This whole situation is absurd! I thought I'd found the form to apply for a place by post but it's for something else. Can't believe they are not organised enough to reply to an email.

Don't know if you're still interested Lizbun, but I picked up a 2nd hand copy of the Ferling 48 "Collection Pierre Pierlot- 1970". It has metronome markings for all the studies. No. 10 gets crotchet = 108.

Anybody know of any good literature/have good advice on making reeds? Feel like this summer I really should get in gear and start having a go while I've got loads of time, but I'd like to read up on it a bit first...that probably sounds a bit silly

Thanks. It's for the NYO audition (which I'll probably not get in but anyway...)

By the way, I find it hard to get the top D in this study but I don't know why... I can do it normally



There's a few you could try. Evelyn Rothwells 'guide to reed making' seems quite good but you might need someone to show you as well. Just to see if your doing it right. I think everything apart from the scraping is easy after a bit but you need to know what your doing

Back from IDRS and in need of a couple of good nights sleep. I had forgotten how soporific sitting around all day can be. Loads of wonderful recitals and masterclasses, the CDs are going to cost a bomb. Got my oboe cleaned and regulated by Howarths for nowt. Got some new reeds and a lovely little reed knife. Also saw the CBSO in Symphony Hall for the first time. A great sounding band and a fabulous hall.

OK it was expensive, but worth it. I must also say how impressed I was by the centre of Birmingham.

Glad you enjoyed it and nice catching up with you on Wednesday.

We too were impressed with Birmingham town centre.

The Junior say turned out really well the NYO and RAM Students were excellent!

Likewise had the Oboe tweaked by Howarths.




The NYO is a really high standard, good luck when the time comes. Emsoboe decided not to go for it this time. She's thinking of NYRO instead and perhaps NYO next year. She will be the right standard on Recorder and have the support of her teacher.

I know It is worth trying though. which session is she aiming to do grade 8 oboe? If it's not too far away then next year might work. It says grade 8 distinction standard but quite a lot of people have that so it is naturally higher (which is why I probably won't get in). I think I'd better start re-learning the pieces in a week or so...

4th Sept at Chets.

Go up there on the 3rd, audition next morning and a weekend of getting to know other lower 6ths.

We don't know yet but I would imagine Easter. It's looking like she will have a change of teacher and I guess they will decide. Her old Teacher thought she was almost G8 distinction standard and she's certainly improved since we had the conversation. At the moment she's playing for 7 hours a day whilst on the residential. That should certainly increase her stamina. Generally people think she has a good tone and the interpretation of the music is improving all the time. She got a mini impromptu lesson from one of the stall holders whilst trying something out at the IDRS day. I must say it's improved her playing no end.




Hope it works out well for you.

cool. the new teacher might want to work on stuff like reed making before grade 8 but I don't know.
What was the impromptu lesson about?

According to the chets website (if it's up to date) I missed a masterclass with my old teachers favourite oboist.



thanks

Just a very nice person helping out with a slight tendancy to go sharp on the high notes.

The new teacher isn't quite a done deal though fingers crossed it will be.

Might have tried to gate crash the Masterclass if we'd known about it .

Hope the new teacher gets sorted out. It sounds like emsoboe and Liz have got some exciting developments going on. I can feel myself going green with envy, new oboes, new teachers, Chets...
Keep us posted with developments.

The oboist in the course I was doing said my oboe top joint was leaky and managed to make my dad think that I need a better one for chets/NYO auditions etc...

Am going to Packers soon to get a 'temporary' oboe that will let me play without as many problems. If me and chets teacher like it it would be not so temporary. I think it's great because I can spend as much time as it takes to find a oboe I really like without worrying about the one I have now. I really hope there is one I luuuurve in packers though.

Lizbun and Pushpull, I've been reading on another topic where you had mentioned you practised for 2 hours a day, and 1 hour a day respectively and I wondered how you managed it without causing your lip muscles to ache?

Well when I started 10 minutes at a time was seriously all I could do. I've built up gradually over 18 months, playing (virtually) every day. A 1 hour session is usually fairly comfortable now and with a gap I can manage a couple of sessions a day if I'm in the mood. I'm looking to up my workload now and I reckon I could manage 1.5 hours, though it's better to split up into 2 or more shorter sessions a day.

