Well, for grade six & seven, you could try...



1. nielsen- Two fantasy pieces(Romanze is grade 6, and Humoresque is on the grade 7 list for trinity and lcm

2. Albinoni- concerto in C Op7 no12 and 19. Concerto In D Minor Op9 No2

3. Schumann- three romances for oboe (no. 1 or no. 3)



I like all of them Don't know any more though...

Does anyone know why Schumann's Romance N° 2 isn't an option for grade 7? This was the one I started with and having played the other two, I'm not convinced it is any easier.

Is No. 2 the one that's in A Major?

In which case, don't know about for oboe but I'd say it was harder than the other two on the flute, so maybe that is why it's not an option.

When doing long-notes, I realy don't have the patience to play just one note with one whole breath, so I play about 2(sometimes 3) long-ish (it's not that long as it should be) notes... Is this OK, or do I have to have to be patient and spend more time?


I got the nielsen Tow fantasy pieces today (the Albinoni Concerto was out of stock...), and I havn't got the stamina to play it without my lips aching... (don't know why. It's only a measly page...) Long notes every day for as long as I can now(2 weeks holiday in August... no practice then )... Only, I'm not good with them, and don't tend to do them every day...




Yeah.... and I seem to have trouble in keeping a 'ooo' embouchure... It automaticaly goes back to a tight one every time I try. Is there something I can do to make my embouchure better?

I'm just gatecrashing here but I don't remember seeing a picture of a contrabass oboe on here so I thought I'd post one in case anyone fancied getting one

It would be better if it were folded like a bassoon Lol . Of couse folding it would make the sound mellower and ruin the 'oboe' sound, and make it look like a bassoon, but at least it would make it easier to play/look at...




Any thoughts about my recent post...? I still am having trouble keeping the same note for 20 seconds because IT'S SO DULL!!! but I need the stamina for my grade 6 pieces...

Don't know about you, but I reckon us two should exchange piece recommendations, as we seem to be playing some of the same stuff (even though you're progressing faster than me)...we're both playing Syncopation, and we both were playing romance at the same time...what do you think?

Well, as for the long notes, we're supposed to be able to play long notes without 'wobbling' on and off pitch...and, I'm awful at it! I can do it but it's totally boring, what is there to look at for the billion seconds when you're playing the note...so you get distracted and then it 'wobbles'...oh, anyway, just reliving past traumas... So, I'm supposed to practice long notes, and I really can't think of any other way of doing it. Things I've done to practice this are:

1) Practiced random G5 scales holding the notes for a long time.
2)Played a really fast run, and then held the end note on.
3) Just played long notes really boringly...sorry, can't think of anymore...I guess there are some things you just have to stick with.

And that contrabass is HUGE...it's going to sound like a foghorn!

Okay


The Nielsen Romanze is a wonderful piece(better if played with piano)...

Not too difficult either. Only a couple of passages to play a few times indivisualy untill the notes are in your head...
My lips ach by the end of it though... I don't know why. It's only a page Lol


I havn't got the ornamental oboes book yet... I ordered it from sheetmusic.co.uk a couple of weeks ago, and it hasn't come...

By the way, have you done grade 5 already, or are you going to do it soon? Just wonderd, because your doing grade 6 pieces Lol

LIz - you could get a book and read that while you play a long note! Might make it a bit more interesting

Lol



I could re-read the 5th and 6th Harry Potter book, because I tried to read it quicker than I can so can't remember half the things that happened in it. Lol

How about closing your eyes? Less distracting.


It is lovely, though I've only played it on flute (key sig is a bit as it's transposed for flute though!) - I played it at the Leicester concert.

Have you tried altering the dynamics whilst you're holding the note - going from loud to soft and back to loud again? And even just playing the note at the same dynamic but playing it once loud, then soft, then loud-soft-loud etc.

Are you concentrating on the sound as you're playing it and working out how to adjust your embouchure to make it sound better?

Oops sorry, I'm just trying to convince myself really cos I'm doing long note practice as well On clarinet that is, I'm in the wrong thread again, sorry!

