Having a couple of extra rehersals with a the Pianist is a possibility, we have done this before on other grades. That advice is really appreciated. Her Teacher doesn't acompany her though her Piano Teacher might which would make it easier in terms of rehersal.

Originally we asked that she skipped grade 6, because of the dislike of her pieces, in the sense of not doing the exam, playing various pieces and working up to G7 over a longer time frame. That may well be what happens in the end.

Assuming the reed is still in one piece. Leave it stood tip down in a little hydrogen peroxide (available as about a 10% solution from any chemist). This will clean off the gunk and 'biological life' that will be eating into the surface of the cane and causing it to no longer work.

It won't make the reed last forever, but will give it a new lease of life for a while. Just remember not to play on it all of the time, keep for special ocassions only.

Reeds should be rinsed (as soon as practical) in water after use - to prevent the build up of spit and other nasties which are the things responsible for killing reeds. I put a little surgical spirit into the staple and blow it through the reed tip, then rinse with clean cold water. It cleans and sterilises at the same time and makes the reed last longer and reduces the need for adjustments.

Has the weather changed? A sudden change in humidity can be enough to change the reed.



Why doesn't she just take time to explore things which aren't on any particular list and then go for grade 7 when she's ready. The pieces on the exam lists are not the only oboe music available.

I wouldn't want to enter for a grade 6 exam with only 7 lessons; there are not only the three pieces to learn but also as I think Claire said the scales and the sight-reading and the aural. And what happens if she or the teacher is ill and they miss a lesson?

I've only had one go through grade 6 recently, he did Chedeville, Busker's Hat, and Kristall. When we started looking at the pieces, I did think myself that there weren't many pieces that really grabbed me (apart from Kristall - I love that!), but actually, as we worked on them, we got to like them more. I think that can sometimes be the case - your daughter might not like Piece X now, but if she works on it for a few weeks she might come round.

I like grade 5 even less at the moment!

I start a new job tomorrow teaching flute, oboe and Bassoon. Apparently there is one pupil who is doing grade 5 Oboe in June. Hope she is playing good pieces! I'm sick of the Study from the Hinke Book though and hope she's not doing that...

Back to reeds...they seem to thicken or harden up with age as well. Thanks for the tip about surgical spirit/hydrogen peroxide. I just clean my reeds when they stop working so well. My teacher cleaned one of my reeds in a jewellery cleaner, it's only just recovered!!

Sonic baths are great for reeds, but you do need to be VERY careful with how long you leave things in them. One or two minutes is plenty, but I know some think everything needs a good five minutes!

Reeds thicken because they harbour bits of food, spit, various biota from your gut and other nasties. It sticks to the rough surface of the reed blade and gradually builds up the thickness. The cane itself doesn't get thicker.

If you at least rinse them with clean water (preferably) immediately after use, it will slow the build up. Depending on an individual reeds use, I'll clean it out properly once a month.

I can highly recommend cleaning your teeth and drinking some water before playing. This will also save the pads on the instrument from attack by sugary breath or stale food. Drinking water also helps 'dry playing', ie. slows down the rate of moisture build up in the instrument when you play. Less risk of gurgling octave keys and less frequency of swabbing the top joint during practice.

I do try to always clean my teeth before playing, but I'm not good at remembering to clean my reed after practising, but I think that I will try and remember the surgical spirit/hydrogen peroxide tip.

That's what we sort of expected to happen, it just doesn't seem to have worked out. I must admit I tend to buy her a selection of pieces off the exam syllabus but only as we don't get much direction from her teacher as to repertoire at any level.



Thanks Claire, glad she's not the only one with mixed feelings. I did think that might be the case for her that they woiuld grow on her, she looked and listened again last night but still feels the same.

The Buskers Hat is one she particularly dislikes, not tried the Kristall. there's no problems with her looking at any pieces exam list or not. It's probably not a bad idea for her to investigate the pieces anyway.


Reeds!!! Don't even get me started on them....

Reeds are neurotic, the oboe is neurotic, oboists are neurotic (even if the last of those three won't admit to it). I'm not sure if a neurotic predisposition is required of a person to take up the instrument in the first place, or whether neurosis is something that sets in during learning to play the instrument. I suspect the former.