Reeds matter. Don't play on something that is too hard for you, it's counter-productive. You'll tire quickly and you will start biting down. I currently use Fortay reeds and they recently sorted out a few purple and blue reeds at the softish end of M/S for me (difficult to do, I know, if you're not there to try them). Even so, not all reeds are identical and I know which ones I can play longest on. Try to play on as relaxed as embouchure as you can get away with, especially on the lower notes. Your tuner is one way of telling you if you've had enough. If you're anything like me, when you start to tire your pitch will head skyward and become hard to control.

Do you do plenty of long notes? They're very good at building stamina as well as improving tone and tuning.

Relaxation is vital too. Take care to relax fully before you start to play, breath in a controlled manner, keep your shoulders down and hands soft. My first teacher said "you don't need to squeeze the notes out". Tension anywhere in your body has an uncanny way of finding its way to your lips.

It is gradual. Make practice as daily as you can and it will develop naturally

Thanks Pushpull and Lizbun,

It is for son who has just heard that he passed Grade 5 with distinction.

He is using Howarth Academy reeds which seem to have the tone he likes but require a lot of effort.

Will try both suggestions of long notes for building stamina and gradually increasing time from 30 mins daily.

Well done with grade 5 I don't know about Howarth Academy reeds but if they need a lot of effort maybe it's worth trying something else? or get his teacher to adjust? Having a reed that's nice to play on is a must

I agree with Lizbun, you do need a reed which is (reasonably) comfortable. At the risk of banging on about them again, several of us on the forum use Fortay reeds and they are very nice indeed. Somehow the seem to be able to produce a reed which sounds nice whilst being comfortable.

http://www.fortayreeds.co.uk/

I started using their "Academy" MS reeds last year (not the same as the Howarth ones) at £11.95 and now use their purple and blue ones in Medium (I earlier said MS - I was dreaming) at £13.95 and £14.95. Not cheap but they are good.

Just returned from an "emergency" trip to Howarths as lower Bb key had a screw loose !! Fixed in a jiffy.

Bought "Orchestral Extracts" by TG because son wanted to play Peter and the Wolf and couldn't possibly leave Howarths without some new music!

Any recommendations for other (non-exam) music at that level greatly appreciated.

We have just heard new Teacher is sorted. Next on the agenda is an audition for the Halle Youth Orchestra in September.

Good luck in sept. I hope the teacher's really nice.

I've heard good things about her but we won't know until lessons start. It's going to be a big change but hopefully it will be for the best.

I now have a patricola S.6 Evoluzione on approval. It's amazing even though I can't play it for long for breaking in reasons. IT'S ACTUALLY IN TUNE (at least compared to the fossati).

Soooo... yeah, I have tried better oboes so I'm returning the Patricola. I think something like a puchner or fossati would be good. I like my teacher's Marigaux but the one I tried at howarths wasn't good. It's going to take AGES to find one.

Are you looking at professional models? Have you spoken to your teacher about it or are just doing leg work first?

Yes. I need something that will last me a long time so I'm talking to the chets teacher when I get there and settled in.

I had a lesson today and I played soooo badly. I seriously think it's annoying how I can do it at home but not in lessons. Probably because I practiced after the lesson lol

Sometimes happens ot Emsoboe with Piano. Her teacher has a theory that once you sort out the bits that were going wrong then other bits start to fall apart. In theend you can conquer it all. At least he's understanding

Well!! We have borrowed a Selmer Cor Anglais with a view to hiring it for a few months until we can sort out funding in the future. I was quite suprised as it sounds much better than I expected. That might be because I don't know much about Selmer Cors.

We have some funding irons in the fire so to speak that we will know about one way or another over the next couple of months. Hopefully this will avoid the lack of instrument senario when the Orchestra starts again in September.

We have got an option to buy depending on if we get any funding and how much it turns out to be. At the moment the instrument is looking promising.

Does anyone know the reputation of these instruments or have opinions on buying something older rather than new.

wait till september and show it to the teacher at jrncm

I'm a bit bored at the moment so...

What's everyone working on?

I did as much of the Haydn Concerto as possible before re-learning pieces for NYO audition.
2 Ferling studies (no.10 and no.39), Telemann e minor 4th mvt (newish) and Saint-Saens 2nd mvt (did it for 2nd round of chets lol)

I'm starting to think of a recital programme - a *very* tentative start is:

Telemann - one or two of the fantasias without bass, or whatever they're called
Elliott Carter - Inner Song
Berio - Sequenza VII

all unaccompanied, it'll be a ###### of a blow but if I get really practicing now!

unaccompanied is difficult.