You seem to be making sense though. Think I might get my little oboist to try it see if it works.

Don't know what to do about that dreadful reed at the moment. If she tries playing on a softer one it sounds awful (it's a cheapo thing), the hard one she's on at the moment isn't doing her any favours. Lessons have finished now for the summer, don't know how to scrape it and haven't got the tool to do it with. Thought of buying one from Howarths but have no idea of the strength of the one she's got. Anyone able to offer advice, really need a glimmer of a soloution. Frustrated child and Mother.

How many times has your daughter changed streangth of reed? Did she start with a soft reed, or a medium-soft? Listening to the youtube vid's, she sounds simmilar to me playing on a medium-soft reed, so maybe she needs a medium-hard (or even a medium, depending on if the soft one is a bit too soft or far too soft), but I might be wrong...


Try a medium-hard, which would probably need a little, but not too much effort to get used to, then when she's happy with that, she could try the hard one which she can't do now.

Liz the reed is too hard, this I know for a fact, buy I've no idea what strength it is. She played on Medium soft at the very start, then they were made a bit harder by her teacher. Though no idea by how much. The last reed she got was one he'd made for himself. I know he's been playing about 12 years and she's only played 2.5. He would not scrape it for her and then eventually he did. She's still got that reed and also has a newer one, both have been worn in. Her tone isn't improving with them, think I might need to contact the teacher and get him to come round and sort it out. Her tone was quite good at grade 4 and I'm assuming some of that has been lost due to the strenght of the reed. I need to know exactly what to say to him though and I would have to understand what's happening to be able to articulate it properly. AUK are you out there? Or anyone else who knows about Oboe reeds.

I'm no oboist, but progress on any instrument often, even *usually*, goes in fits and starts, rather than a steady progression. It may be that she has just reached a temporary plateau, and will need to be patient till things start to move on again.

I'd totally agree under any other circumstances, but strange that it should happen when the strength of the reed is increased. There's no problem with being patient if that's what's required. She did have a level phrase between Grade 2 and 4 but somehow this is different.

Hello there Notmusimum,

call Mike Britton or Emma Gourlay at Howarths and have a chat with either of them, they are bothe very knowlegdable and very very helpful. It sounds like your little oboist has a duff read that either needs to be binned or drastically altered.

I am not sure if you live near london if its do-able I would even dare to suggest that you take a trip there and take your child with you +oboe and try some reeds till you find what suits...otherwise you may need to send your best reed in and let them match it for you or find something close. If you can go to the chiltern street shop you will be able to get this search over with far more quickly, Howarths isn't far from Mdm Tussaurds and the planitarium so you could make a day of it. Also if you have a flautist in your midsts "All Flutes Plus" is about 100 yards up the road, its a wonderful shop...

So call them and see what they say, they are a lovely company I can totally reccomend them to you and do so without hesitation.

Any probs PM me...

Kindest regards

Andrew

It's not really strange, and it's not necessarily a bad thing. It would be stranger if moving to a harder reed was totally easy, surely?? Like I say, I'm no oboist. But oboists have to eventually learn to use harder reeds to improve their tone, as I understand things, and while the transition might be hard, that doesn't mean she has regressed or that things won't eventually improve. I would be surprised if the transition to a harder reed would in the short term result in better/easier tone, possibly quite the reverse , but long term benefits are more important

By all means speak to the teacher if possible, but don't assume that because progress has slowed or improvement of tone has slowed that something is necessarily terribly wrong.

Maybe some of the oboists around here can give more help, but if her teacher is making his own reeds then presumably he's an oboe specialist, so, with respect, knows rather more about teaching and playing the oboe than you do and quite possibly has his reasons for progressing your daughter to a harder reed.

