For the awesome people outside Wilfrid Laurier University: you should know that we have one of the strongest double reed faculties in the country–and one of the most ridiculous. This website, for example. What other oboe studio can boast a webcomic? Dick is always telling us that it is unusual for all of the oboists to be friends, but we have oboe parties; the bassoonists have Vivaldi parties (in which they rope in a bunch of string players and play Vivaldi Concertos and eat pie), I’m starting a monthly double-reeds-and-friends curry night, some of us tote our reed equipment back and forth between studios to hang out…the list goes on!

Most lately in the “awesome things the double reeds do” catalogue was reeddeer! Yes, that’s right. Reindeer, made out of reeds.

Check it out!

My reeddeer:

Click for a larger view!

Me! Me! Ooh, pick me!

Those of you who know me know that I am a HUGE fan of Canadian Independent Music. I picked up a couple of albums recently, including Small Sins’ new album “Mood Swings” which is pleasant electro/guitar-pop. I bought it because I really like the song “I Need a Friend,” which I heard on the R3-30. The rest of the album is much of the same, and while I enjoy it, it probably would’ve been worthwhile to just buy the one song. However! I don’t mind supporting Canadian music.

I also bought Torngat’s album “You Could Be” which is LOVELY and I like it ever-so-much. Torngat is one of those bands I’ve written about, and talk about all the time, who are crossing the bridge between “Classical” tradition and pop music. Example: one of the lead instruments in the band is the French Horn, played by Pietro Amato who is no slouch! (He also plays with Bell Orchestre, The Luyas, and the Arcade Fire, and–I think–played on Final Fantasy’s “Has A Good Home” and Sandro Perri’s “Tiny Mirrors”!) It’s great, really. And now Beirut has french horns to add to Zach Condon’s arsenal of euphonia, flugel horns, trumpets, and the like.

Frankly, I see this as getting one step closer to my goal of playing oboe on an indie rock album.

In other news, Jim’s super-awesome, extra-special, combination pregouger/planer/guillotine thingamajiggers are ready! Holy exciting, Batman. I am definitely getting one.
There is an oboe dinner planned for the Sunday before we get back to school in January, and Jim is making Indian food. He will tell you that he is amazing at making Indian food. Sadly (and happily, really), he’s not lying. It’s *awesome*. I am pretty psyched!

I had a bit of a shock today when I opened up my inbox! The Oboe Bboard is probably the best oboe forum on the internet, and periodically I go in there and read a few threads. Sometimes I even get ideas for comics, although it’s not a place for being silly, really. Anyway, today I had an email entitled “Flappy Sides” from one of the lovely people there, and I think some of the other students who read it might benefit!

Ren,

A few thoughts: When you tie, be sure that the cane is
on the staple/mandrel absolutely straight east, north,
south, west. It really helps to have the David Stevens
“French” style staples with the raised scoring on the
end of the staple. The cane stays where you put it
without turning as you tie. Don’t under any
circumstances scrape any cane off the bottom narrows
of the cane before tying. Having this part as thick as
the rest of the cane helps to clamp the cane better
onto the staple, especially at the tip. Use a
fist-length wooden dowel instead of the spool. Cut off
about 42 inches of thread, anchor it to a round-headed
screw with a slot in the head screwed into a board
clamped to a sturdy table or bench. You will get a
much tighter tie than with the thread on a spool,
where the standing part of the thread tends to bite
back into the spool, thus lessening the tension on the
thread. Don’t just eyeball the crossover tie; measure
with your caliper. Forty-seven mm. is hard & fast.
Better to tie under than over this length. Invest in a
Joshua +2 shaper tip. Keep your snaping razor blades
sharp. An arky translucent stone is good for this. For
gouging get a Dan Ross gouger. It yields up thicker
sides. Hang the expense. Borrow the money & do it. The
combination of the Dan Ross gouger, Stavens staples &
Joshua +2 tip will get you where you want to be as
fast as possible. Getting the dowel, screw, board &
clamps is the cheap easy part. There is no royal road
to making oboe reeds. I have been at it for nine years
& my reeds are just starting to be wonderful. Keep at
it & you will succeed. As Churchill said Never, never,
never, never give up!!! Write me if you have ??? or
need further explanation.

Best,

john

It’s somewhat in line with the other advice I’ve had, (thanks Cooper and Patty!) although I’m not sure about one specific style of gouger/tubes/shaper being superior to the rest. I am going to invest in some wooden dowels for sure, though. Those crazy plastic spools are slowly breaking at the tops, and it makes me tie a bit…gingerly if I’m using one of them.
I’m pretty happy with the Graf gouger most of the time…er, when it’s in adjustment. And give up my Mack tip? Never!

(Whenever Jim asks what shaper I’m using, and I say “the Mack tip you sold me” he always goes “I SOLD that?” Teehee! Mine now!)

Anyway, my reeds have been sealing *much* better recently, and this makes me a happy panda. I suspect it’s because I’ve been taking quite a bit of time making sure the cane is straight to begin with, and also that it is tied *absolutely* straight.

I played a concert with the Wellington Winds last Sunday on one of mine (and an English Horn reed of mine too, incidentally), and was quite pleased with the results. I don’t know if I’m going to play with them for their next concert, though. They’re playing a piece called “Awayday” by Adam Gorb, which I played last year in Wind Ensemble at Laurier. It is KILLER, at least for me…a good chunk of it sits way up on ledger lines…there are several high F’s and a high G or two. And it goes like the wind. I’m not sure if I can deal with the stress of getting it perfect enough for Wellington Winds next semester. I definitely want to play in the last concert, though. They’re playing Johan de Meij’s “Planet Earth”! Oh man. De Meij came to Waterloo last year to conduct a concert of his music with WW (and give some masterclasses and suchlike), and I was fortunate enough to be playing second oboe at the time. It was, without a doubt, the best experience of my university career so far.

Also also, my printer is out of ink. RARGH. (Look! Kitties!)