Hello fellow double reeders, I need some help, I`ve been playing oboe for a while now(still not great at it, but it`s a fun hobby and job) and I recently just picked up the English Horn, however I`m having a hell of a time doing diminuendos. It seems like I can only play the thing at two levels, loud and louder. I admit I have trouble with that on my oboe even, but i`ts damn near impossible for me to do it on the EH. Any suggestions?

Oh yeah, and since it`s an F instrument what do I start a concert Bb scale on? I feel its a dumb question but playing flute before oboe I never had to think about it. Thanks for any help!

Anyone out there? My concerts coming up rather quickly, sorry for the impatience! :O

Well...
Playing English Horn in my opinion is much more easy than the oboe.
You realy have to do one basic thing
and it`s same for oboe and E. Horn
Keep the air go!!!Intensivity of the air+lip covering.
For playing pp and ppp -more lip control-cover cover cover etc.
For plaing forte -reed hardly held at all-onl;y covered with a lips.
Playing english horn does not demand extra hard reeds
Hope this helps
Good luck really

In regards to the Concert Bb-

If you are told to play a concert Bb, then on any F instrument you should play the F scale (one flat- Bb).
If you are told to play a concert Eb, then you should be playing a Bb scale(2 flats, Bb, Eb).
Whenever I am told to play a concert scale, i usually just take away one flat or add one sharp to the concert pitch. So, if I am told to play a concert Eb, I take off one flat, so it becomes a Bb scale. Likewise, if I am told to play a concert G, then i add one sharp, so I play a D major scale.
Also, for concert C, on F instruments it is G major scale. Or, you could just count down 5 notes. So, if you are told to play a concert Bb, think; A, Ab/G#, G, Gb/F#,and finally F, and that`s the scale you play, F major.
This may not work for all people, I`m just used to finding different ways of finding what scale to play because i play other instruments in Bb, Eb, C, F, and A, so after a while you pretty much just know what scale to play.

Thank you both so much, both comments were helpful, and I agree with you Oboist, the fact that I could play it pretty well the first time I picked it up proved that. I do find it difficult to keep the pitch up though, and I noticed that going from oboe to EH is a snap, but the other ways is killer, I almost feel like I`m over blowing on the oboe which I thought was impossible o.O. Anyway, thats for the tips and I`ll keep trying!

Sorry, I ment I agree with Smith, you said the EH was easy, though I agree with both of you, and that scale stuff helped a lot! It makes perfect sense to me =)

What an ingenious way of thinking of concert pitch for English horn. Thanks for sharing that.

Ah yet another problem arises, whenever I play a c or b on the english horn I get this annoying vibration sound, almost like its out of tune with another instrument. I don`t think it`s the instrument because when the other oboe player plays it its just fine, and I keep trying to reposition my emboucher to no avail. So I guess, has anyone else had this problem before that might have some tips to help me out? Thanks!

I`m no professional at this, but perhaps you have some leaks? If it`s really killing your playing, maybe it would be a good idea to have a repair person check it out for pads etc,?

I agree with Riki. I have no problem with that on my English Horn....check your reeds. I`ve had alot of trouble with English Horn reeds -.- alot of them leak or close to far....so you may need to change brands. Dunkel is pretty good, know I make my own reeds so problems have stopped lol.

Ah thanks for the help, and luckily I figured out the problem before I had to take it to a repair shop. I pulled the boquel (sp?) out too far, so there wasn`t enough contact between it and the horn...? Well either way now I have to work on lowering my pitch. Lol, this is just being a giant bundle of issues for me isn`t it? Thanks though, this forums been a great help! =)