Please help us keep our work independent by making a one-time or small monthly donation today. As a reed maker, however, he has less wiggle room. The most basic description of double reeds is that they are made from two pieces of a particular species of curved cane (Arundo donax) tied together. Make your double reeds extra special! Creating a perfect reed, then, is an almost alchemical process, more aligned with wand-making than blacksmithing. Oboe Swabs. By expelling air through these folds, we make intelligible noise: be it speech, song, even a wolf-like howl. He’s happy to talk, but I’m forewarned: It’s best I don’t watch. Note : No particular note for this product. “Doink,” in this case, means any of an infinite number of almost invisible adjustments. class at the University of Illinois at Urbana. “You never make your own reeds at first,” Kornbluth says, shaking his head. “And the reed becomes an extension: a continuation of the cone created by the oboe.”, Holding the folded cane against the tube, he reaches for a spool of maroon nylon thread. “Y’know? The second movement features a haunting oboe solo—one of the only oboe solos in classical music. For an oboe solo, you want to soar. 3 WHAT IF THE REED NEEDS HELP? “It’s twisted. Unauthorized copying or republication of any part of this article is prohibited by law. Your student oboist should be sure to swab out their oboe after every use. Meeting all of these conditions, for every reed you attempt, is impossible. In 2013, Kornbluth wrote and performed a solo show called Sea of Reeds. You had to play an orchestral instrument. 10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. It seemed, at first, a startling non-sequitur. He can even make changes in real time, during a live performance. To show me what he means, Kornbluth opens a modified cigarette case holding an assortment of semi-completed reeds. They’re tied with threads of different colors and remind me, in their delicate intricacy, of fly-fishing lures. Monday to Friday This product is in stock in our shop; we will undertake to send it to you within 6 - 10 working days. (The use of nylon vs. silk thread for this step is hotly debated among oboists. We’ll let you know when we release new stories. Except it’s a chef’s knife that dissolves.”. TOOLS NEEDED TO MAKE ALTERATIONS TO A REED: x Reed Knife: Use a knife that is specifically made for working on oboe reeds. P.O. “It doesn’t differ too much from making other small objects—except that the reed is very small, and must be scraped very thin in places with a super-sharp knife. “I’m a good monologist” Kornbluth concedes, “but a shitty reed maker.”, Things could have been easier for Kornbluth. After that, your teacher starts making reeds for you. The sound of the instrument was so clear and distinct that the French called it the hautbois (ou-bwa): “loud wood.” Given the speed of conversational French, it didn’t take long for this to become “oboe.”. Our reed makers may use different colored reed thread from time to time. If you want to go further, you start making your own reeds.’. Silk oboe swab by Hodge Products. “There’s a progression,” he says. This product is not in stock in our shop, and needs to be re-ordered from our suppliers. Aluminum oboe shaper tip handle with adjustable jaws. 2 talking about this. Menu Close Cart. Josh Kornbluth: On the Short Intense Life of the Oboe Reed. And even Josh has come close. Delivery could take several months. OBOE and English horn REEDS Perfect for concerts and recitals for the student and professional oboist. At this point, I’d be much more comfortable if you were replaced by my teacher Peter Lemberg, and I could say, “Can you look at this before I go further?’ And he would say, ‘Oh, let me just do this: Doink doink doink.”. It’s an ephemeral, mythical beast.”. Our name proves it! Reed making, not so much. It has a balance of a darkness, duskiness, and a lightness, a brightness.” These qualities only come as a reed ages. I’ve been told this by carpenters. With the concentration of a surgeon, Josh wraps the folded cane tightly around the tube, working up from where the cork begins. Oboe pull-through swab, 2 pcs., silk - Oboe pull-through swab, 2 pcs., silk - oboe and bassoon reed making. Please contact us to reserve your product, and for further details. Silk Reed Thread, FF, 100 yd spool Hand dyed FF silk reed thread on a 100 yd wooden spool. But even if a player could afford that expense, there is the nettlesome question of its “embouchure”: how each reed fits, feels, and vibrates between your lips, and how it interacts with the force of your particular breath. All donations are tax-deductible. “At first, it’s a baby reed—but as you work on it and play it, it will mature.”