TONAL CONCEPT
When it comes to producing tone, oboists, with good reason, are vitally concerned about reeds. While the importance of a good reed can never be downplayed, I do feel that there are other significant factors in producing a tone. For example, solidifying a tone is also dependent on embouchure and air usage. The quest for the perfect reed and the developing of technical expertise are not mutually exclusive items. As oboists, we must come to grips with both the carpentry of reed making and the quest for instrumental perfection in order to produce a good tone. Concept, reed, embouchure, air, and instrument are all part of the tone production chain.
It’s in your head
The most crucial aspect in producing a tone is the concept of tone that is in the oboist’s head. We each have a way of hearing and thinking that is unique. Concept is derived from that uniqueness in conjunction with what we get used to hearing. Certainly, listening to great oboists is one way to enrich your tone conception palette. This would include your teacher, live concerts, and recordings. Strive to produce your sound with whatever reed or oboe you are playing. Your brain can direct your physical actions to work in making the concept in your thought become the tone you produce.
Solidity
Oboists often try to describe a tone with words like dark, bright, big, small, focused, spready, etc. As a rule, I don’t like to use most of those word descriptions to describe tone because vocabulary varies greatly in this regard. To say that a tone should have grain in it might mean something to one oboist, but not to another. I prefer to think of solidity. The tone must be able to travel, or project, from the player to the listener. A level of energy is required in order to do this. If you hit a big, air filled beach ball it won’t travel very far. There isn’t enough solidity inside to enable it to go much distance. A golf ball, on the other hand, is much smaller, but has more solidity inside that allows it to travel a great distance. The tone is similar to the golf ball, solid and energetic. All of the overtones and vibrations present are compacted in order to make a solidity that will project. Think of what a trash compactor does to garbage. The tone must remain solid or it will not serve the music’s demands at the highest levels of performance. A bigger or wider tone is only viable if it remains solid enough to project. The moment a tone loses its’ projecting energy or solidity, it is no longer serviceable. This doesn’t preclude the big tone, it only defines a necessary character. Alternative words for solidity are focus and core. With the understanding of the solidity concept, these other concept words – focus and core - can become a good description. The size of the tone is derived from the blend of the above mentioned factors - concept, reed, embouchure, air and instrument. All of the best tones project well. They are solid and focused.
Compression
Compression is a key to solidifying the tone. The air comes from within, traveling a route from the bottom of the lungs, up through the throat, into the mouth and finally through the reed aperture. This air column is lengthy and, essentially, goes from wider to narrower. Imagine a funnel, or cone, to represent the air column. The air is compacted, compressed, as it goes through this funnel. When the air continues through the reed aperture it is projected through a second cone that gradually enlarges - the bores of the staple and oboe. The connecting place of the two cones is the reed opening. We use the embouchure and air together with manipulation of the reed in order to control and solidify the tone, intonation and dynamics. In essence, being able to control and combine three factors - air, embouchure and reed - is the heart of playing the oboe.
- The tone needs energy and focus -
It’s in your head
The most crucial aspect in producing a tone is the concept of tone that is in the oboist’s head. We each have a way of hearing and thinking that is unique. Concept is derived from that uniqueness in conjunction with what we get used to hearing. Certainly, listening to great oboists is one way to enrich your tone conception palette. This would include your teacher, live concerts, and recordings. Strive to produce your sound with whatever reed or oboe you are playing. Your brain can direct your physical actions to work in making the concept in your thought become the tone you produce.
Solidity
Oboists often try to describe a tone with words like dark, bright, big, small, focused, spready, etc. As a rule, I don’t like to use most of those word descriptions to describe tone because vocabulary varies greatly in this regard. To say that a tone should have grain in it might mean something to one oboist, but not to another. I prefer to think of solidity. The tone must be able to travel, or project, from the player to the listener. A level of energy is required in order to do this. If you hit a big, air filled beach ball it won’t travel very far. There isn’t enough solidity inside to enable it to go much distance. A golf ball, on the other hand, is much smaller, but has more solidity inside that allows it to travel a great distance. The tone is similar to the golf ball, solid and energetic. All of the overtones and vibrations present are compacted in order to make a solidity that will project. Think of what a trash compactor does to garbage. The tone must remain solid or it will not serve the music’s demands at the highest levels of performance. A bigger or wider tone is only viable if it remains solid enough to project. The moment a tone loses its’ projecting energy or solidity, it is no longer serviceable. This doesn’t preclude the big tone, it only defines a necessary character. Alternative words for solidity are focus and core. With the understanding of the solidity concept, these other concept words – focus and core - can become a good description. The size of the tone is derived from the blend of the above mentioned factors - concept, reed, embouchure, air and instrument. All of the best tones project well. They are solid and focused.
Compression
Compression is a key to solidifying the tone. The air comes from within, traveling a route from the bottom of the lungs, up through the throat, into the mouth and finally through the reed aperture. This air column is lengthy and, essentially, goes from wider to narrower. Imagine a funnel, or cone, to represent the air column. The air is compacted, compressed, as it goes through this funnel. When the air continues through the reed aperture it is projected through a second cone that gradually enlarges - the bores of the staple and oboe. The connecting place of the two cones is the reed opening. We use the embouchure and air together with manipulation of the reed in order to control and solidify the tone, intonation and dynamics. In essence, being able to control and combine three factors - air, embouchure and reed - is the heart of playing the oboe.
- The tone needs energy and focus -