Everyone I speak to who doesn't play the oboe, says all the people they know who play the oboe are slightly mad/eccentric in some way. Yes, I agree and I'm crackers. Nobody who was totally sane would even consider playing the instrument.

just a random question..

but i'm having trouble with my oboe.
i recently got the octave key cleaned out as i had a lot of gunk in it and my teacher says that this should only need doing liek every 5 years.
but recently whenever i play i can hear the rattling of spit in my oboe.. and i clean it out thouroughly after every practice and its not my reed.
Its really annoying me as my tone sounds rubbish..

anyone got any ideas?

Now she tells me!!! after encouraging me to start a year ago

Have you tried the rizla-under-octave-key-and-blowing-through thing?

Sanity is over rated

I started learning the oboe partly by accident - having a passion for messing about with woodwinds - so knew nothing about what 'makes' an oboist or how I should behave.

Perhaps there's a bit of stereotyping going on here. ie all frenchmen wear stripey sweaters and berets, recorders are only for small children, people called Craig or Gary drive Ford cortinas with go faster stripes and have furry dice... etc

So far my impression of oboists is that they're extremely solid, serious people. The crazy ones are the brass players - closely followed by cellists! Having to lug that huge container to rehearsals every week while the others skip in with their little delicate cases.... Enough to make anyone mad!

Steve

But brass players get to take people's knees out with their cases, blow raspberries as an excuse of making music , and emptying vast amounts of water condensation in front of people is so satisfying! Obnoxious yes

I have failed to find anything that was remotely non-famous in terms of oboe repertoire on the naxos music library, however there is one oboist who stood out when I was listening to the CDs. What does everyone think of Heinz Hollinger? I can't say his sound is what I prefer, but his skill! Wow!

One of my favourite CDs is of him playing Oboe/Oboe d'amore concertos by JS Bach and CPE Bach. I always have it ready in the car for when I need cheering up!

Steve

Holliger is without a doubt the master of technique though not everyones taste when it comes to actual tone/sound. I can't say he falls into my "Favourites" camp but there is no denying that he has done a huge amount to bring the Oboe into the publics eye and ears. His work on twentieth and now twenty first century music cannot be denied, he is constantly striving developing new ideas and techniques (don't ask me to qualify that...its way to early and I am way to thick to understand what he actually does in finer detail) but the general concensus of opinion is that he is a very important figure when it comes down to the Oboe and repetoire.

Personally my favourite players are Albrecht Mayer and Francoise Leleux...Mayer is at his best I feel at the moment his recordings are breathtaking, his Queen of Sheba defies belief ( it actually makes me feel quite depressed as I will never play it (a) that beautifully or (b) that fast...his articulation is staggering and makes my tounging seem very VERY POOR which it is. Francoise Leleuxs Playing is simply exquisite, controlled tone, the most delicate PPP, his entry in the Easter Oratorium is staggering, he comes from nowhere through the Orchestra and his Voice (Oboe) just floats out across the room. Again this is a double edged sword, inspirational and yet utterly depressing at the same time....some people have far too much talent and IT SIMPLY ISN'T FAIR.

Anyway here is a Youtube recording of Mayers "Queen Of Sheba" there is a bit of a pre amble before the playing starts of a couple of minutes but its worth the wait and a wonderful visual record....I hope you enjoy it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XncK7lrZyI

kindest regards

Andrew

I got two new reeds today... They are BOTH amazing!!! They will be going in the safe I think, only to be used on special occasions...

Having only recently taken up the oboe (surely the finest instrument on the planet?) and previously having a fairly sketchy overview of only the "popular" repertoire, I found myself on a similar hunt.

I recommend the Oboeclassics label http://www.oboeclassics.com where there are some wonderful Cds for sale and free clips to download. My favourites from them so far are "Intercession", a great mix of contemporary and more traditional, and "Though Lovers be Lost" by Emily Pailthorpe. She probably has the most lovely tone I've heard so far and, as a sucker for all things Britten, I'm repeatedly listening to her recording of "Temporal Variations". Wonderful music and playing.

My teacher has also pushed a variety of things my way to check out. Top of the list so far I would say, in no particular order, Nicholas Daniel, Hansjorg Schellenberg and yes, Heinz Holliger (though I sympathise with previous views re. his sound).