It may be that he intended to scrape it more, or that he was just seeing how she coped over the summer, (Different situation, but for similar reasons I threw a G5 piece at my just-passed-grade-3 flautist... I wanted to stretch her, to see how she would cope... her first reaction after the week back was "it is hard!" - but that was largely the point, and she coped pretty well with it and had a huge sense of satisfaction when she realised she had made some inroads into a piece that was basically "too hard" ) or any number of reasons. He may be willing to move her to a different reed if she is not coping - it's definitely worth asking

But "Liz the reed is too hard, this I know for a fact" - no you don't... you're not an oboist, nor an oboe teacher, unless I missed something I don't think one should ever be afraid to ask questions of a teacher, & indeed I would encourage you to do so - even if his intention has been to stretch her by giving her this reed, if it is discouraging her so early in the holidays, he may decide to rethink. And indeed, he may have made a mistake or given her a duff reed. (Duff reed sounds unlikely to me, to be honest, if he has made it himself presumably he will have tested it along the way. More likely if it was store bought, even with clarinet reeds you get the odd duff one and they are much simpler than oboe reeds but yeah, it's possible, he may have given her the wrong one or something) But on the other hand it would be sensible to talk with the teacher and ask for some reasons/explain the problems, before assuming that he has made a mistake giving this reed to your daughter

Plateau-wise - I don't think given that your daughter has got to about G5 standard in a couple of years - am I right in thinking she started at 10 and is now about 12?? - that she has had much chance to "plateau" Grade 5-6 level isn't an unusual time for students to plateau, I did on the violin for several years, and many of my friends on various instruments got to that level and then gave up or had progress slow down considerably for months or years.

Especially if she has got to the stage when harder reeds are necessary and more is expected in her exams, especially as she has been playing a relatively short time and is still quite young, it doesn't seem unlikely that on an instrument which requires such stamina things may level out for a while. She's done amazingly well to get so far in that short time, however it is possible that she simply requires some "catch up time" as her body adjusts to the greater demands of a harder reed - the oboe is a strenuous instrument and she's still young

Like I say - I make no claim to have a clue when it comes to the oboe, and would definitely encourage you to tell the teacher she is struggling and ask if it is possible to have a softer reed/adjust the one she has. Just bear in mind that the teacher (one hopes) is an experienced teacher who has done this before, so it may well be that he has reasons which would not be immediately obvious to a novice oboist and her mum. If I were in your shoes I would also want to know those reasons and would be seeking not to discourage my daughter but the reasons could well be good ones.

Reeds can take quite a long time to break in as well, so I wouldn't worry unduly. It'll be good for her to learn to play on reeds which are not perfect - she may have to do this quite a lot! If nothing else, I think it likely her tone will have improved if she goes back to a softer reed after learning to control the hard one. I've just realised that my stamina/tone on clarinet isn't what it used to be, and somehow I don't think a 2 week holiday with no clarinet will help But, when I get back I intend to get a reed which in all honesty is a bit harder than I could cope with even if I was on form, and get myself back to my usual standard with that. Once I go back to my normal reed, it should sound better, and feel better.

^ listen to the reedy people (who know far more than me!! )

I hope I know what I'm talking about, I've spent years agonising over reeds ! If you can sound good with a bad reed, you'll sound fantastic when you get a good one

I buy my own reeds. I tried to make my own once or twice from the remains of broken reeds xD (ie. when a reed breaks, generally only 1 part of the wood breaks, so when i have 2 broken reeds i have 2 intact parts of wood ) but yeah, they never work so good xD
So i buy my own although i was wondering where i'd get the materials to make oboe reeds?
Sorry if someone's already asked this question!

I think Howarth sell them, under Accesories - Oboe

www.howarth.uk.com

Howarth sounds the place to start - also check out this page: http://www.yefchak.com/reed/ which I found fascinating even as a non-oboist!


Well you know more than me

I am not a specialist nor do I think I know everything there is to know that's why I asked for advice.

Sarah in my reply to Liz, I do know the problem with the reed is that it's too hard (her teacher has already recognised that himself) that's how I knew it for fact (I was there when he said it). I never claimed to be an Oboist or have specialist knowledge but there are other ways of knowing the facts. Problems with her playing won't be resolved unless we sort the reed, and it's not a case of not being able to play pieces, I don't think he'd try to streach her in that way at the moment.

