I`m a beginner and my instructor wants me to control the sound with blowing... and I notice that it`s impossible for me to play high B and above without tightening my lips. He often tells me to focus on the speed of air I`m blowing out... if the speed is fast enough, the sound will come naturally. How do you oboe experts out there play those high notes? If I don`t tighten my lips and simply do it by blowing out a large amount of air, I`d feel a large pressure inside my skull and it seems to deafen my ears a little bit... Am I pushing myself too hard? Anything that I should do to enhance my blowing technique?

Thanx!

Your question is more complicated than it looks at first. Others are reading you, but no responses. Every word of every sentence which you have said is important. I won`t even go into detail because I believe the problem is at this point with the anatomy of your head, sinuses, mouth and eustachian tubes, to ears, inner & outer. And we can`t give medical advice. Unless somebody else knows otherwise, I would say try to make a pre-diagnosis yourself by seeing what it takes to make your ears pop (again I can`t even say how, in case you harm yourself) or just see your doctor, ultimately an EENT specialist. Because YOU are doing everything right for your specific situation, which doesn`t achieve the result on the oboe, and your teacher`s advice is also correct, and again, it`s not working for you.

Jimmy LIO
ive been playing the oboe for over a year now and still have problems blowing with the reed. I am sorry that there is only one thing i can say. Now i am not sure that this will work but you can try leting some air leak through the sides of your mouth when you are blowing.

Relax more, and although it seems harder, open up more on the high notes. Do the opposite of squeezing the reed.

Also, the only area in your whole body that should be tense is your stomach muscles.

A good technique is to go with a tuner. Finger a middle D (4 lines up on the staff) and blow. The important thing is, do not use any embouchure at all. Just put your mouth up to the reed, and completely relax your mouth. Now, heres the hard part: You will most likely be flat. Your job is to (without tightening your lips at all) bring the tone up enough so that you are in tune. This requires lots of air. You may feel dizzy at first, but with practice, you`ll get better.

There`s something that works for me...I don`t know how `legal` is it, since it involves a bit of a "jumping" on the reed (and as we all know, the teacher never lets go of the "lips - on the edge only" thing).
I`ve found out that D and D# are easier to play when lips are on the edge of the reed whereas E and above are more playable when lips are more closer to the wires (I talk about 30rd octave notes). Of course it involves some jumping, but as time passes by you`ll be able to keep the jumping amplitude as short as possible.

Regards the "pressure" - I think it`s all about the adaptation to the reed and it`s humidity (you can`t play much on an over-wet reed, especially when it comes to high notes) and experience. Me too had similar problems at first, but it comes much easier by now.