Oboe Focus, Reed Focus, and Vibrations

Wednesday August 27 2008

I’m beginning to form this theory in my mind after using my CI72 Loree (reamed out by Weber), the Howarth XL, Peter Hurd’s brand new Hiniker oboe (which is perhaps the finest oboe on the market, possibly the finest I’ve ever played), and my experiences with Barbara the Royal.

There are different kinds of reeds, and different kinds of oboes; the ones that focus sound into a projecting, piercing core (DM bore Lorees and older models, Coveys, Laubins, regular bore Lorees to some degree), and there are reeds and oboes that shoot sound straight out of them (AK Lorees, Marigaux’s, Yamahas). Part of this also has to do with the player themselves, and how they choose to use their air/focus it, but a lot of it also has to do with reed/oboe too.

Both the Hiniker and the CI72 Loree are very focused oboes, the CI72 being the most focused of all of the listed oboes. The purpose of this instrument is to help the vibrations focus and channel while projecting out of the instrument in a very tight core. I’ve been accused of having a piercing sound, to a fault (I believe my friend Helena called me “da caccia-ish”) which in my opinion is 80% good, 20% not so good. Recently, when comparing our oboes at the Northwest Oboe Seminar, Kathy Apland and I both agreed that her E-series Loree wasn’t quite as focused as mine, where as my cut like a knife.

When an oboe has an extremely focused sound, it DOES… lose warmth in the sound, which is often what people refer to as “Brightness” (although I hate the terms “dark” and bright”). Nowadays many people go for “cover” in their sound ala Mack’s fuzziness in his tone. I often think of this as a dispersed tone of vibrations spread out over a wide area such as a saucer, which uses less dense glass. A focused oboe naturally works against such cover (after all, that “cover” is more vibrations) and takes that dispersed vibrations and tries to focus it into the form of a shotglass, which is smaller in diameter and more dense. This isn’t to say that you can’t get fuzzy cover with the oboe (after all, there is the player who focuses the airstream, and the reed which creates and focuses the vibrations) but the oboe certainly plays a part in the whole process. (And granted, I probably can pick up any oboe with my reed and still SOUND… like myself on any of them, it’s just that I have to work HARDER… to focus the sound with some oboes rather than others).

I’m starting to believe that reeds on the other hand are an even more important part of the focusing of vibrations. Some reeds vibrate and make very round, full sounding tone which isn’t necessarily focused. Other reeds are built so that no matter how you blow into them, the sound will come out focused, clean, and full (notice I don’t use the adjective “round”). Focused does not mean SHRILL… or HARSH… sound. They can sound full, beautiful and clear, but still focus the vibrations into a tight core. In order to built really tightly focused reeds, I think you need to be a really good reed-maker. The best thing about Mr. Weber’s reeds are that they are always very focused, and very responsive.

What was so impressive about Mr. Woodham’s sound at IDRS… was both his incredibly focused tone and core, but the depth as well which was also accompanied by a beautiful flexibility to the air. And I’m starting to realize where that depth is coming from.

The Howarth XL is a beautiful, round sounding oboe but not one of the more focused oboes. When I play on it, I feel like the bore is SO BIG… (which gives it that nice round tone) but it’s hard for me to keep under control. In fact, I’ve probably scraped around 40 reeds in the past three days, and I am consistently finding that I need to scrape smaller and smaller openings for the instrument to maintain the level of focus and flexibility/control that I want in my playing. That said, I’m also finding it difficult to scrape that much off a reed, and keep roundness in the reed tone and stability. I’m having to play on the extreme tip of the reed to help with the focusing of all of the vibrations.

This is driving me to think about changing another variable: the staple, the shape, or the gouge.

I’ve been playing with the Stevens Pro #2 staples as suggested by Martin Schuring and Richard Woodhams, and I’m finding the same darn thing. When I can make a reed that is REALLY… focused, the reeds turn out REALLY… projecting, and REALLY… lovely sounding. But this is a big “if”, as more often than not, I’m finding that the staple actually gives off too MANY… vibrations. (I question whether this comes from the thin wall of the staple.) With too many vibrations I either need to get really good at focusing the vibrations in my reed-scraping, or killing vibrations using knife scrapes (leaving nicks in the back, deeply defining the integration line between the tip and the lay on the sides of the tip, etc). I’ve tried Steven’s Pro #2 silver 47mm, brass 47mm, and silver 46mm, and I’ve been routinely getting consistent results, so I think I’ll take a few days to rethink my scrape on the staples before I re-approach them,

Meanwhile, I’m still getting good results from my Weber staples and the other staples mentioned from Singin Dog Double Reeds. Both of them seem to be a good compromise on vibrations; not too much, not too few.

Does anyone else use Stevens Pro #2 staples with Howarth XLs? Would LOVE… to hear from you.