If I had a bassoon I'd be in the topic...am I allowed to use the thread to ask questions about the bassoon???
I really want one, but my parents say I have enough to think about for now....amybe over the summer....or maybe this thread would be a good persuader?!

xoxox

well, if you want to learn the bassoon I would just do it.

Edit: Maybe we should combine the oboe and bassoon topic and just make it the double reed topic << >>

i can't afford to buy one myself at the mo...saving for a sax and a holiday

as soon as I can get one though I will!! hehehe

Good luck, they cost quite a lot Anyways, play an instrument that you like the sound of. All double reed instruments have a great sound though.

lol!!!
double reed thread sounds fab!!!!

xox

yeah, it does sound good lol. Ugh, I hate my parents >.< They keep talking about how I keep breaking my reeds and that I don't need any new books and stuff. How do you guys deal (dealt) with it?

I'm an adult so I pay for my own stuff

Perhaps you should get your parents to take up an instrument. My daughter's argument (whenever she wants something music related) is that I have so much oboe stuff that it would be very unfair refuse to buy her another cello or trombone book.

Nice feeling

I also have every single reed I've ever played on in a box.. All 3 of them!

Problem is, my mom used to. She automatically assumes that the bassoon is basically the same thing as a bassoon.

What did your mum play? (I assume you didn't mean to type bassoon twice).
I only took the oboe up about three and a half years ago because it was what I had always wanted to play.

I already had a piano, a violin, a flute and seven recorders in the house. Hence my daughter's insistence that she is being very reasonable with only two instruments.

I know this is silly, but is my tone good enough for grade 5?(only 'cause I've been playing for a short time, I'm worried that I'd sound like a very bad grade 5 oboe player.)

Me playing oboe

Oh sorry, I didn't mean to type bassoon twice x.x. My mom played Clarinet.

Liz: I'm not an oboe player but you sound fine to me!

Wow there's so much in here - I never expected it to get this big when I first started it!

The clarinet is a lovely instrument... Not that I'm biased or anything! But its very different to a bassoon, despite the number of times I've had to be a substitute bassoon

Get a part time job and buy your own, its the easiest solution!

I would but I'm 15 and my grades aren't the greatest >.>

I'm 15. I'm actually failing one subject.

In my lesson this morning I managed to play all four movements of Telemann's Fantasia N°2 without stopping between the movements.

This was a major achievement for me in terms of stamina and one I didn't think I was capable of (although it is just as well it didn't have five movements!)

Good job.
Rosemary: Well, my parents won't let me, I don't know why.

Wow!!



You'll have to live with it then I guess. Annoying, but there you go!

Thought I would dig this one out again, as I have a question!!

I'm just looking at the Howarth website, as I have time to kill and will shortly have money as well, and am wondering about making my own oboe reeds. I am wondering, if I bought gouged, shaped and profiled cane, a couple of staples, and thread, plus a knife and a book, would that be enough?

Gosh, this is starting to look like an expensive diversion!

Ok Rosemary...you will need

Staples (get half a dozen if you can they are cheap enough)***

Pre-gouged and shaped cane... not overly expensive***

Thread...pick your colour... again quite reasonable***

Goldbeaters skin... cheap***

Wire.................... reasonable***

a plaque for supporting the reed whilst scraping... reasonable****

a block for cutting the tip or better a guillotine not hugely expensive depending which way you go*

A Mandrel...( not a country and western singer but something to hold the staple)... can be pricey******

and most importantly a very good knife...Graf are the best.....pricey pricey pricey but worth the money*****

you could if you are really going to push the boat out get a shaper tip and handle...again not cheap..

there are other bits and bobs that you can add but they can come at a latter date...the most important I have ****

finally get a book...if memory serves me Lady Barbirolli does a fairly good one and I think that Howarths do a reed making kit at a fairly reasonable price which I think includes the book as well... there is also the reed doctor...have never looked at it but its everywhere so there must be something in it... above all get some help from your teacher or a friend who makes their own reeds..tying on itself is a challenge...

good luck its well worth it

Kindest regards

Andrew

I now have full use of the household oboe since my daughter has officially given up.

Now I'm going to have a go. My accommpanist is an oboe teacher and long ago she showed me the basics and I've been breaking in reeds for quite a while but have never seriously tried to get anywhere.

