Where Are All The Oboists These Days? Options

[katica]

Sounds interesing, I will definitely have a look, teacher has suggested I pick up the Hindemith Sonata too. I'll also be picking up some reed making things and rummaging through any sale items. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

My teacher turned up with a copy of the Hindemith Sonata to my lesson this afternoon but then decided that as I hadn't given up on the Strauss in despair, that we'll stick with the Strauss for the time being and leave Hindemith for later. As he cheerfully told me, the Strauss reveals all the glaring holes in my technique that I am able to get away with in other pieces (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif)

He did suggest some places to breathe and then drew a tombstone at the end of the first page as a symbol of how you feel when you've got that far (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif) This week's challenge is to practise taking really quick breaths while at the same time slowing down the music slightly before each breath so that musically the breath becomes part of the phrase. As he pointed out, the audience is not supposed to realise that this is technically difficult (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Uncharacteristically (since we usually spend a whole lesson on just a few lines) after the first page, he skipped to the cadenza. Breathing is not a problem in this but it is supposed to be LOUD. By the end of the lesson I was starting to think that playing without breathing was probably easier than playing as loudly as he wanted (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) .

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/goodLuck.gif) Roseau. Being able to play through the Strauss at all will be a considerable achievement! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/party1.gif)

Do you have any practice tips to speed up breathing? That's yet another thing which is requiring some pretty urgent practice attention for me.

[Roseau]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/goodLuck.gif) Roseau. Being able to play through the Strauss at all will be a considerable achievement! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/party1.gif)

It's only the second movement (I hope he doesn't change his mind!)

Do you have any practice tips to speed up breathing? That's yet another thing which is requiring some pretty urgent practice attention for me.

Unfortunately not (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)
My teacher was trying to convince me that it is really just a question of illusion - he played part of it putting in far more breaths than were necessary (although he refused to compromise on the first two lines, which he wants in one breath (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) ) and with him playing them they weren't that quick and they did sound musical. He said the trick is to incorporate a mini-rit just before your breath, to project the last note and to play the first note with slightly more intensity than if you hadn't breathed. What makes it hard (and he did at least admit that it is hard) is that there is a contradiction between the musical slowing down and the rapid breath made worse by the fact that the whole thing stresses me whereas in fact you need to be calm and relaxed.

[katica]

Do you have any practice tips to speed up breathing? That's yet another thing which is requiring some pretty urgent practice attention for me.

Unfortunately not (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)
My teacher was trying to convince me that it is really just a question of illusion - he played part of it putting in far more breaths than were necessary (although he refused to compromise on the first two lines, which he wants in one breath (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) ) and with him playing them they weren't that quick and they did sound musical. He said the trick is to incorporate a mini-rit just before your breath, to project the last note and to play the first note with slightly more intensity than if you hadn't breathed. What makes it hard (and he did at least admit that it is hard) is that there is a contradiction between the musical slowing down and the rapid breath made worse by the fact that the whole thing stresses me whereas in fact you need to be calm and relaxed.

Good tip! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

My problem is that when I feel pressured my breathing goes out of the window. I've never been very good at quick out-in breaths. I tend to resort to something more like alternating out and in breaths and even that goes wrong when getting towards the end of a page or an exercise. My teacher says he thinks it's mainly psychological and I know he's right...

[Roseau]

My problem is that when I feel pressured my breathing goes out of the window. I've never been very good at quick out-in breaths. I tend to resort to something more like alternating out and in breaths and even that goes wrong when getting towards the end of a page or an exercise. My teacher says he thinks it's mainly psychological and I know he's right...

So does mine (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) And my teacher doesn't even say he thinks its psychological, he states categorically that it IS psychological.

At the end of my last lesson before the holidays when I was putting my oboe away, he said that it was hard for him to know how to help me with breathing as when he draws attention to it, I become self-conscious and it promptly gets worse instead of better (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif)

[katica]

My problem is that when I feel pressured my breathing goes out of the window. I've never been very good at quick out-in breaths. I tend to resort to something more like alternating out and in breaths and even that goes wrong when getting towards the end of a page or an exercise. My teacher says he thinks it's mainly psychological and I know he's right...

So does mine (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) And my teacher doesn't even say he thinks its psychological, he states categorically that it IS psychological.

To be accurate, so does mine! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)
Nothing like a bit of brutal honesty... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif)

[Roseau]

My problem is that when I feel pressured my breathing goes out of the window. I've never been very good at quick out-in breaths. I tend to resort to something more like alternating out and in breaths and even that goes wrong when getting towards the end of a page or an exercise. My teacher says he thinks it's mainly psychological and I know he's right...

