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

[A.U.K]

Katica, I presume you play a conservatoire system i.e no thumbplate as you mention the C blaring out, are you refering to the C above bottom C? If so, close down the 123 of your right hand and just keep the index finger on the left hand down for C..the right hand closing up the the F#, E and D will stabilise it and make the transistion to the D above the C far easier, quicker and smoother.. You will need to adjust the air flow a bit, step back of it for 2nd Oct C but only a tad just to keep it uniform..

What Keri said about increasing the air flow for the thrid octave is very sound advice, play a scale with a crescendo rather like a singer would, open the throat keep it all very relaxed and let the air through and simply sing the notes out using the Oboe instead of the voice. A Chromatic scale is a great way to work yourself up in steps into the uppper octave and in time you will find that short fingerings are (in fast passages )sometimes the best way to get the hihgest notes..

Low f can be a funny note, my forked low f is stuffy so I add the Eb key and that makes it better, the Left hand F is fine but each Oboe is different..

In the end it all boils down to what works on your particular Oboe, and I think you will find that most Oboists have little tricks and add on fingerings that work for them..

Andrew

[Roseau]

Katica, I presume you play a conservatoire system i.e no thumbplate as you mention the C blaring out, are you refering to the C above bottom C? If so, close down the 123 of your right hand and just keep the index finger on the left hand down for C..the right hand closing up the the F#, E and D will stabilise it and make the transistion to the D above the C far easier, quicker and smoother.. You will need to adjust the air flow a bit, step back of it for 2nd Oct C but only a tad just to keep it uniform..

Experiment with which fingers to put down to stabilise the C. On my Marigaux, you needed just the third finger of the right hand (ie D) and (depending on the reed) sometimes just resting it on the key rather than actually pressing it down was sufficient. One of the nice things about the XL is that the C is not noticeably different to the other notes.

Low f can be a funny note, my forked low f is stuffy so I add the Eb key and that makes it better, the Left hand F is fine but each Oboe is different..

This was true of my Marigaux but again the XL has a forked F which sounds exactly the same as the other F. (This was one of the things which most impressed my teacher).

Katica, I think there is probably something wrong with the way your oboe is adjusted if the left F sounds different to when you play it using the F key with your right hand, since whether you use your left or right hand to play it, exactly the same keys are open in exactly the same way.

As for harmonics, I use them in windbands as well occasionally. They are actually quite good for practising breath support as if you're not supporting them properly they won't come out. Have you tried alternating long notes with the harmonic fingering and the normal fingering and trying to keep the breath support identical for both. One of the things my teacher told me to check when chosing an oboe was that the harmonic fingerings and normal fingerings were in tune with each other.

[Arundodonuts]

Katica, I think there is probably something wrong with the way your oboe is adjusted if the left F sounds different to when you play it using the F key with your right hand, since whether you use your left or right hand to play it, exactly the same keys are open in exactly the same way.

I would tend to agree with kerioboe. Make sure the LH F key is opening the side vent as fully as the RH F key.

One of the nice things about the XL is that the C is not noticeably different to the other notes.

the XL has a forked F which sounds exactly the same as the other F.

2 very good reasons to save up for an XL then. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)