Our oboe is a Howarth and came to us through a distant relative who used it professionally, so I guess it's a good one? The trouble is though, that the thumb rest on the back is very high up compared to my accompanist's - and her's is a very similar model. She wondered if it had been specially ordered like that. There's no way a normal sized hand (even a pianists) can reach the lower keys with their thumb under the rest. I'm wondering about whether it could be moved. I guess there's be two little holes left and the whole opeation might well cost £100s.

With the use of a blob of bluetack to give me a lower thumb rest to reach Eb I can manage most of Time Pieces. I've been practicing for three days now and can manage 12 minutes before my lips turn to mush and I blow raspberries.

Hmm... Yes an expensive diversion!! My main problem is that I know no oboists who make thier own reeds, in fact I know a grand total of 2 oboists! I don't have a teacher.

I think I'll just get the kit!

A lot of proffetionals make them. Only you know how to make a reed to suit YOU. I think reed-making should wait 'till you have a lot of experience wiht the instrument.

...and it can take almost as long to learn to make 'playable' reeds as it will have taken to learn to play the instrument

Seriously though, reed making is an art and takes a long time to perfect. Unless you really do have a good number of hours a week learning to make reeds, it really isn't worth the hassle. Better to buy part-scraped reeds and start from that level first.

Also there's a high frustration factor in reed making...I have never made my own reeds, but my current teacher told me that he would make a whole batch at once, and then only one of those would be really usable...so be prepared!!
Another amateur player I know has just retired and has started to make his own reeds, I'm hoping that one day I can have a bit of reed making session with him, just to learn how a reed is made.

Wise words indeed from AmandaL there...reed making is a lengthy process and not easy...as I mentioned just tying on the cane to the staple takes some doing...I think I have heard that AmandaL can actually do it without using a knot (but she's extra clever )...I do think it's worth learning to do and you will not regret it but be prepared for many long lonely hours (or is that just me )

I have many friends who are Oboists all proffesional players and without exception they make their own reeds...Amandas suggestion of bying part scraped is a very good idea but again be prepared for many dissapointments and disasters...even the proffesionals get mishaps so don't get discouraged...I will post a link later to a site all about making Oboe reeds...there is lots of free information out there so DONT EVER PAY for information... and never post your e-mail to get downloaded information...it's a con..If you can't find anything ask me and I'll have a look round...I don't have any friends so I have the time

As for buying the reed making kit I think thats a very good way to start off, then build up from there...

Good luck all...happy scraping...

Kindest regards

Andrew

I would agree with Amanda L and others as well, especially if you don't have a teacher, I think it is better to buy your reeds. Like so many other things, it is far easier to have someone show you what to do than to try and learn from a book.

I have been learning to make my own this year under my teacher's guidance. From September to end of March I had a session an hour a fortnight with another pupil and since the beginning of April an hour every week. I also do something to at least one reed between sessions. I can now bind the reed onto the staple and scrape it sufficently for it to crow but then am at a bit of a loss as to what to do next. I can put the reed in the oboe and say what is wrong with it but I need my teacher's help to decide what I should do to improve it. He said that by the end of next year (ie June 2008) I ought to be able to do without his help as far as reeds are concerned. So as you can see, this is a long term project.

His main argument in favour of making my own reeds is that once I know how to make them I will be able to make ones that suit me perfectly.

And presumably fine tune reeds when you have to buy them for whatever reason?

According to him a bought reed you adjust is never as good as one you make yourself (once you know how to of course )

I have to confess, I have never actually had to buy a reed yet so wouldn't even know what to ask for if I went into a shop.

I can well believe that, but I imagine that sooner or later most people will end up stuck without a suitable handmade reed, in which case being able to adjust a bought one to make it more acceptable must be a bonus


I guess at least you're an experienced enough oboist now that you would be able to find a decent one if allowed to try a few

Well, I can say fairly accurately what I don't like about a reed (at the moment the hot, humid weather is making them too hard from one day to the next) but am still reluctant to take a knife to them as I'm afraid that I might make them even worse than they already are.

Perhaps not surprisingly my reed-making is a bit like my playing and lacking in confidence. My teacher keeps telling me that I need to break a few reeds and then it wouldn't seem like such a big deal.

Yeah he's probably right. I do sympathise. I wish I could have the confidence to play how I think I have it in me to play.

Maybe you should stamp on a reed just to prove it's not the end of the world if you break it!!

