Oboe tone discussion
Saturday December 01 2007
There’s a good oboe tone discussion going on at the oboe bboard that I’ve been following. I’ve been thinking about it a lot. We’ve had some good conversations on there about tone, one specifically under “American Style” or something. This one has some good points.
I spoke with Dr. Vacchi, the bassoon teacher last week and asked him to bluntly tell me some areas that he hears in my playing that he’d like to see me improve, and he stated that my tone is a bit bright. We discussed tone a bit and he talked about how he is frequently balancing tonal color. He drew a semicircle, and drew a line separating about 45% and drew a sun. “This represents brightness.” On the other side of the semicircle, he drew another line separating 45% and drew a sock. “This represents stuffy-ness.” In the remaining 10%, he filled in, trying to demonstrate to me that that is where he hopes I can find.
I mentioned to him my ideal oboe tone is JdL, and the fact that my tonal concept leans toward the brighter side. “You have to be contemporary though. The hey-day of his time was A LONG… TIME… AGO….”
I’ve thought a lot about this last statement. If JdL or even Tabuteau auditioned for a major orchestra, would they be able to win? Or would their sound just be considered too bright by today’s standards and they be passed on and pushed aside? In a lesser orchestra, their tone probably wouldn’t be such an issue but surely in a big 5 orchestra (NY, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland) they would automatically be eliminated if their tone was too far removed from the ideal?
bautbois
Dec 1, 2007
This explains why the Loree Royal is being used by the principals of so many of the major orchestras. But I think orchestral tone objectives can be different from solo ones…when you’re soloing, it’s about you, not some “objective” standard. That’s why I ended up with an AK, not a Royal. I wouldn’t want to play baroque music with a very covered dark tone. The AK swings both ways for the money. It’s bi-tonal!
cjwrightoboe
Dec 1, 2007
I must disagree with you partially. First, I don’t think as many principals play royals as people think. Douvas doesn’t. Wang doesn’t. Woodhams doesn’t. Ferillo doesn’t. I think the list goes on.
That said, I do think the AK has more flexibility than the Royal, but the regular bores as equally as flexible. Have you tried them both recently? I actually don’t like the changes they’ve made in the Royals recently!
bautbois
Dec 1, 2007
I tried a few Royals about six months ago when I was shopping - I wouldn’t mind owning one but not as my frontline horn. What changes are you referring to? I haven’t tried the regular bore oboes recently, though I have a regular bore D series which I like quite a bit but it’s a bit long in the tooth. I went for the AK largely on recommendation. What do you think the main differences tonally are between the AKs and the regulars?
cjwrightoboe
Dec 1, 2007
Hi Darlene, thanks for the note. All of Tabuteau’s and de Lancie’s students had to play Barret, Ferling, and Gillet studies up to tempo, and then transposed up and down a whole step or half step by sight. I can’t remember but one of the two refused to let students even write anything in their music, just by sight!
Basically, if you can play all of the Gillet studies up to tempo and transpose them, I am confident that they could match up with oboist’s technique today.
One reader wrote me a personal email to tell me that de Lancie could play all of the Gillet Etudes perfectly by the age of 15, while Tabuteau could play them all by 17! I’m not sure if you know those, but they make Le Tombeau look like a drop in a bucket.
cjwrightoboe
Dec 1, 2007
Hey Bautbois. What does “Long in the tooth” mean? I ahven’t heard that phrase.
AKs to me feel 1. darker than regular bore lorees, and 2. fuzzier in tonal quality, a kind of compromise between the regular and the Royal. There are also tuning differences (for better or for worse), such as a lower pitched middle C, F, and high A. To me, the side octave notes also feel a sliver under pitch compared to the regular bore notes as well, but this is just my opinion.
I own a NO series Royal (yeah, I know. For all the complaining I do about Royals, I actually do own one!) and I recently played on a new P series Royal, and it feels like they’re trying to lighten it up again. It was much lighter in feel and sound than my NO series, but it felt like because it was trying to retain the thickness but lighten up, it was much more unstable. I didn’t like it at all! I know the new ones are now Q series, so maybe they’ve changed them again.
Darlene
Dec 1, 2007
I was referring to a recording I heard of Tabuteau playing and I could hear a good many of those notes-in-between-notes, like between Fs, As and Cs. And I didn’t think the intonation was always spot-on either. I was trying to think of a recording I’ve heard of a more modern player of the same caliber that had these issues, and I couldn’t think of any. Maybe that’s due to the miracles of modern recording technology, maybe not. Sorry, just my very humble opinion!
cjwrightoboe
Dec 1, 2007
Don’t be sorry! I appreciate these discussions!
bautbois
Dec 1, 2007
The Royals I tried were Q series…they were definitely more covered than the regular oboes…I found them very easy to play in the lower register, but I didn’t like the resistance on notes like middle C sharp which I understand to be a function of the longer tone holes. On the other hand, I wouldn’t mind having one!! It’s just like EH bocals; when you play a bunch you realize there might be an occasion where one is preferable to another, but if forced to choose, you take the one that covers the most bases.
“Long in the Tooth” just means old! A quick internet search reveals that it’s based on the fact that you can tell some animals’ age by the length of their teeth since they don’t stop growing (horses, for example). I love my DK and I can go nuts with it,it plays freely with a nice mellow tone, but when I play on my new AK (QS series), it’s less work since the oboe is just in better shape and maybe better designed to begin with, and so I can focus a bit more on the music. One weird thing is that the reed well on my older oboe is slightly wider; sometimes i get staples that don’t fit easily into my AK but do in my older oboe.
Btw, I’m pretty sure Wang plays a Royal but I have a way of finding that out and I will get back to you on that! I can also check on Douvas. I do know that Izotov plays a Royal. I’m not surprised about Ferrillo. That’s definitely not a Royal on the Mozart Quartet. But I’m sure a lot of these folks have several different oboes that they use for different occasions.
bautbois
Dec 2, 2007
I’ve confirmed that Douvas does play a Royal, as does Wang; however, there is a possibility he may soon be playing a Laubin to conform to the rest of the section!
racheloboes
Dec 3, 2007
Any thoughts on Howarth oboes? I’m just curious.
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Jan 24, 2010
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Dec 1, 2007
In my opinion, Tabeteau would not make it for tone AND for technique. The guys from back in the day were nowhere near the technical wizards you see today. It’s like figure skating. The bar is way, way higher now.
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