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Re: I need some help when it comes to playing soft!

Author: oboeblank
Date: 2004-09-15 20:11

I think the other posts were quite good. And helpful. Here is something else you can try when it comes to playing softly.
I'll give you the Tabuteau dynamic diagram. Imagine you have two lines that cross to form an 'X' pattern. The line going from the top left hand of the page going down toward the bottom right hand side we'll label "support". The opposite line we'll label "dynamic". Now at the bottom left hand of the page the dynamic is ppppp, therefore the amount of "support" is going to be very high. [Here support means how hard you hold the air using the diaphragm not how hard you blow.] At the other end you'll notice that the dynamic line is at ffffff, and the support line is very little. So we can boil it all down to-playing softly takes more work than playing loudly.
Now here is something you can try on the oboe.
Get your oboe and play half-hole E flat. Now make decrescendo by blowing less air. Don't do anything else at this point-that is very importnant. You want to find out how little air you have to put through the oboe to make the pitch go flat. Now try it again and as the pitch starts to fall start 'pushing' or 'supporting' with your diaphragm to help keep the pitch up. You will have to engage your embouchure to help filter out the hisses and crackles in the tone, but with some practice it becomes very easy.
Using this method to produce diminuendo helps keep the tone bouyant, vibrant maintaining the correct balance of upper and lower partials in the tone that we have tried so hard to include.
Give it a try, hope it works.
There are many other ways to make diminuendo depending on who you speak to, but this is the way that works for me.

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