Or buy the cheapest ones you can find, really dire, so that whatever you do will be an improvement and if you totally wreck them it doesn't matter. Though I am aware that cheap oboe reeds still aren't THAT cheap

He has told me explicitely that I have his permission to break a few reeds!
I pay him a lump sum at the beginning of the year and this covers all the reeds I need. In other words it won't cost me anything if I do break some reeds (he'll give me a new one without charging anything) I just don't feel I can.

You're going to have to summon up your inner thug!

Maybe start off with a reed that you don't like much or that has got chipped or something. Just have a go at it with a reed knife! You could ask for donations of old, totally whacked out reeds from people on the board or something. Or ask your teacher if he has any reeds that are already wrecked, and you can do your worst to the reed and give him the staple back afterward. Maybe you'd feel better about it if you had specific permission to "break this particular very rubbish reed", rather than just a general permission.

He's probably right that you'll learn from your mistakes rather than from too much caution. I think that's the same with lots of things! Hard to get out of the habit, though.

If I had a knackered reed lying around the place I'd offer to send it, but I'm yet to give in to oboe temptation!

I put a bid on ebay for 30 used oboe reeds last year (thinking I could wreck them all and then reuse the staples) but it went higher than I was prepared to pay. However, I think this would rather defeat his purpose as his whole point is that I need to have a more relaxed attitude towards good reeds. (I have already wrecked a few of the reeds I have bound on myself in the process of learning to scrape them )

gabriels oboe is the BEST piece of oboe music ever made!

I played it before (The score was my teacher's, so I had to give it back eventualy )

Just listened to that on itunes...Its rather nice!

Hi!



I thought it would eb fun to record all 5 movements of the Corelli Concerto, so



1st mov
2nd mov
3rd mov
4th mov
5th mov



By the way, I had this message from someone telling me to upload my vids to a website called Motiono, and it is the spiting image of YouTube, so it's not worth it.



notmusimum: Sorry if this sounds silly, but why don't you upload more oboe vids?

We've been having a few PC problems and there just hasn't been time to do much at alll recently. My eldest didn't even get half term as she was on a photography and Animation course for Art.I'll do some more when things calm down, but next weeks guide camp.

My youngest is struggling with a really hard reed at the moment that her teacher is refusing to scrape, he wants her to get used to playing on it, it's not doing much for her tone. She's caught in the trap of having one reed that's too easy and another that's too hard, hopefully she'll be able to play on the harder one soon and then I'll video her again. I'm assuming he's doing this to help her improve her tone, but don't know how long it'll be until she can play on that strength properly.

My teacher did this to me a couple of months ago. I spent one frustrating week constantly switching from too easy to too hard, both of which had a horrible tone. Then I decided that if I was really going to have to learn to play on a harder one I might as well get on with it and played nothing but the harder one for a week. This meant splitting my practice session into lots of shorter ones as I couldn't play on if for more than 10-15 minutes. By the end of the week I had adapted to the harder one and in fact couldn't get a sound out of the soft one any more! It took me another week to get my practice session back up to an hour in one go again.

There are distinct advantages to a harder reed. It is far more stable intonation wise (particularly the higher notes) and detached notes are much crisper.

I was a bit like that when I switched from medium soft to medium reeds, instead of going from medium soft to medium soft+... It had such a difference. I don't think it was as bad as what you two have experienced though. Hope the nice tone will come soon notmusimums daughter!

Also don't harder reeds have a better tone once you can play on them?

I have just started playing on harder reeds, but they needed scraping as it was affecting my playing - pinching too hard to make them work, so going sharp once the reed was scraped...also it's difficult to play smoothly if the reed isn't responsive enough. My teacher has scraped one of the reeds and I have taken my reed knife and courage in both hands and scraped the other! They sound much better than the reeds I was using before but they are hard...

Scraping would certainly help my daughters reeds but her teacher is not keen to do it. He's trying to get her to play on a similar strength to himself (don't know why) he let it slip. She's getting better with the harder reed but it will take a concentrated effort and there's just too much going on a the moment. She's just done the Grade 3 Jazz Flute today and has Grade 5 Treble towards the end of July. Hopefully once that's out of the way she'll have much more time to concentrate on Oboe. Part of the problem of juggling too many instruments.

I just found out today that my exam date is on the 26th. THAT'S ONLY A WEEK AWAY!!!

Keep cool, I'm sure you'll be fine...just don't break your best reed (or is that tempting fate!!)

Good Luck and let us know how it goes.