 The Oboe BBoard
|
Author: ceri
Date: 2007-09-07 20:41
On another forum two students have said that their teachers say they can either lift or slide their left hand first finger. My teacher has insisted right from the beginning that I always use the half-hole except in the odd piece of music which has involved a slur from mid to low D.
Who is right?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2007-09-07 21:06
How would you "use the half-hole" other than by rolling or sliding onto and off of it? I've never heard of "lifting" as a method of utilizing the half-hole.
I guess I'm not sure what you're getting at here.
Susan
Post Edited (2007-09-07 21:07)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-09-07 23:15
It depends if the top plate opens fully or is screwed down so it only just moves. In the UK we normally have the top plate screwed almost shut so we normally lift LH 1 instead of rolling down to uncover the diamond.
On cors with the split top plate, the lower part controls the pad and we normally have that screwed almost closed. But most French oboes don't have the screw adjustment on their cors, so it's normal to have an adjusting screw fitted to French cors sold in the UK (or find the player wedges the top plate closed with a piece of cork).
The amount the top plate is screwed down depends on the size of the diamond aperture - there's more movement if the diamond is small as opposed to it beign screwed almost closed if the diamond is large (eg. Selmer Bundy oboes have a huge diamond).
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
Independent Woodwind Repair Specialist
Oboes, Clarinets and Saxes
NOT A MEMBER OF N.A.M.I.R.
The opinions I express are my own.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bobo
Date: 2007-09-08 03:00
I also screw my half-hole almost shut. I find that lifting the finger facilitates hitting high D or even E in some situations (e.g. slurring up from high B or A) and I find that having the half-hole shut also makes my high C# play more in tune (the lower the key, the less sharp the C#). Also, less movement of that key makes playing alt high C# (left octave plus F) easier to hit somehow. Other than that, I don't lift, I rock.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: HautboisJJ
Date: 2007-09-08 07:07
Chris...so to once again seek for your guidance, if i want to lift my first finger for EVERYTHING that is 'supposively' half-holed, and seek an easy attack on high C#, D etc, what should be the appropriate specification for the size of the diamond hole and the height of the top plate? My oboe is currently under overhaul and the repairman has told me that i will able to do whatever adjustments necessary if i want to.
Howard
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-09-08 10:39
The top plate adjustment is personal, and one of the adjustments the player makes so the oboe responds how they want it to.
Generally it's set so there's only a very small amount of movement in it (barely anything - like a 3rd 8ve), but you may have to find the amount of venting which works for yourself - and as it's a screw adjustment on an unconnected key it's easy to get it right without putting anything else out.
As for the size of the diamond, that's set by the maker and will vary between makes so there's no specific size (and it's not an easy thing to measure). Some people prefer the aperture filled in with wax right to the surface of the fingerplate and put a 1mm round hole through it (using a heated needle spring).
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
Independent Woodwind Repair Specialist
Oboes, Clarinets and Saxes
NOT A MEMBER OF N.A.M.I.R.
The opinions I express are my own.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: HautboisJJ
Date: 2007-09-08 14:03
3 weeks ago, i did an experiment with the repairmen (whilst doing an emergency covering of a smal check which luckily was not a crack), we made the diamond hole smaller and the height of the top plate lower. High register was easy and in tune, middle c# and d was pure enough and good. After a week, all my half hole notes began to stop responding well. Upon the repairman's inspection when i finally got it back to him for a full overhaul, he said that the hole has indeed become smaller because the wax he used seem to have collapsed a bit. Since it is something so personal as you describe it to be, i think i will sit there at his shop for one day after the overhaul just to make everything perfect.
Howard
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bobo
Date: 2007-09-08 15:18
another tip from personal experience...grab a damp Qtip occasionally (swab in UK?), twist the end to a point, and clean out the half hole. It tends to fill with gunk over a long period of time.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-09-08 17:58
Q-tips are usually called 'cotton buds' or 'baby buds' in the UK.
I use them for this job of degunkifying the top plate aperture, but pull some cotton wool off and wind it round a small screwdriver tip, dip it in alcohol and this fits in the hole and cleans the base out leaving it all shiny. And an old clarinet reed chopped into slices will do the same job with cotton wool and a bit of alcohol (methylated spirits), and also clears the diamond if any gunk gets in it.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
Independent Woodwind Repair Specialist
Oboes, Clarinets and Saxes
NOT A MEMBER OF N.A.M.I.R.
The opinions I express are my own.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: vboboe
Date: 2007-09-08 23:47
... don't all new oboes come already adjusted so the uncovered or covered half-hole (B key) cap in fully up position sounds the same note as cap down with half-hole open? Are there some new instrument makes or models that don't work like that?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Chris P
Date: 2007-09-09 00:22
If I finish a full Gillet conservatoire system oboe or cor destined for the US or Europe, I leave the top fingerplate to fully open, so it's really up to the player to adjust it to how they want it. Some European players like the option of an open C# (with all fingers off) which is why I leave it fully flapping.
But on thumbplate and dual system oboes I have the top plate screwed down so it barely moves as that's how UK players generally have it set.
On fully automatic oboes (for Germany and East Europe) where LH 3 lowers the top plate via the bridge linked to switch over the auto 8ve mechanism, I set this up so when LH 1 is lifted, the top plate barely opens (as I'd set up the top plate on a dual/TP system) while LH 3 remains down. The top plate is free to open fully whilst LH 3 is lifted or the G# key is closed.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
Independent Woodwind Repair Specialist
Oboes, Clarinets and Saxes
NOT A MEMBER OF N.A.M.I.R.
The opinions I express are my own.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: jhoyla
Date: 2007-09-11 13:27
I keep the half-hole screwed down almost completely. When I raise my finger it goes up a tiny fraction, but it is difficult to put a cigarette-paper feeler into the space thus formed. Raising my finger for 1st octave during fast passages works, but I roll for better sound quality and intonation at normal speeds. I raise my finger for Altissimo register, and the extra bit of venting lets the notes speak a little more easily.
When I got my new Loree a year ago, I noticed that there was a diamond-shaped aperture on the LH 1st finger key. Strange, I thought, since on my 30-yr old old Marigaux Strasser it was just a round hole.
I had long been in the habit of half-hole-ing less for C# than for other notes, simply because is sounded less "breathy" that way. Maybe this will fix it, thought I.
Not clever enough to think of wax, I took the key off, and pressed a sliver of cork into the back of the round hole in the cork, turning the hole into a vertical slit.
Wonderful. It works beautifully!
Having a brand-new well-adjusted oboe with which to compare, I was able to make some other small-but-telling adjustments to my Marigaux, which is now playing better than it has in years.
J.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: wrowand
Date: 2007-09-11 15:31
I think most american oboists use the adjustment screw on the first finger plate to tune the high C#, since that is the only note for which the usual fingering includes lifting the first finger of the left hand.
Some Rigoutat oboes have a high-C#-to-D trill mechanism that closes the left hand first finger plate when the right hand first finger is lifted so that you finger high-C# and just trill the first finger of the right hand. I think I've seen this mechanism advertised by Yamaha as well but I've never seen a Yamaha that included it.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
