Oscar Thompson (1952: 1728) states that
. . . "singing as an instinctive expression of human feeling, must be assumed to go back beyond all records of humankind" . . .
And when we consider the art of singing in the context of the history of European music, it is apparent that its development and cultivation were usually ahead of the development and progress of the instrumental art. One particularly important phase in the evolution of instrumental art, following the example of the art of singing, has been mentioned by Josef Marx (1951: 7, vol. IV). He feels that the concept of the new vocal ideal represented by the appearance of the "drama per musica" at the end of the sixteenth century had an immediate effect on instrumental requirements. He declares that "with the beginning of the baroque period a complete re-alignment of musical instruments took place . . . Many instrumental types were discarded and only those remained that had an acceptable indoor sound, that were accurately controllable in pitch and dynamics, and that could attain the personal attributes inherent in the solo voice". It was during that period that, for example, the prototype of violin was developed and, some 60 or 80 years later, the oboe.
With regard to the faster progress of vocal art over the instrumental, it is interesting to note that fine singing and its unparalleled power for musical expression has often been the ideal goal and example for instrumentalists. We frequently find remarks and suggestions concerning the imitation of singing in textbooks and instructional materials for various instruments. Even at the present time when the standard of instrumental performance is reaching a very high level, fine teachers still consider the comparison to artistic singing as an important and explicit instructional aid. An example from each, the eighteenth, the nineteenth and twentieth century follows: Leopold Mozart (1951/1756: 51, 101) suggests to violin students: ". . . we must endeavour to produce a singing style . . . to imitate the art of singing. And this is the greatest beauty in music . . . singing is at all times the aim of every instrumentalist" . . . H. Brod in the introduction of his well known nineteenth century oboe method (1826) advises oboe students to follow the examples of singers in sustaining continuously the even quality of sound in slow and graceful passages.
The distinguished violin teacher Leopold Auer (1921: 32) writes: . .."Young students cannot be told often enough: sing, sing on your violin. It is the only way in which to make its voice tolerable to the listener. . ."
Of all instruments, particularly the double reed instruments can justify the claims of being near to the most natural and accomplished of all musical sound producers, the mechanism of human vocal organs, which generate the human voice. The link and certain affinity between singing and oboe playing have often been mentioned without any corroboration, since the early days of the oboe.
The two first known remarks of this nature come from German authors: Johann Mattheson (1713: 268) as translated by Josef Marx (1951: 6) writes: "The oboe, next to the German flute, resembles most the human voice, when it is artfully played and handled like voice. . ."
Johann Philipp Eisel (1738: 96) comments: . . . "The oboe of all musical instruments closest resembles the human voice. . ."
That the validity of such statements is being taken for granted even at the present time is confirmed, for instance by the contemporary oboe virtuoso Heinz Holliger in an article by Rudolf Luck (1970: 84): "It is an old fact that of all musical instruments the oboe is the closest to human singing voice."
These and similar remarks can be supported and explained by several comparable aspects between human voice production and the process of creating the oboe tone.
The mechanism and function of the oboe reed can be compared to that of the so-called human "vocal bands" (Ligamenta vocalia). These two longitudinal strands of elastic membrane (Conus elasticus) cover the inner muscles of the vocal folds (Mn. thyreoarytaenoidei) Frederick Husler and Yvonne Rodd-Marling (1965: 17) explain that it is "the vibratory action of the stretched vocal bands which, by turning the outflowing breath into sound, is most responsible for the production of voice." This principle of sound production is reasonably comparable to the way the oboe tone is achieved. The two finely scraped blades of cane in the oboe reed are vibrated by the exhaled breath.
However, a possible doubt based on the new hypothesis of the "self vibration" of the vocal folds, could be raised against the above stated analogy. According to Husler and Rodd-Marling (1965: 54 f) the following is now generally accepted as a result of some recent research on the voice: "It is not the outflowing breath that sets the vocal folds vibrating, breath is simply the element that carries and forms the sound." The results of the anatomical research mentioned indicate that there is a "great measure of self-activity possessed by the inner muscle of the vocal folds." These authors therefore consider the comparison of the mechanism of the human vocal organ to that of a reed pipe unsuitable since the newest developments in the research concerned. They state that "in a reed pipe the only active part is taken by the current of air expelled; the instrument itself is completely passive."