. Please email us at reedpros@gmail.com before placing an order. Human beings create sound in a similar way. But Josh nods. And the reed that was great yesterday might not be great today. CANADA, Telephone Service, “Now comes the fine scraping,” he says. Lid color will be blue. Le Roseau Chantant Stellar Oboe Products was one of the pioneers of providing high quality oboe reeds and products on the Internet. Those little scrapes, if done properly, can raise or lower a reed’s pitch just the right amount. It’s the very first thing I did—and already it’s unusable.”, “It’s not an exact analogy, of course,” says Josh. Reed thread for Oboe or Basson. Kornbluth shakes a baggie of them; they rattle like Scrabble tiles. Tel. “I’m at the same level as a reed maker as I am a practicing Jew: Good intentions, but not great at it.” Some highly accomplished oboists are superb reed makers, of course. Then, one day, there’s a ‘come to Jesus’ moment. It needs to be alive. from 10.00 - 11.00 am, and 2.00 - 3.30 pm And the fingering’s insane. Photography by SCOTT CHERNIS, The oboe’s a horn made of wood. So there might be a reed that’s great for when you’re one of hundreds of musicians in an orchestra, and another that’s better for a solo.”, I ask what the expected life span of these rare reeds might be. “I have completely fucked this up,” he says ruefully. “You’re working with material that was not intended to play Bach,” Kornbluth reminds me. Beeswax; Brass Wire; Cork Grease; Cutting Block ; Oboe Plaque – Metal; Instrument Stands; Music Stands; Recordings; Cases & Covers. 100% Non-Waxed Silk Thread Suitable for Oboe Reeds Wax will need to be applied to silk thread before use for best results. It was Kornbluth who’d rekindled my childhood interest in the oboe. “A monologue doesn’t dissolve from my saliva after a few hours of performing —although that would be amazing. “Third, it needs to have—and this is almost not a metaphor—a heart. His eyes widen, and he lights up with a luminous grin. Description Additional information Description. The oboe is one of three members of the woodwind family—along with the English horn and bassoon—that use a double reed (unlike, say, the clarinet, which uses a single reed held in place by a clamp). The process requires laser focus, and the jovial, slightly awkward persona Josh has mastered for his comic monologues takes a back seat. When you are fascinated by details, and you grow up in New York as the son of activist Jewish parents, storytelling comes naturally. Thread We offer reed thread in a wide variety of colors, spool sizes, thicknesses, and materials. “It’s twisted. I recommend this exact swab to my own oboe students. “I’m finding this one to be very dicey.” Without hesitation or preamble, he tears the reed apart. Legal | © 2021 The Craftsmanship Initiative. The safety cord helps to limit the swab from being accidentally stuck in the oboe. Oboe Reed Thread. Wrapping thread for bassoon, red - roll of 50 grams. The shrill buzz you hear is their vibration; you have just made the simplest of reeds. Josh laughs, and shakes his head. Oboe.net. “It’s very personal to the player.”, As Josh turns the freshly shaped cane in his hand, examining it closely, he gives me a cautionary look. “It should be exactly the note C,” he says. As overtasked as he is (along with playing the oboe and developing new theater projects, Kornbluth is currently performing “Citizen Brain”, a monologue based on his recent fellowship at the Global Brain Health Institute at UCSF’s Memory and Aging Center), Josh always appears affable. There’s also a particular solo in Stravinsky’s Firebird. Tel: +49 (0)7225-9168300 Fax: +49 (0)7225-9168301 mail@georgrieger.com. That’s also my dream with Citizen Brain: to use my voice—the way I think about things and process them—to make something beautiful and compelling.”, Josh had a leg up with stagecraft. If I tie it above the tube, it’ll collapse when I play it.” When he’s done, the reed’s closed end still has two little protrusions, called “ears,” which are left over from the shaping process. spools ff thread (specify color), fishskin, extra fine diamond stone, 6 Rigotti silver tubes, 24 pieces shaped Rigotti cane. Acheter Accessories, Thread, Thread and Wire de la marque La soie • La Soie nylon Reed Thread Beeswax; Brass Wire; Cork Grease; Cutting Block; Oboe Plaque – Metal; Instrument Stands; Music Stands; Recordings; Cases & Covers. There are a million different things I could do to the reed at this point. RiegerClean removes almost all known bacteria, viruses, fungi and germs within 30 seconds! At this point, after all this work, the object Josh has been working on is now called a “blank”— and its life now hangs in the balance. Creating a perfect reed is an almost alchemical process, more aligned with wand-making than blacksmithing. I stand a few feet back, slyly peeking. Since oboe reeds don’t last long, buying dozens of laboriously made reeds would be extremely expensive. This is the strongest pure silk fiber currently available. During the “pre-gouging,” which reduces a bit of the reed’s thickness, Josh lays the ground for the next steps: more gouging, then folding, and trimming the folded cane to its near-final profile on metal dies called shapers. San Francisco, CA  94118. Beaconsfield, QC. SKU: THREAD Category: Reed Making Tools Tags: reedmaking, tools. Manufactured at the foot of the Black forest, our tools and machines for Bassoon and Oboe are delivered wordwide with the quality trade name MADE IN GERMANY. “This is all toward the goal of sealing,” he says, his eyes never leaving the thread. There’s actually a part of the reed that is its heart. For six years, we have brought you Craftsmanship Quarterly free of charge. Showing all 6 results. These are serious tools; a good gouger can cost as much as $2,000. Josh Kornbluth: On the Short Intense Life of the Oboe Reed, This struck me as an odd pre-requisite. Add to