Where Are All The Oboists These Days? Options

[Arundodonuts]

At orchestra we only get about 5 minutes in which to warm up before playing and all I can usually manage is a handful of scales and a few long notes. As a result I'm often not yet quite in tune myself to lead the orchestra in tuning and I don't feel that I play very well at the start of the session.

I'm sure you are quite right. 5 minutes isn't a long enough warm up. One orchestra I go to is just up the road from home so I can do a bit of a warm up before getting there. The other session I do is 2 windbands and orchestra one after the other. The first one is used as a warm up.

But, generally yes, long notes and scales.

[Roseau]

At orchestra we only get about 5 minutes in which to warm up before playing and all I can usually manage is a handful of scales and a few long notes. As a result I'm often not yet quite in tune myself to lead the orchestra in tuning and I don't feel that I play very well at the start of the session.

I'm sure you are quite right. 5 minutes isn't a long enough warm up. One orchestra I go to is just up the road from home so I can do a bit of a warm up before getting there. The other session I do is 2 windbands and orchestra one after the other. The first one is used as a warm up.

But, generally yes, long notes and scales.

I have found that as I have progressed I need less time to warm up but I remember how you feel! I play in a windband on Tuesday evenings and go there more or less straight from work. Since I also work all day on Mondays I usually haven't touched the oboe since Sunday and am always worried about how the reed might have changed since Sunday.

My teacher suggested playing a long A, then notes from a D major (or minor) arpeggio but always returning to the A - so something like A - bottom D - A - mid-octave D - A - octave A - A - F - A etc. gradually speeding up the other notes but playing the A long enough each time to make sure it is in tune and a stable sound. If possible finish with a quick scale to get your fingers moving (choose the one you know/like best).

[MrsB]

Thanks. I think I'll have to work at fitting more into the time available.

[flobiano]

At orchestra we only get about 5 minutes in which to warm up before playing and all I can usually manage is a handful of scales and a few long notes. As a result I'm often not yet quite in tune myself to lead the orchestra in tuning and I don't feel that I play very well at the start of the session.

I'm sure you are quite right. 5 minutes isn't a long enough warm up. One orchestra I go to is just up the road from home so I can do a bit of a warm up before getting there. The other session I do is 2 windbands and orchestra one after the other. The first one is used as a warm up.

But, generally yes, long notes and scales.

I try to get to orchestra early so that I can at least warm up enough to play an A in tune. Similarly to Roseau I do D's and A's, arpeggios and scales - always coming back to the A to see if it is in tune. If it is very flat I gently blow warm air through the instrument without the reed to warm it up more quickly. I find blowing up to the higher notes does bring the lower notes up to tune more quickly too. Fortunately our conductor does realise that wind and brass instruments do need warming up and will usually start off something loud and straightforward with lots of tutti sections to help the process! Quite often we'll retune after that before proceeding with the rest of the rehearsal (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[A.U.K]

I picked up my oboe today for the first time in ten days, following a very pleasant holiday. I was rather afraid that it might be a bit of a disaster, but was actually pleasantly surprised that the technique, lip stamina and muscle memory seemed to have enjoyed the break too!

I missed one lesson for my holiday, my teacher will be on holiday for our next scheduled lesson and we couldn't find another mutually convenient date, so I am basically on my own for six weeks, during which time she expects me to master the first movement of the Cimarosa Concerto. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif) A lot of work needed, methinks.

The Cimarosa is one of the loveliest concertos for the Oboe, the first movement is particularly nice as is the Siciliana..it's all beautiful and I have played it many times..each re-visit brings something new to my attention and it gets better each time..I remember very clearly how it was the first time I played it and how difficult I found some of it but things get better and easier with time..Have fun with it.

[MrsB]

Sorry, I've got yet another question (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blush.gif)

I can just about play up to a high D# but some of the music I've been playing with goes up higher and I'd appreciate some help. I'm trying to learn how to play an E but I can't get it to sound at all and I'm struggling to get my fingers to press down both the G# and left hand Eb keys at the same time, what with them facing opposite directions. Is there a technique I'm missing here? Could anyone post a picture of their fingers doing this to help me see how?

[Barry Toner]

Sorry, I've got yet another question (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blush.gif)

I can just about play up to a high D# but some of the music I've been playing with goes up higher and I'd appreciate some help. I'm trying to learn how to play an E but I can't get it to sound at all and I'm struggling to get my fingers to press down both the G# and left hand Eb keys at the same time, what with them facing opposite directions. Is there a technique I'm missing here? Could anyone post a picture of their fingers doing this to help me see how?

Good for you if you are trying out notes in the oboe stratosphere! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) What on earth are you trying to play?

There are often alternative fingerings for many of these high notes, so pick the one which is easiest to change to and which sounds best on your instrument and reed. For your particular question, using the LH G# key and the RH Eb key achieves exactly the same set holes open / closed on the instrument as your version, and is much easier to bend the hands around. I have found this website to be a useful source of fingerings for basic notes, trills etc, where information is available in a neat table form, so you can easily see the alternatives.

