Where Are All The Oboists These Days? Options

[notmusimum]

Perhaps we are just in an area where there are lots of young Oboists and it's not representative of the general situation.

Oboists are still very thin on the ground here (both adults and children), and most groups here would welcome oboists with open arms. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I can believe this Barry. In this area certainly our Music Service has run a very successful campaign to encourage people to play Oboe. The fact they offered free instruments and tuition has helped enormously. I'm fairly certain that they are not the only one locally to have done this.

I know from other forum members that this opportunity hasn't been in existance further south to the same extent, or at laest it wasn't 4 years or so ago.

[barry-clari]

I can believe this Barry. In this area certainly our Music Service has run a very successful campaign to encourage people to play Oboe. The fact they offered free instruments and tuition has helped enormously. I'm fairly certain that they are not the only one locally to have done this.

From what I know of the North West music scene, there does seem to be a lot more oboing going on there, and that can only be a good thing. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Arundodonuts]

I can believe this Barry. In this area certainly our Music Service has run a very successful campaign to encourage people to play Oboe. The fact they offered free instruments and tuition has helped enormously. I'm fairly certain that they are not the only one locally to have done this.

When I took up the oboe I expected it would be hard to get a specialist teacher. Not a bit of it, there are loads. Not all as good as mine of course. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

As for adult amateur oboists - well round here we are like Zulus, "thousands of 'em". Luckily I am not yet competing for a position in an orchestra which insists on only having 2 oboists. The outfits I play in accept "n" oboists (where "n" is an integer greater than 0).

[notmusimum]

I can believe this Barry. In this area certainly our Music Service has run a very successful campaign to encourage people to play Oboe. The fact they offered free instruments and tuition has helped enormously. I'm fairly certain that they are not the only one locally to have done this.

From what I know of the North West music scene, there does seem to be a lot more oboing going on there, and that can only be a good thing. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Not when your first instrument is supposed to be oboe and you end up playing sax all the time (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Just because you are capable of playing something else and others are not.

Seriously it has to be good for quality of playing.

[morton]

The problem is that these days I find it very difficult to play quietly enough. This isn't to do with having played in a wind band. It is to do with the standard I have reached.

Surely the more advanced you are, the better your control of dynamics should be.

This is true, but also the instrument resonates more, so you have to play much quieter than everyone else to make up for this. I find I finish up playing anything from pppp to maximum mp on a light weight reed, while everyone else is playing a nice comfy mf upwards.

[Roseau]

The problem is that these days I find it very difficult to play quietly enough. This isn't to do with having played in a wind band. It is to do with the standard I have reached.

Surely the more advanced you are, the better your control of dynamics should be.

This is true, but also the instrument resonates more, so you have to play much quieter than everyone else to make up for this. I find I finish up playing anything from pppp to maximum mp on a light weight reed, while everyone else is playing a nice comfy mf upwards.

I have never heard any other "good" oboist complain of this.
It's usually beginner oboists who are too loud.

[Dulcet]

I do on odd occasions play as an extra in amateur orchestras, (but not for concerts, as I have no interest in doing concerts with amateur orchestras) The problem is that these days I find it very difficult to play quietly enough. This isn't to do with having played in a wind band. It is to do with the standard I have reached.

hmmmm...

well, at least you're honest (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

(reminded of a Frasier quote here but feel it would be tactless)

[notmusimum]

The problem is that these days I find it very difficult to play quietly enough. This isn't to do with having played in a wind band. It is to do with the standard I have reached.

Surely the more advanced you are, the better your control of dynamics should be.

This is true, but also the instrument resonates more, so you have to play much quieter than everyone else to make up for this. I find I finish up playing anything from pppp to maximum mp on a light weight reed, while everyone else is playing a nice comfy mf upwards.

I have never heard any other "good" oboist complain of this.
It's usually beginner oboists who are too loud.

...or too quiet. Daughter spent a term moaning about someone who was always miming. I think in truth they were playing very quietly.

[morton]

The problem is that these days I find it very difficult to play quietly enough. This isn't to do with having played in a wind band. It is to do with the standard I have reached.

Surely the more advanced you are, the better your control of dynamics should be.

This is true, but also the instrument resonates more, so you have to play much quieter than everyone else to make up for this. I find I finish up playing anything from pppp to maximum mp on a light weight reed, while everyone else is playing a nice comfy mf upwards.

I have never heard any other "good" oboist complain of this.
It's usually beginner oboists who are too loud.

They are probably loud in relation to other beginners. There is nothing wrong with the way I play the oboe, I am only doing what I have been taught to do.

[Arundodonuts]

The problem is that these days I find it very difficult to play quietly enough. This isn't to do with having played in a wind band. It is to do with the standard I have reached.

