“It has to do with the cane I buy, the gouge of that cane, the way I tie it on, and the subsequent opening of the finished reed. I bought rigoti cane from our local double reed shop, Forrests in Berkieley, and found my reeds were so open I had to have lips of steel to clamp them shut so I could play. Then I discovered Weber Reeds and have been buying my cane from them. And even though I have bought his smallest diameter (using two diameters of gouge 9.5 and 10), as well as his widest of three widths, thinking that reeds made from this would have the largest opening. Low and behold, I can make good, playable reeds from this cane (Grimaud premium), but they still tend to close up too much and play too weakly as a result, no matter how much I soak them in warm water or squeeze them more open between passages.”

There are several reasons why reeds close up too much when we start playing on them and the main one is that there is simply too much biting being done by the embouchure. This can actually be caused by the reed being too open from the start, so the first place to look is how does the reed start out. If the reed is too open, you can try and close it down a bit by putting the plaque in and squeezing a tiny bit. Reeds naturally close down a bit when played on anyway. Now, if the opening is fine from the start and you are not biting the reed, then you can actually start to see if there is anything being done in the scraping stage that is causing the reed to loose too much of its structure.

The first thing you can check is trying to make your tips shorter and more separate from the heart at the back corners, bringing them back a bit more instead of straight across the tip. The sides of the tip can almost always be thinner. Also, try and leave more in the heart area and most importantly do not scrape off the rails of the back and heart. These will help keep the reed open and along with the heart give the reed the feeling of having some “spring” in it. Although the spine is very important, too much of it will keep the reed from vibrating. My students have the problem of sometimes scraping the heart and back too much along the sides to try and get it to vibrate, only ending up killing the reed and making it unvibrant and closed. Do not be afraid to scrape the back, but make sure the upper back is thinner than the back of the back. Too much out there will also weaken the reed.

As far as diameter of the tube cane used, I prefer 10-10.5mm which gives me a better opening. You can also try a slightly narrower shape also, however depending where you are geographically and the altitude at which you are making reeds this may not be too much of an option. I play at around 9000 feet so there are many good narrower shapes that don’t work very well up here.

Do not keep the plaque in the reed for too long a period of time while scraping on it as this too will weaken the sides and cause them to separate, not good. The last thing you can try is to make your reeds over several days instead of all at once. This has helped me a great deal.

I hope this helps and I will try and think of some more things on this subject. I would love to know what all of you think so leave a comment down below.

Enjoy!

Here is a program on demand that features Albrecht Mayerand the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

Here are the  details

Program details:

Hindemith: Kammermusik No. 1, Op. 24

Mozart: Andante for Oboe and Orchestra in C Major, K. 315

Bach: Concerto in A Major, BWV 1055

Andrew Norman: Apart, Together (Project 440 commission, World Premiere)

Haydn: Symphony No. 103 in E-flat Major, “Drumroll”

A thank you to Delmar Williams for the info:

http://www.wqxr.org/#/articles/live-broadcasts/2011/dec/03/orpheus-chamber-orchestra-pushing-boundaries-2011/

Go check out this article on www.philly.com. It is all about the Curtis Institute and I found it very interesting. Have a look.

Image via Wikipedia

Cover of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Here is the latest from Delmar…Thanks

The Mozart is the first piece, and the Britten is the first piece after intermission.

ON DEMAND audio for 30 days until Dec. 22: F. Leleux plays Mozart Oboe Quartet and Britten Phantasy Quartet.

http://sites.radiofrance.fr/francemusique/_c/php/emission/popupMP3.php?e=80000056&d=425005176

l
Wolfgang-Amadeus Mozart
Quatuor en Fa majeur K.370 (1781)

Serge Prokofiev
Sonate N°1 en Fa mineur Op.80 (1938,1946)

Benjamin Britten
Phantasy Op.2 (1932)

Wolfgang-Amadeus Mozart
Sonate N°42 en La majeur K.526 (1787)

Lisa Batiashvili, Violon
François Leleux, Hautbois
Sebastian Klinger, Violoncelle
Guy Ben Ziony, Alto
Milana Chernyavska, Piano

Can you have a good responding reed with a lot of resistance? Yes. The thing is, resistance is a very personal thing. What is considered the perfect amount of resistance for me, may be too hard or too soft for you.

So let’s say you have what feels like a pretty good reed. Try this test:

Play a middle “G” very softly without using the tongue for the attack. Remember to play “piano” and just let the note come out. If the reed responds well, it should come out smooth and beautiful. If it honks out and you hear very strange sounds, there is a problem with the basic response of the reed.

