their reeds, just so they can play a perfect pppppp, but then they can't play any louder than that!
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