[Arundodonuts]

For your particular question, using the LH G# key and the RH Eb key achieves exactly the same set holes open / closed on the instrument as your version, and is much easier to bend the hands around.

Yup. That's the one I use. Plenty of air needed too.

[MrsB]

Thanks! My chart only gives the one option so it hadn't occured to me to use the right hand Eb. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blush.gif) Will try that tomorrow.

I've been playing The Entertainer and Ladies in Lavender both of which go up to an F so I have to miss those bits out. There may be more in my growing music collection. Am determined to get there eventually though.

[Roseau]

Sorry, I've got yet another question (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blush.gif)

I can just about play up to a high D# but some of the music I've been playing with goes up higher and I'd appreciate some help. I'm trying to learn how to play an E but I can't get it to sound at all and I'm struggling to get my fingers to press down both the G# and left hand Eb keys at the same time, what with them facing opposite directions. Is there a technique I'm missing here? Could anyone post a picture of their fingers doing this to help me see how?

It is one of those things that gets better with practice. It's true that you can use the right hand or the left-hand keys but you really do need to be able to play it either way because if you are playing it just before or after a D or a C# then you ought to use the left-hand keys to get a really smooth change.

That said, if it is windband music I would be inclined to put it down an octave. You've probably got notes that high because it is a flute/oboe part (rather than just oboe) and you are likely to be in unison with the flute. If you're not used to playing that high then it is very likely that you are not going to be in tune (and flutes are very often not in tune anyway).

[MrsB]

No it is oboe music. I could probably drop the note in the entertainer, but the ladies in lavender ones are at the end of a scale. There's a high E in one of the Schubert movements I've been playing too, so I'd like to learn it for that. Thanks for help (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Roseau]

No it is oboe music. I could probably drop the note in the entertainer, but the ladies in lavender ones are at the end of a scale.

Even if it says "oboe" on it, it is still an arrangement though and likely to be very similar to the flute part. That said, a top E at the end of a scale is probably the easiest way to start playing one. I'm guessing that most of the orchestra are playing the same scale and that there is a cresecendo up the scale; it is important that you use more breath pressure and don't "pinch" the top notes to get them out and doing a very marked crescendo will help.

There's a high E in one of the Schubert movements I've been playing too, so I'd like to learn it for that. Thanks for help (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Assuming this is not an arrangement this is likely to be the most problematic one to learn as if it is Schubert's oboe part (as opposed to an arranger's) it will be important musically.

(As you can tell, I have come to the conclusion - confirmed by my teacher - that a lot of arrangers don't really know what an oboe is and the part is a) often not adapted to the instrument b) not really essential to the piece so that if the orchestra/wind band doesn't have an oboist the piece will still sound OK).

[Roseau]

I can't decide if today's oboe lesson was totally depressing or the exciting start of a new stage of learning (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif)

I have managed to hurt my arm using a mouse (so am now trying to use the computer with my left-hand only) and have an anti-inflammatory patch and a compression bandage which provides some relief round my right arm. It is only when the arm is prone that it's painful to do anything so playing the oboe is not a problem but my teacher decided he wasn't willing to let me take any risks and would only let me play a couple of bars at a time. Instead he had me working on varying the air-stream - blowing out a narrow stream of air but following the music so incorporating tonguing and dynamics in the right places. I found this very hard to do partly because I kept losing the pulse but largely because he seemed to have such a huge variety of effects and even after several attempts I couldn't imitate everything he was doing; then he had me "draw" a picture in the air of how I felt the passage was phrased. When he finally let me play the passage on the oboe I played about a bar and a half and just stopped out of sheer surprise because I couldn't believe how good I sounded (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)

And then, of course, once I started thinking about it, I couldn't produce the same wonderful sound (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) I have instructions this week to rest my arm, play very little and instead spend my usual practice time blowing and drawing pictures in the air (the rest of the family really will think I've gone mad (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) ).

He claims that it is the ability to constantly vary the air-stream to shape the music is what turns a competent oboist into a good oboist. He stressed that what he was asking me to do was not easy and said that a year ago I would have been incapable of even attempting it so I should see it as proof of how much I have progressed. His image was that I've got to the top of the mountain and that I can now start finding my way down the other side but my own vision is that I thought I was almost at the top and now I've suddenly discovered that there's another mountain behind it which is even higher than the first (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif)

[flobiano]

I can't decide if today's oboe lesson was totally depressing or the exciting start of a new stage of learning (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif)