I have also been told in fairly certain terms that Alex Klein is one of the best, though I'm yet to hear him.

As to "non-famous" repertoire - well there's Britten (!!) and try the Berio Sequenza and Holliger pieces (e.g. Studie uber Mehrklange), Lutoslawski. Don't ignore famous though - the Strauss concerto for instance.

But you love me for it really

Know any professional orchestral oboists? They'll give you a true insight. You'll often find them manically attempting to find, scrape (or sometimes make) a suitable reed, ocassionally just a couple of hours before a performance. Neurosis in extremo!


Emily plays a Howarth XL oboe.

So what does that make me on the days when I am carrying my daughter's cello, and my daughter's trombone and my oboe.



I like Albrecht Mayer too. (Isn't it François Leleux, if it's Françoise it would be a woman?)

My favourite oboist is Lajos Lencses (who plays a Marigaux). His CD Fantasies Pastorales contains some lesser known pieces.

Extremely volatile, and possibly illegal under the Geneva Convention?



Actually, although I don't know any real professionals, the oboists I've met are quite the opposite. They tend to be incredibly well prepared, with a collection of reeds that are all 'almost' perfect and quietly choose one, play it, and if it's not perfect, they might thin the tip, but honestly, they're far calmer and collected than the others.

I think the woodwind players are the calmest of all the musicians. How can you compare them with the string players and brass!? They're completely loony!



Steve

Do tell us where you got them from, so we can inundate that reedmaker with orders!

Talking of which - after I was looking at Andrew's Mayer clip, I followed a link to here - blimey!! And this kid looks about 15. [Just looked him up on Google - he is indeed 15!]

And if you want your jaw to drop even further, try this one.

*Sigh* Guess I'd better get practising, then...

ouch

It's not worth getting depressed about. How many of this type of talent are there really out there? They are actually very few and far between if you consider how many children from modest backgrounds play musical instruments and through hard work, still reach a high standard, but never go any further with their musical talents.

Pushy parents, precocious kids and YouTube are not a good mixture. We seem to have a real issue in society these days that parents need their children to be seen as the best and will do anything, at any cost to try and prove it. It's nothing other that handbags at dawn if you ask me. Modern day duelling, using their children as the weapons to out-smart each other. However, if Mozart was alive now he'd have a field day. He wouldn't have had to spend half his childhood in a stagecoach being transported around Europe, that's for sure. He'd have just whacked his home videos on the web and got people sending in their congratulatory messages.

But these children are not a modern Mozart. How many of them will make it into the music profession? Not many. Most 'hot house kids' are burnt out by the time they are in their early 20s and anyway, you don't need to be a child star to become a professional musician - it's down to some natural talent, a lot of practice and about 95% luck of being in the right place at the right time.

I've just listened to this one and O.K. it's virtuoso technique but I don't actually like the oboe played this way; it seems to take away from that special something that made me want to learn the oboe in the first place.

Just to avoid the possibilty of a Howarth / Loree war starting up, I'll just mention that the sleeve notes make it clear that this CD was recorded on a Loree, but inded she does now (also?) play an XL. Nice little article here:

https://idrs.colorado.edu/publications/DR/P...2/DR27.1/59.pdf

After reading that I was a bit intrigued by the comments I saw here about recent XLs having tuning problems (as that seemed to be their strong point according to EP).

I agree virtuoso technique isn't everything - but it would be nice to have technique like that, wouldn't it?! I also listened to him playing the Bach G minor sonata (on Youtube somewhere), and the slow movement in particular was really extremely musical and just lovely - so he can do that too, not just twiddle his fingers.

I think like Andrew said, it's partly depressing but also inspiring. It does make me want to practise more/better, even though I'm never going to be that good. (Same with something like Young Musician o.t.Y.)

They were york medium reeds from Howarths (red thread). I have tried a few different makes from them and these are by far the best ones I have had.

Well, I'm about to purchase a Loree, a thirtie year old Loree to be precise, which to me have a sweeter and warmer tone than the newer ones, but I also own four very nice Howarth instruments. Two of them are the XL model, both with excellent tuning.

I will stress the point that it is the very new, recently made, ie. XL's made within about the last twelve months, that appear to have some tuning issues, not those of a greater vintage. Emily's XL is at least 4 years old, maybe more.