She has been playing on the harder reeds for a couple of months not just a few weeks. Yes we've had duff reeds (usually too soft) and occassionally too hard, but non like this. We had bought some cheaper reeds that my daughter found hard but when she went back to them after working on the current reed they were too soft. The problem as I see it is that I just don't know how hard they are.

Andrew I think you are right about Howarths being the place to start, we've had these Reeds so long that we no longer have a good one. Unfortunately we are in the North of England and have no plans short-term to visit London. You're advice is much appreciated.

I honestly think that her teacher is the place to start, if possible, as he knows what he wants to do with her at the moment and he gave her the reed in the first place. If he says "yes, buy a new reed, I suggest about X strength" or "I made this one it may be more appropriate" or "let me adjust that one", then problem solved. Or he might say "go to Howarth's". It does seem wise to give him a chance to say those things though. By all means ask for advice here, but ask her teacher too, as he presumably knows why he gave her that reed - folks on here don't know his reasons.

But never mind. My advice was meant in the best way.

I'm sure it was, but you are assuming that we haven't already done that.

If you have done so recently, I have missed mention of it - sorry.

If you have asked, and are now asking for advice here too, then it would be a good idea to provide the folks here with the information from him so that they can make sure they don't step on his toes/what he is trying to do.

Just having a reed (!) read back through your posts it seems the teacher did scrape the reed, and your main worry is that her tone is not improving? In which case I refer you back to Rosemary's post and my own about patience, plateau-ing, and harder reeds taking some getting used to but this not necessarily being a bad thing at all. (Just for an example, though not on oboe, I have 2 and 2 1/2 Vandoren reeds for my clarinet. I can't make a very good sound on the 2 1/2s but using them improves my tone on the 2s - I'm sure if I was less lazy clarinet wise, I would make a better sound on the 2 1/2s than I do on the 2s...) If the teacher has good reasons for giving her such a reed then it would be better to talk to him about it before going and buying more reeds (they're not cheap after all). It is unusual for progress to be a steady upward gradient in any instrument or any facet of an instrument, and your daughter has progressed fast. It may simply be time for her to consolidate and get her used to a harder reed. You have mentioned her teacher is keen to have her work on tone, which is probably linked to this?

I certainly think that in any case the teacher should be first port of call if possible, out of courtesy if nothing else - in an analogous situation I would certainly hope that a parent would ask me for help rather than try to sort it out by themselves when I potentially had reasons for doing what I was doing. But will refrain from responding further as clearly my advice is not welcome in this matter... I'll bow out gracefully.

I wouldn't say your advice is unwelcome. There really is no more to tell, I know from him the reed is hard (one he made for himself). He wouldn't scrape the reed at first then he did, saying it had got tighter through lack of use (but it had been used). I fully understand the logic of harder reeds and it goes without saying that there will be times of little obvious progress. A period lacking it progress wouldn't worry me, nor a read that was harder than she was used to. I just feel that this has gone on too long and her tone is worse than it was (maybe the reed/reeds are duff or just right for her). It's discouraging in the situation she is in and it's not about work on tone or struggling with pieces or facing a new challenge, these are all reasonable, it's more becomming an impossible task.

I generally don't like bothering teachers at the end of term, don't get me wrong I have total respect for her teacher and if he had explained his motives would be supportive of them. Nor do I know of his plans for the summer that's why I'm reluctant to call him. We have been asking for reeds for several weeks and appreciate that he's not had time to make them, I'm also aware the ones she's using weren't made with her in mind (just remembered).

Notmusimum: I agree with going to the nearest woodwind(oboe) specialist shop to see with the reeds. I only know Howarths(London) and John Packers(Taunton) though...


Has anyone been stupid enough to chip a new reed by accident I think my reeds won't last long like this...


I played the Nielsen 'Humoresque' from the two fantasy pieces just for fun. It's fab!
It's a bit harder than it lookes, but It's not too hard for me.



The Romanze is on for grade 6 for all 3 boards that I know...

Thanks Liz!

