Hello Everybody. Its me again. If there are any oboists out there or anyone who has an opinion then answer me a question. Do you think you can teach yourself the oboe sufficiently.

No, it wouldn't work at all! There's no point anyway, cos if you're going to spend so much on an instrument, you should make it one you're going to take seriously; you can't spend £800 and then decide that actually you don't want to.
Even then, it takes a fair bit of time to learn to play it properly, even with teaching!

so would you not advise it?

Wat gradeare you and how long have you been played?

I did grade 7 today (fairly sure I passed but not much more). I've been playing 6 years, but for two of them I was in braces, which really screwed up my playing.

I wasn't neceassarily thinking of startingnow i just thought someday if i decided to take it up will i need lessons. But thank you anyway. I will bear what you said in mind.

Hope you get good results i'm sure you would have passed

I taught myself oboe for about a year on an old plastic Boosey and Hawkes. I got quite a long way, but came on much better with a teacher. Having decent reeds made a huge difference, and then I got a better instrument. I had lessons for a couple of years, then went back to Uni. I guess I got to about Grade 7 standard in 4 years, though as I was much older when I started (22) I chose not to do exams. Wonder now if I might someday.... I had also played flute (no lessons) before. I think it would be fair to say that you can teach yourself some things, but to have a teacher would be much better. I just couldn't afford it early on. You can get into some bad habits, though I don't seem to remember my teacher pulling his hair out in horror when he took me on.

cool. What grade are you on the flute?

Taught myself. Loved oboe so much I gave up with the flute after that, though it comes out from time to time... play very badly now!

shame. The flute is a lovely instrument

Hey....

i think it would be really hard to teach yourself well. I've been learning for nearly 4 years and i'm almost ready to sit my grade 7 exam... i started learning oboe from a flute teacher, but that didn't work very well, so after the first year i went to learn from a professional oboist, who i am learning with at the moment. i found this last year that i have progressed more slowly because it was my first year of high school and i had fewer oboe lessons, and it was much harder to practice because i had less time. also, it felt like i didnt know what to do to improve my playing when i didnt take lessons with a proper teacher regularly.
Anyway good luck if you do decide to teach yourself oboe, the world needs more oboists!!

musicmouse

yes you can.
any body can do anything.
I will teach myself the Baroque oboe when I get my reed.

Ben again.

i did, i taught myself oboe for about 2 month and i rent a oboe then i got a teacher!

Not advisable in the long term, but if you can find a spare oboe hanging around (maybe at school, but so few have them...) then by all means give it a go - you would need someone just to point you in the right direction in terms of mouth positioning though.

No longer an oboist - but a wind player...
self-taught on recorder for twenty years. Probably got to a standard which might have scraped me a grade 6 with a fair wind. Got a teacher, did grade 7 after 1 year, grade 8 after the next year, on fortnightly lessons. I reckon oboe and recorder each have aspects which make them hard to play well.
Yes, you could teach yourself some things, but for the tricky stuff, it is so much better to have someone listen to you and point you in the right direction when you get a bit stuck.

Personally I wouldn't recommend it - but then I don't recommend anyone teaching themselves any instrument from scratch without some guidance from someone who knows what they're doing.

I compare it to learning any skill. You wouldn't expect to go into hospital for surgery and have a consultant who'd "taught himself" would you? You probably have to have someone help you a bit to learn to drive initially. So it is with music.

OK - you're not going to kill anyone (unlike an untrained surgeon might) if you teach yourself but you will almost certainly learn to play with quite a few technical faults simply because nobody's walking the journey with you to help correct them when they creep in. I've lost count of the people I've had to steer back onto the straight and narrow who've either tried to teach themselves or been taught by someone who doesn't actually play the oboe (ie a generalist woodwind teacher).

So, if funding is a problem, I strongly advocate a few lessons initially and then take it from there. Getting it right at the start is key - you may well then, if you already know something about music, be more able thereafter to look after yourself.

Have fun anyway - oboe is a great instrument!!

I've taught myself every instrument I play. It would definitely be possible to teach yourself oboe, but I wouldn't advise it because:

* Oboes are very expensive instruments. A new student model would cost just under a thousand. If you're spending that much money on an instrument, it's best to get some good tuition so you can make the most of it.

* Oboes have a tricky embouchure (or so I've been told). If you want to learn an instrument like oboe, where you need a good technique just to get a sound, then it's best to get a decent teacher so that you can establish firm basic techniques and give yourself a strong foundation to build upon.

Matt