Hi all!

I need some advise. My oboe is not playing loud enough! The conductor has had to double solos because she can`t hear me. Is it my reed?? I`m using Jones right now (switched over from Rico). Could it have something to do with a tight throat? I have a handmade/wooden Platz oboe.

Any thoughts or sugestions welcome!

It could be either.

Is the tone quality extremely breathy?Or does your oboe tend to speak differently on certain notes (and by that I mean, for example, E flat and F natural speak differently even if you play them with the same air stream--it doesn`t count if your oboe speaks differently in different octaves)? If so, it could be the instrument. It may be that you need a tune-up. But chances are, there`s nothing wrong with your oboe. If the oboe needed a tune-up that badly, there would probably be notes that don`t come out at ALL.

I strongly suspect the problem is your reed. Just about any handmade reed of any quality will speak better, and louder, than a store-bought. Please, please shell out the extra money for handmades--don`t torture yourself by trying to learn to make your own just yet, but get a good supplier going like Forrest`s Music or Oboeworks or whatever your private teacher recommends. Good reeds make all the difference in your tone, not to mention your volume. And you might as well get used to handmades, because no respectable college player (or professional) would be caught dead playing on one.

If you are playing on a med-soft or a medium, you could be squeezing it shut. Try moving up to a medium or medium hard. This will be less of a problem on a handmade reed which is made out of better cane stock. If you`re stuck with what you`ve got, try not soaking your reed for very long before you play--two minutes max. Sometimes oversoaking the reed can give a mushy, quiet tone quality.

Finally, try working on some long tones. Play scales, holding each note for eight beats, starting at pp (as soft as you can get without sounding breathy), working up to ff in four notes (without compromising tuning!), then coming back down to pp over the next four. That should really help you get a feel for how fast your air needs to be moving for a really nice, in-tune, controlled forte.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my question so throughly!

I guess I`ll have to spring for the handmade reeds. I`m curious, do handmade reeds last longer then store bought?

The amount of time a reed lasts depends on many different things (proper care etc.), but the biggest factor is how much wood is left on the reed when finished. A reed "dies" when the resin of the reed is dissolved, which occurs mostly because our saliva breaks it down, which is why it is very important to soak your reeds in WATER. Store bought reeds tend to be a lot easier to blow than a handmade reed would be, however this is not always the case.

In relation with your other issue, platz oboes are not a reputable oboe company, and i am guessing are part of the oboe. Nora Post puts the brand on her "steer clear" list, and for good reason. Once you can afford to get a better oboe i would, but i do understand that everyone cannot make that much of an investment. If the oboe hasn`t been checked for a long time, i would suggest sending it to a reputable double reed dealer/supplier like Nora Post, Pat McFarland or Forrests music to get a tune up. I hope that you enjoy playing, and keep music alive. I am studying at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and I have been touched with what music provides for us. Good luck and keep practicing!

Adam Parnell