Where Are All The Oboists These Days? Options

[A.U.K]

Lordy Lord it seems that all the Oboe threads have vanished in my absence..I see there are a couple one about reeds (no surprise there then.. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) ) and one by Notmusicmum about Dynamics but all the Oboe ones seem to have vanished..

I have been on my travels recouperating after a long spell in Hospital, having collapsed at the IDRS last summer in Birmingham on the first evening can you believe it..I wound up in Birmingham city Hospital and then got shipped off a few days later to West Bromwich with my Oboe and Cor in their double case..I would like to add that my dear friend Marsha Burkett a lovely American Oboist came completely to my rescue and ran back and forth to the hospital with messages and gifts from so many of the performers and companies with CD's etc, their genrosity and kindness astounded me..Thankfully I lived to tell the tale but it was a bad time..

So its nice to be back online I thought I would stop by and say hello..I hope everyone is well and enjoying their music making. See you all soon..

Andrew

[notmusimum]

I think it's a problem with Grade 8 scales where the notes won't come out. It's F# particularly. Unless of course anyone knows alternative fingerings that might help on an S40.

It seems there is no rush but just now is a good time for us to beg for funding.

What's the difference between the S5 and the XL? I'm sure one of you brain boxes will have the answer (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[Roseau]

I think it's a problem with Grade 8 scales where the notes won't come out. It's F# particularly. Unless of course anyone knows alternative fingerings that might help on an S40.

It seems there is no rush but just now is a good time for us to beg for funding.

What's the difference between the S5 and the XL? I'm sure one of you brain boxes will have the answer (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

I thought the S40 had a 3rd octave key? I use two different fingerings for F# depending on what notes are before or after.
Either like an A with the C key in the right-hand and the 3rd octave key.
Or just the first finger in the left hand, 2nd and 3rd fingers in the left hand and G# and Eb keys (either left or right hand) and 3rd octave key.

If she has got a 3rd octave key, adjusting the key can help but I suggest she asks her teacher rather than trying to do it herself (also her teacher can check it is a problem with the oboe and not with Emsoboe before making any adjustments).

Reasons why the top notes won't come out include:
- lack of breath support
- too slow an air-stream
- tensing up and biting down on the reed,
- a not very good reed

Things I found helped:
- learning an even higher note (that way the one before seems easier)
- playing a chromatic scale up to the note with a huge crescendo (gets the air-stream moving faster)
- doing an exercise first to make sure my throat is open
- playing the passage down an octave and then at the correct octave making sure I can feel the same open sensation in my throat.

The biggest difference between the S5 and the XL for me was the responsiveness of the XL to changes in the air-stream. This gives it a huge dynamic range (but, as I mentioned in an earlier post, can make it feel unstable). I'm not sure that I can be terribly precise about the rest but basically it is smoother to play (both in the way the keys move and in its tone).

That said, before I went to Howarths I wrote and asked them what the difference was (if I can find their e-mail I'll send it to you) but one of the things the said was that some people prefer one and some prefer the other.

[notmusimum]

I thought the S40 had a 3rd octave key? I use two different fingerings for F# depending on what notes are before or after.

If she has got a 3rd octave key, adjusting the key can help but I suggest she asks her teacher rather than trying to do it herself (also her teacher can check it is a problem with the oboe and not with Emsoboe before making any adjustments).

Reasons why the top notes won't come out include:
- lack of breath support
- too slow an air-stream
- tensing up and biting down on the reed,
- a not very good reed

Thanks for that.

Pushpull is correct Emsoboe's S40 doesn't have a third Octave key.

It is some quirk with the Oboe rather than a technical problem. Both of her teachers (actual teacher and her deputy) have tried it, one could get it with difficulty the other struggled.

Emsoboe has tried both their Oboes and can get it on them, so not a personal technical issue.

Her actual teacher has tried to adjust the oboe but it makes no difference and infact makes things worse.

They have been trying different reeds too and nothing makes it reliable.

Pushpull that is the fingering she uses sadly but thanks anyway.