Image via Wikipedia

This test not only shows me what is happening to the response, it is giving me information about how the tip of the reed is balanced. The vibrations start at the very tip, so if this is not the thinnest part of the reed, you are in trouble.

The second aspect of response is what I like to call (and I can’t take credit for calling it this) “the fast response”. I want enough resistance to blow against, but if it gets too much, the notes won’t come out nicely. I like to check this with a variety of soft and loud dynamics using different notes in different registers. I want the notes to come out without any effort and without any cracking of the sound.

This part of the response in my opinion, is affected most by the transition from the tip to the heart. If that area is too heavy proportionally, the fast response will feel “thuddy” “bulky”
Kind of the “bull in a china shop” feel. sometimes it feels like you are swimming in a pool with somebody’s finger pushing up against your forehead.

To fix this, make sure the opening of the reed is not too big. Then adjust the transition from the heart to the tip.

Ok, now that we have that fixed, it is time for the real response test. Play some low “C’s” and “C#’s” with fast sixteenth notes. They should all come out very clearly. If they don’t, first make sure you are not biting the reed. If everything is ok with your lips and air, look at the reed and see what the crow says. Check the end and corners of the tip of the reed to make sure that they are the thinnest parts. After that, check the integration from the heart to the tip.

Don’t forget also that a small bit taken out of the back of the reed can do wonders. If the crow drops, make sure to clip it back. Everything is give and take, or “balance”.

I hope these suggestions work. It is very important that every note sounds when you want them to sound, not when the reed wants them to.

Good luck

http://www.wclv.com/page.php?pageID=64

CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA
8:00 PM ET
Severance Hall
The Cleveland Orchestra
Ton Koopman, conductor
Teresa Wakim, soprano

BACH – Brandenburg Concerto No. 1
BACH – Cantata No. 202
(Wedding Cantata)
BACH – Sinfonia, from BWV209
BACH – Sinfonia, from BWV42
BACH – Suite No. 3 in D major

So with that little disclaimer in mind, here is a small list of oboe and oboe related books available.

The first step in balancing a reed is to make sure the crow is up to a “C”. If it isn’t, clip the reed. I prefer using single edged razor blades for this. You get a much cleaner cut.

Ok, you have a reed that is crowing a “C” and with a good opening. The first thing to understand is the three basic things you want in a reed.

Response

Stability

Pitch

Check to make sure the ends and corners of the tip are as thin as you can make them. It the edge gets feathered, clip it a bit.

Try the reed in the oboe starting the notes without the tongue. Only use your air. If you hear that the notes don’t speak cleanly, and you have kind of a “eeeeaaawwww” attack to the start of the note, that means that the transition between the tip and the heart needs some work.

The photo below shows were to check:

If everything looks good, but the reed is still unresponsive or very hard, take the heart down a bit. Clip the reed again to maintain the “c” crow.

Now you can take a bit out of the back to give some more depth to the sound. Whenever you scrape the back of an oboe reed, go slowly and always check the crow. If it drops, clip it.

Remember the key word with all of this. . . Balance.

There are no set rules to how thick certain parts of oboe reeds should be. Many factors affect the way the reed works. For more information, sign up for the Making Oboe Reeds Newsletter and receive new tips every month.

If you would like more detailed information on this topic and many many others, take a look at the “Making Oboe Reeds” E-book.

That being said, I can hear you asking, “What is a good crow, and what should I be listening for?”

The answer to the first part is simple.

2 octave “C’s”. No other pitches or noises. Some people prefer 3 octave “C’s”. The main point is that the crow is clean and not flat.

For me, there are two crow tests that I find useful. The first one is to put the oboe reed in my mouth past the thread, and blow very lightly. You should hear the first octave “C” come in.

When you do, increase your air a bit and let the second octave come in. Blow a bit more, and maybe a third octave will sound.

If you hear any other noises or pitches sounding, you must adjust the reed. Always start by making sure the crow is up to pitch.

One other way to see if the pitch crow is fine, is to put the reed in your mouth in a playing position. Tongue the reed and listen for the crow. If the reed is flat, this crow will be lower than a “C”. Clip the reed until the crow reaches C in this position.

If the reed is a bit hard afterward, adjust it. Be aware that this might raise the thread crow to around a “C#”. Not a big problem. Many of my best reeds crow that.

Learn to listen to the crow for your information. Your reeds will improve dramatically.