So does mine (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) And my teacher doesn't even say he thinks its psychological, he states categorically that it IS psychological.

To be accurate, so does mine! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)
Nothing like a bit of brutal honesty... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[Arundodonuts]

My problem is that when I feel pressured my breathing goes out of the window. I've never been very good at quick out-in breaths. I tend to resort to something more like alternating out and in breaths and even that goes wrong when getting towards the end of a page or an exercise. My teacher says he thinks it's mainly psychological and I know he's right...

So does mine (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) And my teacher doesn't even say he thinks its psychological, he states categorically that it IS psychological.

How long can you sustain a long note when you don't have to think about anything else? When you start waggling your fingers and tongue about that takes oxygen and reduces the length of time you can play for in one breath. But, I'm pretty sure most of the reduction is due to the tension introduced by having to now play the right notes at the right time as well, not the physical effort of moving fingers and tongue.

I have "The Essential Oboist" by John Williams http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Essential-Oboi...s/dp/B005O96VDC which contains oodles of good stuff. One is a stamina exercise. The idea is to play through as far as you can in one breath, firstly in one slur (no articulation) then with the indicated articulation. It's interesting to see the difference.

[Roseau]

How long can you sustain a long note when you don't have to think about anything else?

It depends on the reed and the note. But actually my problem is not so much playing long phrases as breathing and my problems with breathing are not related to the length of the phrases or even to the difficutly of the music at all. As my teacher has pointed out, if someone else comes into the room, then that it is sufficient to wreck my breathing, which is one of the reasons why he is convinced its psychological.

One of the things my teacher is currently working on with me is the size of the breath. He claims that oboists in the early stages always take too big a breath and that as you become more advanced you learn to play with smaller breaths. He said that teachers initally encourage "big" breaths as a way of getting students to feel where the abdominal muscles are which you need to support the sound; students think that "big" breaths give them more oxygen and that they can play for longer which is theoretically true but big breaths on the oboe also means that they have more carbon dioxide that they need to get rid of before they can take another breath and that the real problem with the oboe is not getting oxygen in, but getting the carbon dioxide out. He said that now that I have (finally) grasped how to properly support the sound, I should try to keep the same sensations using smaller breaths.

I have "The Essential Oboist" by John Williams http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Essential-Oboi...s/dp/B005O96VDC which contains oodles of good stuff. One is a stamina exercise. The idea is to play through as far as you can in one breath, firstly in one slur (no articulation) then with the indicated articulation. It's interesting to see the difference.

I have this too and yes it does have some interesting exercises in it.

[Arundodonuts]

students think that "big" breaths give them more oxygen and that they can play for longer which is theoretically true but big breaths on the oboe also means that they have more carbon dioxide that they need to get rid of before they can take another breath and that the real problem with the oboe is not getting oxygen in, but getting the carbon dioxide out.

Good point.

[pianophrase]

My teacher is always trying to get me to focus on getting all the breath out before I play rather than 'taking a big breath in' which I suppose is what you are saying about getting rid of the carbon dioxide. Experienced oboists probably do this automatically but I still need alot of reminding (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[MrsB]

Reporting back from orchestra. It went much better than last week and I'm feeling a lot better about it; still nervous, but no longer in a panic! A flute turned up so I wasn't sat all by myself. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) We played the easier movements and we got through them ok. And apparently the other oboist will be coming later in the term.

[Roseau]

Reporting back from orchestra. It went much better than last week and I'm feeling a lot better about it; still nervous, but no longer in a panic! A flute turned up so I wasn't sat all by myself. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) We played the easier movements and we got through them ok. And apparently the other oboist will be coming later in the term.

Well done (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[floboe]

I worked on the Kalliwoda in my lesson today. After much work with a tuner, I finally got my top notes into some sort of in tune state. I didn't even realise quite how sharp some of them were getting! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)
Still need to work on that top G!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[katica]

Good news, MrsB! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I also have a terrible time preventing those top notes from going sharp, floboe. I never have to play it but oddly enough I find third octave G easier than some of the notes below it (F#, F, E). I wonder why that is? Playing it in Kalliwoda would be a whole new kettle of fish, though. One day. Maybe. In my next life...

[louise1712]

Reporting back from orchestra. It went much better than last week and I'm feeling a lot better about it; still nervous, but no longer in a panic! A flute turned up so I wasn't sat all by myself. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) We played the easier movements and we got through them ok. And apparently the other oboist will be coming later in the term.

Excellent, well done MrsB (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) do stick with it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)