Surely the more advanced you are, the better your control of dynamics should be.

This is true, but also the instrument resonates more, so you have to play much quieter than everyone else to make up for this. I find I finish up playing anything from pppp to maximum mp on a light weight reed, while everyone else is playing a nice comfy mf upwards.

So your pppp is the same as everyone else's mf? You need to learn to play more quietly.

[sbhoa]

The problem is that these days I find it very difficult to play quietly enough. This isn't to do with having played in a wind band. It is to do with the standard I have reached.

Surely the more advanced you are, the better your control of dynamics should be.

This is true, but also the instrument resonates more, so you have to play much quieter than everyone else to make up for this. I find I finish up playing anything from pppp to maximum mp on a light weight reed, while everyone else is playing a nice comfy mf upwards.

I have never heard any other "good" oboist complain of this.
It's usually beginner oboists who are too loud.

They are probably loud in relation to other beginners. There is nothing wrong with the way I play the oboe, I am only doing what I have been taught to do.

In any sort of ensemble it's a question of awareness and balance.
You need to know how your part fits in and when it needs to blend or stand out.
The conductor has the job of monitoring this of course but it helps if individual players have some awareness.
I think that you probably have more need to blend and keep things quiet at least part of the time in a wind band than in an orchestra where the oboe is rather outnumbered. In orchestral solos you would get the opportunity to 'play out'.

[barry-clari]

I think that you probably have more need to blend and keep things quiet at least part of the time in a wind band than in an orchestra where the oboe is rather outnumbered.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) - it's not uncommon to see three or four oboes in a wind band, that being the case, balance is key. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[morton]

The problem is that these days I find it very difficult to play quietly enough. This isn't to do with having played in a wind band. It is to do with the standard I have reached.

Surely the more advanced you are, the better your control of dynamics should be.

This is true, but also the instrument resonates more, so you have to play much quieter than everyone else to make up for this. I find I finish up playing anything from pppp to maximum mp on a light weight reed, while everyone else is playing a nice comfy mf upwards.

So your pppp is the same as everyone else's mf? You need to learn to play more quietly.

My pppp is the same as my teachers pppp. Does this mean that he also plays too loud? I could argue that most people in amateur orchestras actually play too quietly.

The problem is that these days I find it very difficult to play quietly enough. This isn't to do with having played in a wind band. It is to do with the standard I have reached.

Surely the more advanced you are, the better your control of dynamics should be.

This is true, but also the instrument resonates more, so you have to play much quieter than everyone else to make up for this. I find I finish up playing anything from pppp to maximum mp on a light weight reed, while everyone else is playing a nice comfy mf upwards.

I have never heard any other "good" oboist complain of this.
It's usually beginner oboists who are too loud.

They are probably loud in relation to other beginners. There is nothing wrong with the way I play the oboe, I am only doing what I have been taught to do.

d

In any sort of ensemble it's a question of awareness and balance.
You need to know how your part fits in and when it needs to blend or stand out.
The conductor has the job of monitoring this of course but it helps if individual players have some awareness.
I think that you probably have more need to blend and keep things quiet at least part of the time in a wind band than in an orchestra where the oboe is rather outnumbered. In orchestral solos you would get the opportunity to 'play out'.

What happens if you are playing second oboe in an orchestra? ( I am quite prepared to play either part) I actually find playing in a wind band easier because there are more flutes, than in an orchestra.

[Dulcet]

[quote name='morton' date='Dec 24 2010, 12:42 AM' post='1016662']
[quote name='pushpull' post='1016106' date='Dec 21 2010, 11:59 PM']

So your pppp is the same as everyone else's mf? You need to learn to play more quietly.
[/quote]
My pppp is the same as my teachers pppp. Does this mean that he also plays too loud? I could argue that most people in amateur orchestras actually play too quietly.

Actually you may have a point here. I remember the first concert I performed in as principal clarinet (having spent years bassooning in orchestras, but being a much better clarinettist) being astonished when I heard the recording and discovering that I was barely audible.

[Arundodonuts]

The problem is that these days I find it very difficult to play quietly enough. This isn't to do with having played in a wind band. It is to do with the standard I have reached.

Surely the more advanced you are, the better your control of dynamics should be.

This is true, but also the instrument resonates more, so you have to play much quieter than everyone else to make up for this. I find I finish up playing anything from pppp to maximum mp on a light weight reed, while everyone else is playing a nice comfy mf upwards.

So your pppp is the same as everyone else's mf? You need to learn to play more quietly.

My pppp is the same as my teachers pppp. Does this mean that he also plays too loud?

Any really good oboists I know can play at the limit of audibility if required. Are you saying that's still too loud to match an amateur's mf?