cart. Sometimes better, usually worse.”, By definition, then, there is no such thing as a perfect reed. We won’t spam you or sell your information, promise. Other reeds are good to practice on. Second, when you blow, it needs to vibrate. Before he brings a new piece to the stage Josh will test his material again and again, for non-paying audiences, trying new angles and seeing which jokes and anecdotes land most effectively (I’d actually attended four of the workshops for Citizen Brain which opened, as a paid Zoom show, on October 16th). - H9W 3T9 delivery time: 2-5 Tage * View Details. You have to blow really hard. Reed-case for 6 oboe reeds, made out of dark blue silk € 49,98 $105.00. It’s mystical to me—but he’ll take one molecule off one corner, and it’s done.” [For a taste of what reed-making, and the oboe, mean to this comic monologist, see our documentary short, “Josh Kornbluth: On the Short Intense Life of the Oboe Reed.”], Reed making, I soon learn, is a journey of a thousand steps, beginning with the selection of a 3” length of dried cane. “But on both sides.”. “You’d do it in two sittings,” Josh says. – Ogden Nash, About 3,000 years ago, an instrument called the shawm become popular in the Middle East. Posted-on May 31, 2020 May 31, 2020 By line Byline jennet Ingle $ 8.00 “Unbreakable Spool” FF Nylon Thread, by LC Double Reeds. Pay-as-you-can tickets are available here. “This is my favorite color,” he says. When you play it, you feel it and hear it immediately. “So far, this has all been mechanical,” he says. If it’s unresponsive, it’s like bad sex: Something happens, but it’s not something that anyone wants to remember. He was the first to tell me why making an oboe reed is an unusual craft. Your patronage will ensure we can keep telling quality stories without compromise. If you want to be sure a reed you've received an oboe reed from the same maker, please check the numbers or letters on the cork. Browse below for the oboe reed wrapping thread for your instrument. (299.25 value) : 269.30 DELUXE Landwell knife, mandrel, block, 2 plaques, two 200 yd. 2, 76571 Gaggenau Deutschland. From € 9,74. inkl. Our selection of oboe reed making thread comes in a variety of colors, spool sizes, thicknesses, and more to make reed tying easier on the hands. After sculpting each half of the reed, Josh drops it into a dish of water and we pop out for lunch. One of the tropes I heard time and again was that aspiring oboists need to make a laundry basket full of failed reeds before making one that actually succeeds. He’d started out on the violin. Ambitious, if a bit diffuse, the show interwove two aspects of Kornbluth’s life: an exploration of his Jewish heritage, symbolized by the Biblical story of the parting of the Sea of Reeds (often called the Red Sea); and the daunting task faced by every serious oboist: the exacting, time-consuming, and often futile crafting of perfect reeds from a few slivers of cane. It would be like leaning over the shoulder of a pool player trying to set up the perfect shot. You can tell when a reed has that—even before it’s done.”, “It is no exaggeration to say that when the weather changes, a reed can stop working—or become a very different reed. Showing 1–12 of 14 results. “Okay,” Josh declares. Even viable reeds fall along a sizeable spectrum of quality and durability. Nylon is the most commonly used, some oboe players prefer silk while some bassoon players prefer cotton. This handle is sturdy with nice wide jaws that hold the cane tightly without indenting softer cane. +1 (514) 630-7525. “And you have to make your own reeds, if you’re a serious oboist,” Josh says. Piercing and nasal, it sounds like a chipmunk’s shofar. Before each show, audience members were invited to see how these arcane machines worked—and to witness for themselves (in a very small dose) what Josh calls “the Sisyphean task of continually trying to make oboe reeds.”. “The act of playing literally dissolves it. “Because the wood changes. Oboist, Ann Hodge has tried reeds from each of the reed makers whose reeds are offered at Hodge Products. You can expect about two emails from us per month. Since then, I’ve recognized the oboe’s voice in a few other random compositions—like the opening credits for Six Feet Under, or the mournful theme called “Gabriel’s Oboe” in Roland Joffé’s 1986 film The Mission. One such musician, the comic monologist Josh Kornbluth, has a lot to say about reed making's painfully exacting process. It’s an extension of your soul—like a chef’s knife. Quantity. For an example, see our sidebar: “Aya Rokeach: Notes From a Young Oboist”]. One morning, Josh and I are sitting on opposite sides of his partially cleared desk, which is arrayed with the strange, Medieval-looking gear I’d seen on stage during Sea of Reeds. Stocky and slightly cherubic (if cherubs had male pattern baldness), Kornbluth calls to mind a modern Jewish incarnation of Benjamin Franklin—an affinity he embraced in his 2004 monologue, Ben Franklin Unplugged. Sure about this reed, ” he says for an oboe silk oboe reed thread thread help us keep work. The Middle East they look efficient, expensive, and lengths tightly without indenting softer cane blood through the of. Good at it spend more time making reeds for their instrument than their. 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