The pieces are ok I think. Things like 'get fingers steady in that passage' or 'getting that Bb in tune' are taking loads of time when it's probably going to go wrong on the day. I tend to feel like it's good for the main part of a practice session then when I play it again later to see if it's still ok, I find something wrong and it takes about an hour to sort out (and it's not fully sorted out).
Reed scraping isn't getting worse but not getting a lot better either. I tend to scrape with too much pressure

You worked really hard for Grade 8 and I'm sure everything you are doing now is paying dividends. When is the audition?

Try and relax and take it as it comes. You can always try again next year, perhaps putting aside the pressure will help you play better.

Good luck!

The audition is on 4th sept.

I made a video of one of the studies.
cliiiiiick! lol

Hello to all you oboists,

I've really enjoyed reading through this thread and feel like I've learned so much from reading all your tips, advice and techniques! I've certainly added quite a few new websites to my favourites list!

I took up the oboe as an adult in 2001 with a general woodwind teacher and did my grade 5 the following Easter. I then got distracted by doing grade 7 flute the following Christmas. After that I found that I really plateaued and didn't really progress. Although my teacher was great and really good at teaching, I was her first oboe student and I think she just wasn't able to take me that extra step. I ended up stopping lessons and soon after that stopped playing.

I realised recently that I would really like to start playing again and maybe join a local orchestra or windband. It is like starting from scratch but am slowly building up embouchure strength and stamina but feel like I am floundering a bit without a specialist teacher and am worried that I am just engraining bad habits! Reading this thread has really brought home that I need a proper teacher as there was so much about reeds that I am completely clueless on. However I'm struggling to find a teacher - I found one name from musicteachers.com and left a message on her answerphone but have heard nothing back. I asked at my local music shop - a woodwind specialist, and I've spoken to the person they recommended. She said she'd ring me back but she didn't sound very enthusiastic about giving lessons outside school hours (I work full time!), I'm still waiting for her to ring me back. I've emailed the BDRS as their website said they had a list of teachers, and I've emailed a local amateur windband and not heard back from either of them. I'm beginning to feel a bit deflated and discouraged. My oboe playing sounding terrible at the moment isn't helping either.

So, any ideas of where to try next? or does anyone know an oboe teacher in the Huddersfield area who could give early eve/ late afternoon lessons during the week?

Thanks

What a difference a day makes. I have a lovely reed so my oboe sounded lots better today and I managed to play for a full 45 minutes for the first time! And the oboe teacher rang me back to say she can take me so I start lessons a week on Wednesday. I am full of enthusiasm once more and very excited.

So what is everyone else playing?

Lizbun - how is Chets going? After reading through this whole thread I am eager to hear how your lessons are going. hope you are settling in OK.

Really glad you got your teacher sorted out. Hope things workout for you and welcome to the Forum.

I am waiting impatiently for my oboe lessons to start again.

I went on a brilliant woodwind course at the end of August and something has changed about my playing. Both my husband and my fellow oboist in one of my wind bands have commented on my improved tone but although I can feel (and hear) a difference I don't know what I am doing that is different (if that makes sense) and I'm worried it might just go away again.

Emsoboe says exactly the same thing when her playing changes. she can't hear it even though everyone else can. Don't worry it won't go away. Just enjoy it!

Nice to see you back.

I can hear the difference. I just don't know what I have done to make the difference

Perhaps you have simply relaxed a bit more After a mini impromptu lesson recently Emsoboes sound has really improved. I think it sometimes happens if you are playing more too.

You may well be right - husband said something similar.
And I have noticed I can now play 3rd octave G without having the impression that I have to force it out.


Probably also true but unfortunately back in the "real" world I can't play for six hours a day

Thanks.

Keioboe - sounds like the woodwind course really helped. You've maybe subconsiously picked something up from the other players. Maybe your teacher will be able to spot what you are doing differently. When do your lessons start again?

edit: oops simultaneous posting!

My lessons start again some time next week - so about another ten days to wait (and to keep my fingers crossed that whatever "it" is doesn't disappear between now and then).

Hi! long time no chat lol



First lesson is tomorrow. Would've been today but they changed it



Kerioboe, I think that sort of improvement doesn't just go away

Good luck for the first lesson Liz.

Are you any nearer ot deciding on an Oboe? I believe Howarths are possibly going to be at the RNCM Woodwind weekend.

thanks. I'll talk to my teacher about it tomorrow.

Hope the lesson was worth waiting for
How much music do you get each week? (lessons + orchestra(s) etc.

Liz... hope it's gone well! Who's your teacher?