Author: d-oboe
Date: 2004-07-05 06:03
Well really there is only two distinct categories of reeds: bright and dark. The american scrape, being created by Marcel Tabuteau, is a french reed with less contrast between the tip and heart, and more contrast between the heart and back. If you look at the profile of an "american" reed, you'll see that the tip to heart blend is very gradual, without very much of a bump at all. This produces more vibration, but since much more is taken out of the back, the resulting contrast tones down the vibrations. That is how a "dark" sound is achieved. I wouldn't really consider the european reeds to be called "dark." German reeds I would call "reedy". The german type emphasizes the tip vibrations quite a bit, and the French seems to be the same except without the reedy sound, and has a much longer tip.
Although I'm biased, I prefer the long-scrape of reeds. I've played on both german and french reeds, and I find french reeds don't allow the player as much control with the lips, and german reeds tend to have intonation problems in the lower registers, because so much bark is left on the lower part of the reed.
The long scrape allows the vibrations travel almost the entire length of the reed, with appropriate "control devices" in place to keep the pitch and vibrations in check (i.e the spine in the back). Again I find this allows for a more even tone color throughout the ranges of the instrument, not honky low notes, normal middle notes, and dentist-drill high notes.
Regardless of the tone, however, a reed should always have: response, pitch, tone quality, and stability. It's important to have two, or even even three clean octaves in the crow of a reed, to allow for evenness of tone throught the entire register of the oboe.
Those are my thoughts!
D-oboe
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