To defend the appropriateness of the comparison of the two sound producers, the human larynx and the oboe reed, I offer the following argument: By a reed pipe Husler and Rodd-Marling possibly mean an organ pipe with a reed, a bagpipe, a crumhorn and to certain extent a shawm. In these instruments the reed as a sound generator is indeed completely passive (A. Carse, 1965: 121 f). The oboe reed however, which is very closely connected with the players lips and sometimes referred to as "the prolonged lips" is never passive, even if it cannot be self-vibratory like human vocal folds. In artistic oboe playing the reed is being continuously activated and almost vivified by the sensitive embouchure and tongue of the player. Philip Bate (1956: 109) writes that the oboist "can humour the reed with his lips, pinching or relaxing it as required."
The face of a fine oboist playing an expressive solo reveals a continuous and very agile micro-movement of various facial muscles. Sometimes even a slight movement of the player's ears is noticeable. The perpetual activity of the muscles reflects the many automatic delicate adjustments of the player's lips which control the embouchure. The more sensitive embouchure can usually achieve a more effective control over the reed. The reed is virtually stimulated by the embouchure to the most desirable vibratory reactions. Tiniest changes in lip pressure or their position on the reed, assisted by the exhaled air stream, result in creating, suppressing and mixing together various vibrations in the reed or its portions and thus help the player to obtain the desirable tone quality. A simple proof of the fact that an oboe reed is not just passively vibrated by the exhaled breath, is the remarkable difference in tone quality sometimes produced by two different players using the same reed and oboe.
The size and thickness of the vocal folds basically influence the pitch of the voice in the same way that the length, width and thickness of the reed can, to certain degree, vary the pitch of the oboe tone.
In comparison with other treble instruments, e.g. the flute, the clarinet or the violin, the compass of the oboe compares favorably with that of the soprano voice.
The extraordinary facility for articulation and dynamic shadings of oboe playing has a parallel with the diction and almost unlimited dynamic range of artistic singing. The fascinating capacity of the oboe for expression is well described by A. Baines (1967: 91): . . . "The oboe still has the smallest compass of the four woodwind instruments. But into this compass is packed a telling vividness and intensity of character unapproached by any other wind instrument. The oboe is the only woodwind instrument that is virtually impossible to play without felt expression, and in its broad espressivo the tone can be swelled almost to bursting point without any trace of harshness creeping in."
The character and colour of the sound of both oboe and the human voice depend largely on the partials which the fundamental sound is given by its resonators. In the case of the human voice, the resonators are the various throat, mouth and head cavities, while for the oboe the resonator is the hollow body of the instrument. It is, however, also the varying air pressure in the different mouth, head, throat and chest cavities of the oboe player together with the vibrating resonator and its air column that transform the fundamental sound of the vibrating generator -- the oboe reed -- into the characteristic oboe tone.
As the quality of the human voice can be greatly affected by the degree of flexibility and elasticity of the vocal folds, so can the quality of the oboe tone be considerably influenced by the quality, density and various other characteristics of the cane from which the reed is made.
There is another element in common to both sounds, the human voice and the oboe tone, which is possibly the most vital one.: the exhaled air which provides the energy to power the sound generators or to form and to carry the sound. For an oboist it is indeed, the uninterrupted, intense and perfectly controlled air stream which closely connects the player with his instrument and integrates both into one unit. The better and closer this unity, the finer, more artistic and more convincing an oboe performance can be expected -- a performance which comes closest to our ultimate goal, beautiful singing.
Publications quoted from or mentioned in the above article:
Leopold Auer: "Violin Playing as I Teach it" (Duckworth & Co., London, 1921)
Anthony Baines: "Woodwind Instruments and Their History" (Faber and Faber, London, 1967)
Philip Bate: "The Oboe" (Ernest Benn, London, 1956)
Adam Carse: "Musical Wind Instruments" (Da Capo Press, New York, 1956)
Johann Philipp Eisel: "Musicus Autodidaktos" (1738)
F. Husler & Y. Rodd-Marling: "Singing: The Physical Nature of the Vocal Organ" (October House Inc., New York, 1965)
F. Husler & Y. Rodd-Marling: "Singing: The physical nature of the vocal organ" October House Inc.. New York, 1965)
Rudolf Luck/Heinz Holliger: "War die Oboe 100 Jahre Tot?" (Schweizerische Musikzeitung, March/April 1970, Zurich)
Johann Mattheson: "Das Neueroeffnete Orchester" (1713)
Josef Marx: "The Tone of the Baroque Oboe" (Galpin Society Journal, 1951, Vol. IV)
Leopold Mozart: "A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing" (Oxford University Press, London, 1951)
Oscar Thompson: "International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians" (Dodd, Mead & Co., N.Y., 1952)