I don't know why, but I just bought the 'ornamental oboes' book because it sounds good, and I see it's on a lot of sillabi, ,and is about the right standard for me seeng as some of it is on the grade 5/6 syllabi for different boards ...



Are the pieces in it good?

Yeh, there's some quite nice ones...and some good ones for sight-reading too!

I had my last oboe lesson for ten weeks yesterday

Over the summer I am going to be working on Bach Concerto in G minor, Bellini Concerto in Eb and Telemann Fantasia n°7.

yes, same i do not play the oboe so you guys will have to fill me in!
my brother does though! but hes not on the forums!
xxx

Wahay!!
Just got my result for grade 6 oboe, and after an agonising wait of 3 weeks and 2 days, I have discovered that I got 131 - Distinction!!!!!!!!
I'm so happy.
Pieces -26, 26, 27
Scales - 17
Sight reading - 18
Listening - 17
I haven't seen my mark sheet yet, but my teacher thinks I've been marked quite harshly because the comments are much more generous than the marks.
I'm not too bothered though. I'm just glad it's done now.

Well done

Well done.
What did you play?

I played albinoni concerto in C major, Pierne piece in G minor and a Bach aria (no. 64 from the book of difficult passages for oboe).

Well done!

Great result! Well done!!

Well done

Congratulations

I'm feeling quite pleased...I played a couple of oboe duets at a fund raising concert last night. It's the first time I've really played in public (except as part of a wind band )and I was really very very nervous. But it was fine. We played an arrangement of the Flower duet by Delibes and something untitled from a book of duets...and everyone said how nice it sounded ..were they just being polite??
I know it's only a small thing and straightforward pieces but it felt like crossing a watershed somehow.

Well done! & it isn't such a small thing

Well done!!

very well done itchy1!

I got my report the other day, and it said I should 'work on producing a more secuure sound/tone on the higher notes'.



How do I work on this?

Just a shot in the dark, but perhaps long notes/slow scales, concentrating on tone and tuning each note relative to the last one.

As Rosemary says long notes but also octave jumps. Play the lower octave for half of you usual long note length, open the octave key and slur up to the higher octave and hold for the remaining half. Opening the octave key should be enough to make you change octaves in tune; you should not have to change your embouchure, the amount of breath or anything else. You can also do it the other way round; start with the higher octave and just close the octave key to slur back down.

When you can do this reliably do three notes, bottom octave, top octave, bottom octave in one slur; and then top, bottom, top. You can also do octave scales Bb Bb', C C', D D', Eb Eb' etc.

Also arpeggio exercices; first ordinary arpeggios and then ones with bigger jumps (eg missing out the fifth, C,E,C'). My teacher has given me loads of these from various books - I am sure your teacher must have loads as well.

Hope you don't mind Keri I'm going to show this to my daughter, her notes sound a bit thin in the higher register.

Something that I feel is terribly important, especially for our younger oboists is the skill of Listening...I have seen many young players not only Oboists but almost all instruments including Piano, and though technically it is coming together they are not really listening to themselves...The notes are there but they are played and that seems to suffice...

I accept that phrasing and tone come with not only musical experience but experience of life, and the sooner that children grasp that phrasing, colour and gesture are all of equal importance along with the actual notes I feel that they will progress further.

Is too much stress is being placed on getting through pieces maybe in an attempt to pass exams and possibly to placate the parents and reassure them that their child is progressing at a certain rate. Perhaps we should concentrate on a little more explanation of what lies behind the music and the interpretation that lies therein, is this sudden development of a childs emotional sense simply not possible as experience comes with time? I am neither a parent or teacher but an observer so my questions are exactly that...Questions.

I have posted with boring regularity about the importance of listening...the Oboe is akin to the human voice and we don't expect our singers to produce anything but a beautiful sound. I feel sure that the Oboe or any instrument for that matter should have the same approach. Surely it is far better to produce a piece of music beautifully played and within the players capability, than to stretch the player into technical difficulties which beyond the actual note playing leaves much to be desired in the quality of the sound and phrasing.

I urge all young Oboists to focus Focus FOCUS on your tone, Listen to yourself play, listen to your phrasing and interpretation rather than just plough your way through the notes on the page. Are you satisfied that you have conveyed the story the composer wants you to tell through his music...is there a begining a middle and an end..has the story reached its conclusion or left an air of confusion...

I won't deal at the moment with the hard reed soft reed issue but I will say that until a player has total security playing on a soft reed where the tone is secure and the notes ring clear and beautifully there seems little point in increasing the pressure on the embochure. Maybe its better to increase the reed resistance slowly, very slowly and then work for awhile on each level of reed resistance...there will be a couple of steps back at first but give it time...but above all else keep LISTENING, if you like what you are hearing its very likely that so will everyone else...

Kindest regards

Andrew

I agree, and I concentrate on the feel of the music, but rarely the 'story'.







I got my result today (exact score and breakedown of the score will come later...), and I got a distinction! My teacher said it was very close though About 87 out of 100





My teacher just said that she's changing her pupil's exams to abrsm instead of trinity, becasue she doesn't like the 'out of 100 system' with trinity, so I'm going to take future exams with abrsm. Lol



So.... I have 3 pieces that my teacher set me for the summer, all grade 6 pieces.

Albinoni Oboe concerto in C major - op 7 no. 12
Romanze from 'two fantasy pieces'
Syncopation from 'ornamental oboes'

plus all the normal stuff like long-notes and scales...



Problem is.... I can't play any of them 'till about a couple of weeks from now becasue of the slow dispatchment of the albinoni concerto and ornamental oboes book ....

Congratulations Lizbun! Very well done.

Well done Liz, congratulations to you

Well Done!!!

Well done Liz.
I presume the two fantasy pieces are by Nielsen. I really like the Romanze.

