Dear Guests, Welcome to my blog which I treat like a creative garden where I regularly plant and change this and that be it poetry, philosophy, an Oboe Brilliance lesson, an essay of some kind, or a journal about composing. Visit every Monday for oboe coaching which is also helpful for many melodic instrumentalists. Musically yours, Kathryn

"How do you compose?" That is the most commonly asked question I hear.
This blog is a window into my creative process and philosophies as a composer and instrumentalist. At times it may contain music, photos, and poetry as well. May you enjoy, return, and benefit!

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11

My oboe reed design

Ahhhh, finally, the JOY of a GREAT oboe reed!!!!!!!!

Dear Guests,

Finally, the oboe reed of my dreams. Oh yes, life just got MUCH better. : )

Since January, I’ve been revisiting redesigning the ultimate oboe reed for myself and my students.
I had been playing either American reeds, or English reeds. American reeds offered this, English reeds offered that…I want a reed that does all that I need and want.

I now have the design that’s the cat’s meow for me. I use an English shaper, which was Michael Winfield’s custom made spare shaper (he was principal oboist for the Royal Philharmonic in England and just retired when I began studying with him) so it’s very wide, and I now use a reed scrape that is a hybrid of English and American in styling. With this design, I have a full pallet of color – deep, dark, rich, as well as bright and vibrant. I have stability and ease in playing. I have movement in registers and a broad dynamic range. It is ideal for 21st century music which requires warmth, endurance, color, and dynamics, stability, and flexibility.

I’m so HAPPY.

My reed is 67 or 68 mm from bottom of tube to tip. 11 or 12 mm from thread to tip.:

Tip = 3 mm long/8 mm wide – rounded inverted V, integrated very beveled descent – so just the outer arch is tissue thin 1 mm long
Heart = 4 mm long/8 mm wide – well dovetailed and slightly thicker
Back = 7 mm long/7 mm wide – symmetrical tall windows along the spine touch brighter in the center. back forming a V from heart to tail
Tail to thread 3 to 4 mm long/6 mm wide – some cutting sometimes extending V

Individual reeds call for differences in density of heart and how far out to the sides I bring the back or thinness of the tall windows.
All of the reed is smooth, symmetrical and integrated. I prefer a medium soft tip and medium heart with greater versatility of thickness/thinness to suit the individual cane and player for the back. Too much out in the windows can make the bottom too flat, but just the right amount of removal deepens/darkens the sound while making richer high notes.

These honkers last, they are gorgeous and I can use the one reed to play Brandenburg to Schumann, Cimarosa to Saint Saens to Britten to Potter, pp < ff, dark/bright. My students sound great too. They are responsive to nuance and I can get all the colors I want out of them and successfully play any time period of music to my satisfaction on one style of reed.

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love the English style reeds for their ease, comfort, and vibrancy, but also love the darkness and stability of the American reeds. This design/scrape style I just articulated above, does it all for me and my students.

Ahhhhhhhhhh.

I’m happy to sell shaped cane and blanks for my private oboe students, teach reed workshops in my music studio on reed making – this style – and sell shaped cane as long as I’m able, to students who are “alums” of my studio.

Wahoo.
Musically yours,
Kathryn