Amanda's post has just given me a thought - would any of you be interested in buying my Loree?? I have one oboe surplus to requirements since I got my Marigaux, and it's just sitting around. I should get round to selling it, really.

If anyone's interested (or knows someone who might be), get in touch and I'll give you more details!



Not tried those. According to the Howarth website, though, it looks like they only go up to medium, which is usually too soft for me. Are they typically medium, or on the harder side?

No, they do seem a little softer that usualy mediums - maybe thats why I have found them to easy to play!! But I like having an open apperture on my reeds with some resistance and these claimed to have both. I think I would definitely reccomend them for pupils though.

Anybody any ideas for G5-6 standard pieces for me to think about getting for the summer holidays?!

(the time that music takes to come/get sometimes... )

Pianoboe

I'm in love with the Albinoni Oboe concerto at the moment. (op6, no.6). Its on the grade 7 list, but its not that challenging.

Is that the one in C major? I'm rubbish with opus numbers...

Its in D major

Is it not opus 7?

I am playing that with my oboist friend; the oboe part looks pretty easy, the piano part however doesn't!

Yes it is... I must have been thinking about another op 6

I like albinoni...i'll ask my teacher about it thanks

The wonderful oboe reeds I bought last week have all of a sudden gone very quiet and easy to play. They are so easy to play, they are hard to play - if that makes any sense?? Very upsetting Playing 1st oboe in a concert on sunday so kind of need a good reed

Yes, it makes perfect sense. A reed which is too easy is just as tiring, albeit in a different way, as a reed that is too hard.

You could try several things:

Are they wired? In which case you could try squeezing the wire to make them open a little more which will make them feel harder.

You could try soaking them for a long time - dip a reed in water the way you usually would if you were going to play and then put it away wet (ie without blowing the excess water out of it) for 24 hours. You can repeat this several times if necessary.

How do you feel about adjusting your own reeds? If you cut a slither off the tip this will make it harder but it will also change the overall tuning so you would then need to rescrape the rest.

Finally a not very useful suggestion but should the weather suddenly turn very dry (ie the atmospheric humidity level drops, nothing to do with whether it's hot or not) the reeds will harden up of their own accord.

They are wired, yes. I've tried squeezing them, but only with my fingers, might get my bassoon reed tools out and use my pliers or something. Not so keen on adjusting them, I think that would end in disaster!!

Its been quite hot for quite a few weeks now and I only got these at the beginning of last week.

you shouldn't need pliers, if you're squeezing in the right place.


It's not the heat but the dryness that's important - hot and humid won't have the same effect. Where I live (in the south of France) it can get very dry in the winter when it's cold and I joke about the fact that my reeds are a fairly reliable barometer.

Anyone know the Berio Sequenza? if not check it out its amazing.
anyway i'm working on it but can't find a fingering solution for the harmonic 5ths towards the end - Libby Van Cleve's online article has suggestions but they don't seem to work on my oboe and anyway she says they can't be played in tune, but i've heard recordings where they're bang on perfect fifths. anyone played this piece? how did you play them?

Hello Des, I know the sequenza but have never got to grips with the multiphonics...may I suggest you post your question here http://test.woodwind.org/oboe/BBoard/list.html?f=10 There are many highly experienced players here who will advise you.

Hope this helps, you could also register without joining at the IDRS forum here https://idrs.org/ the page may try to warn you that the certificate isnt right but click on continue and locate the forum from the IDRS homepage...

Good luck

Regards

Andrew

I played it many years ago, but I can't remember... I'll try and look out my copy later to see what I wrote down. (I had more trouble with the fluttertonguing than the multiphonics!)

The Oboe BBoard forum Andrew suggests is a good idea.

sorry to barge in... i havnt been here in ages lol


So how is everyone getting along?





I havn't got my date for the grade 7 yet, but its half-term so i realy should be doing a lot of practice...



The CYO ordition times are coming in about a week. the date is 14th June. 3 days after my physics GCSE module. the grade 7 is likely to clash with yr10 mock GCSEs so i don't know what to tell the teachers if it does.

Fingers crossed the dates won't give you any problems.

Where are you at with the pieces at the moment and scales if you are taking AB? I hope you have been doing lots of practice over half term.

Good luck when the time comes.