 The Fingering Forum
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Author: TorusTubarius
Date: 2002-12-23 23:41
I was wondering about something. See being an American, when I think of the ideal oboe sound, I think of people like Tabuteau, de Lancie, etc. To me, oboists from other schools of playing (English, French, German, etc.) sound wild and out of control. To me their tone sounds shallow and lacks a singing quality, and their vibrato sounds way too wide and thus distracts from the phrase they're playing.
However, being an open-minded individual, I also understand that I think this because the American sound is what I was brought up to think of as "what an oboe sounds like". So I was wondering what any of you from other countries who post here think of the American oboe sound, for better or worse. Feel free to offer any criticisms, and compare your concept of what the oboe should sound like to how you hear the American sound.
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Author: oboeguy
Date: 2002-12-24 02:53
Everybody has their own style of playing I believe. More so in Canada and U.S. because it isn't as "strict." I don't believe that sounding "american" or "canadian" really applies, because originally, if you think about it, where did all the players stem from? Italy, England, France, etc...So the styles over here are kind of an amalgamation of all of them. However, I do really enjoy the sounds of Canadian and American oboists more than others, not that the others are bad in any way, I just prefer one over the other. For me, it's as if north american oboists almost take the best qualities from each "nationality" of playing and use them to their best abilities. Personally,I believe anyone who plays strictly in the style that stems from where they live, hasn't truly discovered the oboe.
Oboeguy
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Author: TorusTubarius
Date: 2002-12-24 07:38
Well, yeah every player sounds different to a certain degree, but there is a distinct American sound (and Canadian too from what I've heard of Canadian oboists) that contrasts with the sounds you hear in Europe.
You may know all this already, but the American style of playing, also called the Philadelphia School really stems from only one country, France. It all started when Marcel Tabuteau came to America from Paris in 1905 to play in the Philadelphia Orchestra (hence the name Philadelphia School of Oboe Playing). Tabuteau had the year before won the Prix de Rome at the Paris Conservatory after studying with Georges Gillet, who is probably one of the greatest oboists to have ever lived. The sound Americans have now is the sound of Georges Gillet; the French have since abandoned this style of playing in favor of how they sound today.
Tabuteau helped to found the Curtis Institute of Music in 1924, and from there spawned a whole group of oboists who went on to play in the country's major orchestras. Each of these players carried Tabuteau's (and thus Gillet's) sound, and passed this style of playing onto their students and so on and so on. The Tabuteau tradition was thus quickly dessiminated throughout the country (mostly because major orchestras in this country even today will <i>very</i> rarely hire an oboist who does not come from the Philadelphia School), and it is this legacy that we all take part in when we commit to learning to play oboe with the "American sound".
So really, Italy, Germany, and the rest had nothing to do with the way we sound in America; we can trace our oboe heritage if you will back to one man and his student.
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Author: beckee
Date: 2002-12-24 11:41
They actually sound different? how and in what way, the way you play or instruments. I guess i just play the good old english way, or attempt to anyway!
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Author: TorusTubarius
Date: 2002-12-24 13:04
Beckee, oh yeah they sound <i>very</i> different. If you have recordings of any American orchestras, preferably one of the major ones, compare them to recordings you have of English ones. Listen closely to the timbre of each, and you'll begin to notice a distinct difference between the two. It actually does take a while to train your ear; I can remember a time when I couldn't really tell either. But after listening to hundreds and hundreds of recordings, I can now usually tell you what part of the world an orchestra is from just by the way their oboes sound.
English oboes definitely have a different tone than American ones, but their use of vibrato is closer to the American way than say German or Russian oboes. There are many reasons for this difference, not the least of which being the way the reeds are scraped. I am curious by the way; how do you scrape your reeds in the UK?
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Author: Star
Date: 2002-12-26 16:11
Looking at starting to play the oboe in about a year, when i can afford to purchase one. Played saxaphone in highschool and and a bit of oboe. since this post was about different sounds,,could you by chance post or email me some artists i could look into to hear these differences. As a student of Saxaphone i know exactaly what you mean about the different sound, Vibrato and all...
be safe, and and thanks
drevlins@hotmail.com
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Author: Star
Date: 2002-12-26 16:18
Accually , if you could send me or post here any information on the oboe, i would greatly appriciate it. Its always great to see someone that KNOWS the instrument and its history.
be safe
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Author: TorusTubarius
Date: 2002-12-26 22:40
Sorry it was very late when I wrote my first post, two corrections (nit-picky as they may be):
Marcel Tabuteau came to the US in 1905, but didn't play with Philadelphia until 1915. He originally began playing with the New York State Symphony for three seasons, then the Met, then Philly.
He didn't win the Prix de Rome, he won the Primier Prix from the Paris Conservatory.
Star, there are already a lot of extemporaneous dissertations on oboe playing in the older messages on this forum either from me or others (mostly me though lately).
Also, if you want to hear the differences, just pick up some CD's of orchestras from different countries and listen closely to all the oboe parts. Even better would be to get the same piece, like an oboe concerto or something and listen to the renditions of it by oboists from different parts of the world.
In one of the messages just before this one, I made a huge list of good American oboe players for Carolyn that you could start with. Where are you by the way?
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Author: D-Oboe
Date: 2002-12-27 05:04
make sure it's the oboe that you're listening to, not the english horn...hoo boy do some of them ever sound bad.
D-Oboe
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