Common Oboe Embouchure Problems

Written by Lewis Hilton / republished with permission from Conn-Selmer Keynotes Magazine

Lewis B. Hilton (1921 – 1997) was the Professor of Music at the Washington University in Saint Louis. He studied oboe with Myron Russell and William Schnable; bassoon with Lewis Skinner and clarinet with Alexander Williams. His doctorate was from Columbia University.

Develop a system meaningful to students and teachers by citing errors in embouchure

All contest and festival adjudicators quite early in their judging careers discover that they could save many finger calluses if they could but develop a system which would be meaningful to students and teachers by citing error in embouchure, so standard are the problems on encounters.

The paragraphs which follow are gleaned from this author’s judging experiences.

They are the paragraphs he has most often repeated, try as he might to be somewhat original, particularly when he knows that he is listening to ten students of the same teacher!

Although the tone of this introductory paragraph is, indeed, facetious, the text which follows is in complete earnestness.

An often mistaken tendency on the part of the young oboist is to make two, straight lines with his lips that he stretches tightly over his teeth, thus applying pressure from above and below but not from the side and all around like a drawstring.

The resulting tone is hard and thin; and not generally acceptable although certain “schools” espouse something like this. The pressure of the sharp teeth also easily bruises the thinned lips.

Poor Oboe Embouchure

With the lips stretched in a smile and thus thinned, most of the pressure is lateral, pinching the reed, bruising the lips with the teeth, and producing a small thin tone.

The embouchure should control the reed and the tone no more than is necessary.

The reed must be held firmly, it is true, so that it does not vibrate wildly and in an uncontrolled manner, but the player actually should feel that he is balancing and controlling the sound from his diaphragm and stomach muscles.

The embouchure should be sufficiently free to allow the pitch of the tone to be raised and lowered by a fluctuation of the muscles controlling the air column. The less restriction on the reed the better.

It is exceedingly tempting for the beginner to play with a very loose embouchure in the low register (since the tones will sound, although badly) and tighten the embouchure and bite the lips together as he ascends to the upper register.

The embouchure should remain very nearly the same from top to bottom of the instrument.

Pitch should be controlled as much as possible by stomach muscles, diaphragm muscles and the resultant difference in air pressure. This system is most likely to produce an even tone quality from top to bottom of the instrument.

Frequently there will be insufficient support from the upper lip. Strengthen it by spreading the nostrils somewhat. It may also help at first to press the reed slightly against the upper lip to compensate for the lip’s weakness and also to contract the pressure on the lower blade resulting from the weight of the oboe resting on the lower lip.

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Related posts:

1. Common Flute Embouchure Problems
2. The Clarinet Embouchure