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Re: Upper Register Tone Quality

Author: sömeone
Date: 2004-04-01 12:09

That is very normal. As long as you are sure about your basics on embouchure and air pressure control, the higher register after G might not sound as bad as u think. Because i dont have the money for a better oboe, i am also playing a yamaha 411 (previous model). I've been playing 2 years now and thankfully for the past few months i've been getting a constant supply of reeds from a player from the west malaysia. I never had a true teacher, but i managed to attend masterclasses now and then.

Try this. Play a simple mid concert G on your oboe. Click the register key to let it sound the upper G. With the similarly minimal and balanced pressure (just a bit more than the lower g, and more air pressure) on the embouchure, the tone shouldn't be all that bad. Repear the same exercise on a chromatic pattern from the mid G to mid C. All of course on long tones. They are well executed both with or without vibrato. The exercise promotes good habit in balancing pressure from the both the diaphragm(air) and embouchure.

If you are still skeptical about your tone, have someone whom has good ears to listen it out. Rather, try another method (this is not as necessary but it is one way that pros use to suit and cope with conductors' needs). There are other keys that you can add to your basic fingering to add warmth to the upper register. This practically means that vibrato is NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT. It is a technique well worth learning but not excessively used. Check out the following link for more info on vibrato:

http://test.woodwind.org/oboe/BBoard/read.html?f=10&i=380&t=380

Anyways, about the fingering thing. You can check out the Menuhin guide on oboe book by Goosens for the relative needs of yours. Because there is too much you can try i'll just give you some examples. For instance, standard high A fingering with additional low left Bb key, Eb key, and right hand -,2,3 gives a richer and rather woody quality. Try the same fingering as above but this time without Eb key, this will sound rather mellow.
So as you can see the options are wide. Experiment with these or better yet look for the book i told you for more. Good luck.

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