We are sadly not near a specialist Oboe shop and it's too close to our holiday to think of travelling to one. I've rang her teacher and am waiting for him to call me back If I've not heard from him by Wednesday I'll ring Howarths.

I was hoping someone would say been there done that got the T-shirt but no luck. Just knowing someone else had struggled in the same way and how they solved it would have helped.

I've only been playing (hardly the word!) the oboe for a short while with 3 cheap reeds. My preferred soft reed got damaged and I find the others (medium) very difficult. I've decided to try some more expensive reeds from Howarth and have just ordered: 1 X Winfield Standard Oboe Reed --Soft, 1 X Angel Oboe Reed and 1 X Andrews Oboe Reed. I will let you know how I get on with them.

They're both great pieces

Will have to look out for it! Going to Scheerers on Friday...so will browse music endlessly then! lol

Liz, I haven't done Grade 5, and I don't think I will do it, but you never know. I'm not a Grade 6 oboist yet, but that doesn't mean I can't play the pieces, and it's up to my oboe teacher to set them for me! I try not to grade my standards on the oboe, because I really don't know exactly. I'm probably a 5/6...

Have fun with the different reeds I'd be interested to know how you get on with them.
I've tried some Winfield reeds (standard Med Soft and Professional Med.) but I didn't really like them very much. My teacher suggested some chinese reeds. I like them, but they are hard and took quite a while to play in, and both he and I have scraped them so that I can play them properly. Perhaps not to be recommended for someone who hasn't been playing for too long!
(My teacher rather surprisingly doesn't mind Rico reeds for a beginner, apparently they can be adjusted to suit, and then they don't change - but just about anyone else I've met is rather unsure about them, but those were the first reeds I played and they seemed to last for ever)

Incredibly quick service from Howarth's . I ordered the reeds at 3:30pm yesterday and they arrived in the post this morning. I was surprised and delighted! The reeds are certainly better than the cheap ones - first impression is that I prefer the Angel and Andrews reeds, but I'll post a more considered verdict in a few weeks time.

I have a winfield continental reed (I think! Green thread) and I like it - it'll certainly do me until I can get a decent sound out of it, then I might think about trying other reeds.

My oboe teacher makes my reeds for me, so I don't really understand about reed hardness, so could someone explain please? *Thinks - am so ignorant*

How hard a reed is generaly defines how easy it is to get a sound on - a soft reed is easier to get a sound on, but a hard reed provides the support for the higher notes. I think thats pretty much it

so soft reeds for beginners and harder reeds for professionals?

Generally. Although at least on clarinet, some professionals may chose a softer reed if say they are playing Jazz and want to bend notes more easily. And its not always a case of the harder the reed the better!

¡muchas gracias!

I am far from an expert, but the following link gives an interesting view:

http://www.oboespace.com/reed-guru/66/what...-hard-oboe-reed

So, what is everybody playing at the moment? If they are...

Hinke- study no26 p16
Nielsen- two fantasy pieces (both of them)
Any Hinke study that will help me with breathing technique. (I can now play some of the studies that was impossible before) lol



And when the book comes I will play...
Syncopation from ornamental oboes
Albinoni concerto in C , op7 no12

My daughter is playing

Hinke Studies various

L'Agreeable and Orientale Grade 5

The Buskers Hat Grade 6

I spoke to her teacher today and he's going to call round with some reeds for her to try later this week. Just have to wait and see what happens when they appear.

I'm playing Orientale!! And... Thats it. I really need to buy myself some oboe music!

Let us know what you get and if you enjoy them.

Yeah, let us know. And get some new pieces or books. Get something moderatly easy for sightreading, or something a bit difficult to streach yourself.

You could try 'first repertoire pieces' or 'All jazzed up' for some sightreading. Also, maybe some of your Clarinet pieces don't go too high/low to play on the Oboe?





I'm getting
Three old french dances(because I like L'Agreeable so much)
Gabriel's Oboe (I played it before, but it was my teacher's)

Sometime soon. Before August I hope.



Is it worth getting 'Jazzed up too for oboe' as well? I can't find it on musicroom.com