Rob's Tips

In no particular order, here's some pointers that usually only come from 30 years of playing, making and repairing woodwind instruments. If you have a problem you'd like some advice on, or have something to share with other players, please e-mail Rob's Tips!

Reeds and Mouthpieces and Ligatures Saxophone and clarinet reeds are made of cane that is grown in similar climates to vineyards for wine production. Some reed cane is grown in South America, the USA and Australia, but the best known reed producing region is France. The grade of reed you use is governed by two factors - the strength of your embouchure and the size of your mouthpiece. Most students start on a 1 ½ reed and move up to a 2 after a few months.

From there the mouthpiece you use plays a big role in what reed you use. The bigger the mouthpiece the further the reed has to travel, so the softer reed you need. If you use a very close mouthpiece you need a harder reed for the same feel in your mouth. The are three broad varieties of mouthpieces - plastic, rubber and metal. We’ll only deal with plastic and rubber here. Plastic mouthpieces are all moulded, so they’re cheap but not terribly accurate. The hard rubber mouthpieces are machined from a solid block of rubber and are much more precise (hence much better), but also much more expensive. Mouthpieces are available in different sizes. The tip opening (the gap between the reed and the mouthpiece) varies greatly from one mouthpiece to another and the size of the chamber (the hole in the middle of the mouthpiece) has great effect too. Different combinations of tip opening and chamber size suit different players and different styles of music.

The Ligature is the circular clamp that holds the reed to the mouthpiece. There are many different types of ligature, from the cheap brass or nickel plated ring with two screws, to leather, and silver, and gold. You can pay hundreds of dollars for fancy ligatures, and whether they make much difference is a matter of debate, but here we’ll just deal with the plain two screws ligature. The important thing to remember when putting the ligature on is not to do the screws up too tight. In fact, the reason people prefer the leather ligatures is that they cannot be done up too tight, because the leather just stretches. If you don’t overtighten a standard ligature, you get exactly the same effect.

Setting the Reed on the Mouthpiece

When you first open your case, get the reed out and put it in your mouth. Really soak the reed well; they don’t work properly until they’re really wet. Then turn the reed around and wet the other end. You want the whole reed wet evenly. Reeds are made of cane, and cane is wood. If you wet a piece of wood it expands and gains weight, and if you wet half a piece of wood it bends. The last thing you want is for the reed to bend, so wet the whole reed evenly. The water also helps it seal on the mouthpiece. Put the ligature loosely on the mouthpiece, and slide the reed through it. You should set the reed evenly on the table so the end of the reed lines up exactly with the end of the mouthpiece. Do the back screw of the ligature up until you only just feel it tighten. Then do it up another ¼ of a turn. Tighten the front screw up until you just feel it resist. The back screw should be done up very slightly tighter than the front one. This leaves the reed to resonate freely. To check if the reed is set right you can block the end of the mouthpiece with your hand and suck back on the reed. If everything’s working properly the reed should stick sealed to the mouthpiece and then “pop” after a second or two. The mouthpiece is now ready to play.

New Oboes

The bore in a new oboe should be oiled with bore oil frequently at first, gradually tapering off during the 1st year of ownership until you are oiling once every 6 months. Oil sparingly with a turkey feather.

New oboes should be ‘blown in’ gradually at first. Play for 10 minutes the first time, adding 5 minutes each day until you can play for 3 hours at a time.

Remember that your new oboe is very dry and devoid of moisture content in the wood. This is why you are trying to build up the moisture content gradually, otherwise, the inside of the oboe will try to swell before the outside, making a crack on the outside possible. During periods of very low humidity and very dry weather, it pays to oil the bore of the oboe to guard against the wood drying out too much.

General Care

Always remember to dry your oboe out properly after playing, using a dedicated pull through or a turkey feather. The best type of pull through is the double ended type that doesn’t go completely through the top joint, guarding against getting the pull through jammed in the top joint at an inappropriate time.

Always put your oboe away in its case after you have finished playing. This guards against getting too much dust in the action and also, in certain countries, it helps to guard against moths attacking skin pads on some oboes. (Really!)

When the weather is cold, always remember to warm the outside of the oboe before you blow warm air into the inside to avoid the possibility of a crack. You can do this by putting it under your arm for a couple of minutes or simply blowing warm air onto the outside.

Too Much Water?

If you are troubled by water in your octave vents even after you have taken them out and cleaned them thoroughly, try a thin smear of Vaseline inside the hole. You can also try running a thin line of detergent on the inside of the bore on the opposite side of the tone hole vents. This sometimes encourages the water to flow down this line rather than into your tone hole and the octave vents.

You can actually encourage yourself to make less saliva when you’re playing if you create too much - just think about having a dry mouth when you’re playing. You’ll be surprised at the result!

Reeds

Sometimes you can extract another performance out of an old reed by soaking it in vinegar for half an hour and then carefully cleaning it out on the inside and thoroughly rinsing it out in cold water. This dissolves the hardened saliva and calcium deposits from inside the reed and can sometimes give you another performance.

If you’re having a hard time with the third register high notes, try a reed with a shorter scrape which plays these notes easier than a longer scrape reed. The drawback, of course, is that you lose some of the upper partials out of the sound.

If you have a really good reed that has a good sound and is reasonably responsive, yet has lots of resistance, you can sometimes give it less resistance and keep its other characteristics intact by making a small ‘window’ on either side of the reed. That is, a slight thinning on either side about 3mm back from the tip.

Pads

A good cure for a sticking pad is to take the key off and clean the surface of the pad with eucalyptus oil. Don’t forget also to clean the top of the tone hole, also with eucalyptus oil. Let it dry thoroughly before putting the key back on the oboe.

Sore Mouth

A good cure for sore mouths after a long rehearsal is to dissolve as much salt as you can in a quarter of a tumbler of warm water. Hold some against the inside of your mouth for several minutes before spitting it out. Keep doing this until you have used all the solution and repeat this process every three or four hours. (Tom also keeps a glass of his favourite scotch - lemonade for the younger players - on hand to wash the salt away!)

Travelling

If you’re touring with your instrument, do your utmost to take it as carry on luggage. Even though the baggage hold is pressurised and temperature controlled, baggage handlers don’t care about your instrument nearly as much as you do. If you must check it, put it in the case and put the case in a box about three times the size full of solid packing material like t-shirts.

Depending on where you’re travelling, watch for sudden changes in temperature and humidity. Going from a Sydney summer to a European winter or a US fall to a humid Asian spring or even from Melbourne to Queensland can play havoc with the wood. Take note of the tips above under ‘general care’.

Remember, if you have a problem you'd like some advice on, or have something to share with other players, please e-mail Rob's Tips!