Yes, it is the Nielsen one

Well done!!

Congratulations! Well done Liz

Well done, Liz, that's fantastic news

If you ordered your new books from musicroom then they don't take the full 14 days they say it's more like a week.

Let us know the breakdown from the marksheet. Which was your favourite piece?

Sara

Well done Liz!! You've worked hard for it!

Andrew I agree about tone and not increasing the Reed strength too soon. That is something beyond pupil/parental control.

Beautiful piece

Yay!!! Well done you!!

I havn't got my break-down for the marks yet...
I wonder when they'd come...

How's your son doing on the Oboe Sara?

With Trinity they are likely to take ages and ages...

I thougt the mark sheet and the Cirtificate came seperatly with trinity exams...

You might be right! I just remember waiting ages for the Certificate of the one Trinity exam the girls have done and assumed the mark sheet was with it. Thinking back it was seperate!

My son's doing really well. He hasn't done any exams, though, because he's been doing GCSEs which is enough pressure already. He's started the Grade 6 syllabus material, but none of the ones you mentioned.
Basically he's aiming for grade 6 in the Autumn session if it goes well over the Summer... Lots of hard work needed, but he's loving it Thanks for asking, Liz.

Sara

On the oboe scales list some of the ranges are listed as twelfths. How far are we expected to go for that? Would it be, say in c major, C (notes) C (Some more notes) G and then back down? Or something else?

Yes in this case you would go up to G and then back down to middle C. (Although I'm not sure that C major is asked for as a 12th).

If you are playing scales over the whole range of the instrument (I don't think they're asked for in exams but my teacher gets me to do them) you go down below the tonic but should come back to the tonic to finish so for C major you play up to the highest note you know, go all the way down to the B below middle C and then back up to middle C.

Thanks for that C Major was just an example, as I've never come across scales over a twelfth before! It sounds strange stopping there

I've never actually though about scales over the whole range - once I get the hang of twelfths I'll try it! Thanks

This is a bit random, but...

I love the albinoni oboe concerti soooo much!


I wish I could play them with full orchestra one day and not piano, because I'm sure to play all the ones I like some day, just not with orchestra


I didn't know it 'till now, but the concerto which made me think I made the right choice in choosing the oboe was the C major one (op9 no5)

Don't they have them for the clarinet? It's to limit the use of the higher notes which are a bit harder to play. Even grade 8 only expects you to go no higher than the F# three octaves above midde C.

I think they have them for at least some grades for clari - haven't looked at the syllabus for a while though so may well be wrong.

Nope - The clarinet overblows at the twelfth, so it is possible to have several scales (E - Bb) just in the lowest register, and even 2 octaves only goes into the altissimo in 3 scales! So we clarinetists get 3 octaves scales later on.

Just to let all you folks know that I may be selling one of my oboes, probably the new Howarth XL that was chosen for me last October by Gordon Hunt.
I'll probably list it on ebay and invite offers (price TBA, although considerably less than a new Howarth from the shop) and asking people to contact me personally to arrange a viewing/try of the instrument.

It will not simply end up with the highest bidder, that will not happen. I want it to go to an appreciative home and one where it will be cared for properly.

I'm sorry that you're selling one of your oboes. I hope that it's something you've chosen to do and not something that you have to do...

I've read good things about the Howarth XL, it's a pity I haven't the money for a new instrument or a good reason to upgrade. (do you need a good reason to upgrade!!?)

As to your first question, half and half really. I haven't managed to find the time to play the new instrument as much as I would have liked and it's a pity to leave it sat in its case doing nothing, when there might be someone else out there who will play it every day. The money could actually be put to other uses and (despite what others on the forum may say), I find that as an amateur player it's becoming more and more difficult justifying the extremely lavish ownership of two Howarth XL instruments.

As to whether you need a reason to upgrade, well, how about 'because you want to'. A lack of cash to fulfull the upgrade is normally the one thing that stops people doing it.

Hi Amanda

I second itchy's regret that you are selling one of your oboes. Unfortunately my current level of skill with the oboe could not justify me buying such an instrument - I certainly could not do it justice. Do you play your other XL in preference? I've listened to Gordon Hunt playing (from the Internet only, I regret) and it is quite sublime!

Well, put it this way I'm still only thinking about it. One or two others on the forum know the saga of what happened after I sold my beloved Powell flute - I ended up buying another one, albeit a secondhand professional model Powell, which was an upgrade on the one I'd sold anyway.

A much bigger worry with the oboe of course is that I know I will never be able to replace that particular instrument, regardless of cost. I didn't pay full price for the one Gordon chose for me, I got it for quite a lot less - it's a long story - but he spent a good few weeks playing a number of XL models before finding the 'right one'.

Gordon plays an XL made in 2000, which I don't think he has any intention of parting with, otherwise I'd probably have been chasing that one as well
(I can thoroughly recommend Gordon's CDs by the way).

The other XL I have was owned and played by Roy Carter in the LSO. I play that one more than any of the others and would never part with it, even if I was destitute and on the street - in which case I could play it and earn myself enough for a cuppa and a sandwich probably

I'll probably get the other XL out this week, play it a bit and then see how I feel. Update to follow......

I play oboe, but it's not one of my main instruments. I took grade 3 ages ago then skipped to 5, then 6, but never took the exam and then 7 xD I did the grade 7 work but not exam too, dont really play anymore and haven't played for AGES.
I don't really have any oboe music now, so could anyone suggest a piece? Not too easy, not too hard, perhaps about grade 6 standard. I need to take atleast grade 6 on oboe before i go to uni really =/
I like nice, pretty, catchy melodies etc. (That was a rather stupid thing to say, who doesn't like nice melodies )
Anywhoo, do let me know what pieces you like and what i may like/should get