Definitely the exciting start of a new stage of learning. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I have managed to hurt my arm using a mouse (so am now trying to use the computer with my left-hand only) and have an anti-inflammatory patch and a compression bandage which provides some relief round my right arm. It is only when the arm is prone that it's painful to do anything so playing the oboe is not a problem but my teacher decided he wasn't willing to let me take any risks and would only let me play a couple of bars at a time. Instead he had me working on varying the air-stream - blowing out a narrow stream of air but following the music so incorporating tonguing and dynamics in the right places. I found this very hard to do partly because I kept losing the pulse but largely because he seemed to have such a huge variety of effects and even after several attempts I couldn't imitate everything he was doing; then he had me "draw" a picture in the air of how I felt the passage was phrased. When he finally let me play the passage on the oboe I played about a bar and a half and just stopped out of sheer surprise because I couldn't believe how good I sounded (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)

And then, of course, once I started thinking about it, I couldn't produce the same wonderful sound (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) I have instructions this week to rest my arm, play very little and instead spend my usual practice time blowing and drawing pictures in the air (the rest of the family really will think I've gone mad (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) ).

Sounds really interesting, are you blowing with or without the reed? My teacher is trying to get me to think about phrasing and how to shape each phrase and know exactly where each note sits in the phrase. I find it quite difficult so maybe I should try drawing it in the air.

He claims that it is the ability to constantly vary the air-stream to shape the music is what turns a competent oboist into a good oboist. He stressed that what he was asking me to do was not easy and said that a year ago I would have been incapable of even attempting it so I should see it as proof of how much I have progressed. His image was that I've got to the top of the mountain and that I can now start finding my way down the other side but my own vision is that I thought I was almost at the top and now I've suddenly discovered that there's another mountain behind it which is even higher than the first (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif)

Take it as encouragement that you are making progress, but I fear there will always be a higher mountain to climb. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif)
I hope your arm gets better soon.

My oboe playing is going OK, I am still struggling trying to balance both oboe and piano practice and I'm still waiting for a date for my piano exam which must now be in the last 2 weeks of the exam session. At this stage I'm hoping it is the last week as that will be easier to manage with work but would also mean that I won't really have any time at all between exam and Stalybridge which could be a problem. I've decided that I'll be playing the second movement of the Mozart Oboe quartet, as I won't have time to learn anything new and everything else I'm learning at the moment is either too long or has too difficult an accompaniment. It seems a bit of a wasted opportunity to play without accompaniment as I so rarely have a pianist to work with. Hopefully it will be OK, stamina is a bit of a problem with it but I'm sure the audience will be kind. On the other hand I'm convinced that my (seemingly endless) piano scale practice is really helping my technique on the oboe. I can tell from piano that my fingers are getting stronger and working more independently and on the oboe I'm finding it much easier to play things quickly and cleanly. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I've also been asked to play at a Garden Party the weekend after Stalybridge. The principle flautist at orchestra is involved with a local charity, who are having the party and various people people have been asked to do a short slot. She's put me in touch with a local accompanist and I'm getting together with her on Monday for a run through. The brief is that it should be light and accessible so my tentative program is the Oboe Quartet First movement (sadly slightly too long for Stalybridge!), Oblivion and Dring's Italian Dance (which I played for my grade 7 so hopefully can get it up to standard without very much effort!). I'll see how it goes on Monday.

[Roseau]

Sounds really interesting, are you blowing with or without the reed? My teacher is trying to get me to think about phrasing and how to shape each phrase and know exactly where each note sits in the phrase. I find it quite difficult so maybe I should try drawing it in the air.

It was blowing without anything - this was one of the things that made it hard because it was without the resistance of the reed but he insisted on proper deep breaths and supporting with abdominal muscles. And there's the problem of needing extra breaths because you haven't got the resistance of the reed so you use up air more quickly.

My oboe playing is going OK, I am still struggling trying to balance both oboe and piano practice and I'm still waiting for a date for my piano exam which must now be in the last 2 weeks of the exam session.

Good luck for the exam (IMG:style_emoticons/default/fingersCrossed.gif)
Periodically I think I would like to go back to playing the piano more seriously and then think that I just wouldn't have time to practise two instruments so I'm very impressed by what you're doing.

I've decided that I'll be playing the second movement of the Mozart Oboe quartet, as I won't have time to learn anything new and everything else I'm learning at the moment is either too long or has too difficult an accompaniment.

My teacher keeps suggesting this piece to me and I keep telling him that I'm not overkeen on Mozart and chosing something else. The last time this happened he said that I couldn't go on avoiding Mozart for ever (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif)

I've also been asked to play at a Garden Party the weekend after Stalybridge. The principle flautist at orchestra is involved with a local charity, who are having the party and various people people have been asked to do a short slot. She's put me in touch with a local accompanist and I'm getting together with her on Monday for a run through. The brief is that it should be light and accessible so my tentative program is the Oboe Quartet First movement (sadly slightly too long for Stalybridge!), Oblivion and Dring's Italian Dance (which I played for my grade 7 so hopefully can get it up to standard without very much effort!). I'll see how it goes on Monday.

Sounds fun - I hope the weather's nice for you and you enjoy it.