… I managed to begin a little experiment.
First off, the concert went well last night. Theofanidis Rainbow Body, Symphonie Fantastique, Danse Macabre amongst others.
One of my reed subscribers sent me two reeds made by a well-known Mack student professor along with 10 staples and the same Mack+ shaper tip that the professor uses. My instructions were to duplicate it as close as I can.
I’ve made about 6 reeds on my own staples but using “hard cane” (as instructed) and using the Mack+ shape and matching the proportions and lengths exactly as the two reeds. All of my reeds play close to 20 cents flat, and require a LOT of blowing up to pitch and “extreme reed pressure” (and sometimes biting), but they certainly get a bit more of a covered Mackish sound. In fact, I played my concert on one of these reeds last night (lipping it up to pitch, of course).
Flat reeds always sound great when you can get them up to pitch, but usually they’re just that. Flat. But it has been a very good experiment for me to remind me of WHY I don’t like playing flat reeds and WHY I don’t like lipping up reeds constantly. I can already feel the wear on my lip after about 3 days of playing on these reeds, and I’m starting to get some jaw pain reminiscent of my TMJ problems. I practiced my Malcolm Arnold Sonatina with my tuner on a flat reed this morning and was able to get through the piece okay, but I wasn’t able to do the dynamic contrasts, color changes and variety of articulations that I wanted to, because I was squeezing the reed so tightly with my lips.
Mr. Stolper used to tell me that Tabuteau had a picture of an inverted triangle (smallest part down) in his office. At the top was the word “response”. Below that was “stability/pitch” and below that at the smallest point was “tone”.
The more I play and the more I hear, I am becoming convinced that in a big hall small tonal discrepancies disappear, and what the listener will listen for the most is what you do with the music, not your tonal quality on the music. And if I have to play a reed with great tone but can’t do much with it, then it’s probably just not worth it.
So I recently called Mr. Weber and discussed my EH reed problems. My big problem was that I have to play a middle C on this piece (Concert F, fingered C) at ppp for 20 or 30 measures, and in doing so, it sound buzzy, and light, and ugly. Mr. Weber suggested that I review his reedmaker manual, and summarized some major points:
- Thicker tips
- Thinner hearts (proportionally)
- Smoother integration line
- Wire 5mm above the string, just to support the upper notes and not to be used for the opening, gently squeezing the sides of the blades.
- Thinnest part of the windows directly above the bark (opposed to just behind the heart)
(Granted, for all you EH reed people, I never profess to be good at EH reedmaking, but I can do it. I’m still trying to “separate myself from oboe” and “learn how to make EH reeds that don’t resemble big oboe reeds”. But you keep ordering them, so I keep trying to make them!)
This last bullet I had completely forgotten and now makes sense. One needs to scrape the extreme back of the windows to close that part down so that the air can properly channel into the staple. That’s why when you have an extremely thick-sided oboe gouge, you end up compromising the structural integrity of the reed by gouging out the same place - just above the bark - in order to close down the back of the reed and channel the air correctly.
So the reeds are working, but they’re requiring a lot firmer embouchure, and steadier air stream. I wonder if this is how the EH is actually supposed to be.
So my client in Atlanta liked his 1-C better than his 1-B, which he’s been ordering for 3 or 4 months now. And I’ve been scraping up several 1-Cs which are all coming out “Just right”. This is very surprising for me, since I’ve never had such great results.
- Is my playing changing?
- Have I changed my scrape?
- Has the climate change affected the reeds?
Do people use wider shapes in autumn and fall and thinner shapes in spring and summer? I don’t recall doing this, but I certainly wonder.
I return to my standards.
- Graf #1 gouge
- Weber 1-B shape
- Grimaud Cane
But what happens when my standards aren’t living up to par? Then I need to play around with one of these variables. So I changed shape.
- Graf #1 gouge
- Weber 1-C shape
- Grimaud Cane
Lo and behold, I got some pretty darn good results! Several of them! I decided to pull out the ole’ Weber 1-C shape because I’ve been thickening my sides up a bit, but began getting some “inflexible” results, which forced me to take more and more and more cane off, thus compromising the structural integrity of the reed. I wasn’t very happy with these results, because my openings got smaller and smaller. Well, with the 1-C, peace and order were restored. But then I started thinking…
“Hm… But my Graf #2 is set up for the 1-C…”
So I changed that.
- Graf #2
- Weber 1-C shape
- Grimaud Cane
My initial measurements of the cane coming of the Graf #1 and Graf #2 were almost identical (but obviously the curve isn’t). And of course, the reed on the Graf #2 worked great as well.
So now this makes me think I need to go back and start thinning the sides of the Graf #1 to restore order so that it clicks well with my Weber 1-B.
Sigh… gouging machines give me a headache.
A reader, sparked by Patty’s post, wrote me with a few questions:
- Do you use a new one each time, or sharpen them?
Yes, I use a new one each time.
Mr. Weber says you can resharpen them…
- Why a razor blade, why not just an old reed knife
without a burr?
Mr. Weber likes to sharpen a razor blade down to a thicker part of the steel. I would never use an old reed knife, because I don’t think you could get it sharp enough to have a clean, even cut.
To answer the second question retorically. One
teacher I had (as well as most books) suggest a razor
blade, but I’ve never heard the reasoning. I do know
professional oboists that just use an old reed knife.
I’ve recently been doing a science experiment. When I
shape cane, I’ll shape 1/3 with new razor blades, 1/3
with old sharpened razor blades, and 1/3 with a
sharpened no-burr reed knife.
Now granted, shaper tips are not all the same. Some shaper tips really encourage a better shape up by the ears and how that curve shape is. But again, I would never use a reed knife. It’d be too thick of a blade, which wouldn’t allow you to get close enough to the shape without putting too much torque on the cane as it comes off. It’d rip the cane off.
So I went to a chiropractor today who discussed my reedmaking, oboe playing, and back problems. He took some x-rays, which revealed this:
- My bad posture has hurt my a lot.
- When I scrape, I lift up my right arm to get a better angle, sometimes perpendicular from my torso. Holding it at such an awkward often tightens up the muscles, and gets them wrapped up in knots. This has also overdeveloped my right shoulder muscles, which are now elevated in relation to my left shoulder muscles. When these muscles get strained, they push down on my vertebrae.
- My vertebrae have calcium deposits on them which lock them into place even further, which limits my flexibility.
- I have a bulging disk right in my upper back (between the shoulder blades) which allows the vertebrae to compress even further. This is pinching a nerve in my right arm where I’m losing mobility and general nerve feeling.
He says regular chiropractic care can improve my posture and relieve pressure on the bulging disk. He also said occasionally calcium deposits go away, but not often.
Thank God my health insurance from my Teaching Fellowship is fantastic and covers Chiropractic, Dental, and everything else.
