does anybody know about Boosey and Hawkes emperor oboes?

Is the oboe a good instrument? I really want to start to learn it. And do you think I could pick it up eaisly with Grade 3 piano under my belt, quite a good knowledge of theory and my extreme amount of determination??.

Yep. Oboe is definatly a good instrument.

If you practice hard on the oboe, grade 3 piano is enough reading skill to progress well.
It depends on your diaphragm, how fast you'll pick-up the techniques etc. as well.


I started the oboe 6 months ago, when my piano sightreading was grade 3/4 standard, and I had grade 5 piano(plus grade 3 violin)
My Oboe teacher is now thinking of entering me for grade 4 or 5 in june/july (I want to do grade 5 in june/july, becasue I think I can do it.)

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Lizzie,
Is your oboe teacher a specialis oboe teacher or just a woodwind teacher, and what's the general concensus on this one?

My teacher teaches teaches oboe, clarinet, flute and sax, but specializes in Oboe. No one in my family has an objection to me taking it.

My daughter is taught by someone who's first instrument is Oboe, he plays it professionally in an Orchestra. She is lucky that he really knows what he is doing and is able to put across to her what she needs to do. He does not teach any other woodwind instruments to my knowledge. The best teachers are more likely to be the one's who thoroughly understand the instrument they teach. In the case of Oboe I really think that having someone who is a specialist is important, you need to be taught how to breath especially support.

My girls has been playing just over 2 years and has started looking at the Grade 5 pieces, although there is no way is she ready to take the exam at the moment. There won't be any question of her teacher allowing her to take it until she is ready. I think learning an instrumnt is aboput having a strong foundation, and whilst my child has rushed up the grades on the one hand, nmone of us would have wanted her to do that if her technique wasn't reasonably solid.

I love the sound of the oboe, and of all the double reeds. Played the most ghastly B&H Regent for several years; despite being good with my hands, never learned to make reeds, and wish my teacher had not been in the camp which said that you needed to be good at the oboe before you learned to make them. I think it is better to learn to make reeds when you're still a bit, er, rustic on the oboe, so that by the time you can benefit from good reeds, you can also make good ones. When the Regent broke its neck, I was lent a basic but good wooden school oboe, made a much nicer noise on that, but had to give it back eventually. My teacher hated the sound of the Regent so much that she lent me her Howarth to play in lessons...and the first time I played it I stopped dead after the first bar and said, "wow!".

When the Regent broke its neck the second time (falling off a stand, ooops), I bought a recorder.

I'm much better at playing that than I ever got to be on the oboe. (Curiously enough, when I went back to the oboe briefly, my diaphragm control was actually better for having learned the recorder in the meantime....make of that what you will .)

As for the character of oboists - I do prefer to sail my own boat, and am not good in crowds...

My teacher doesn't play the Oboe in a Orchestra(I think she doesn't anyway), but does play the Oboe proffetionaly.

My reed supplier & the person who lended me my first oboe sais that my teacher is a very good teacher(there aren't many oboe teacheres, so they know the name of every oboe teacher in the area).

Liz you've done really well and what is important is that your Oboe teacher works for you. It doesn't matter that they might not play professionally not everyone can and some make teaching their first career.

I was thinking about my daughters experience with another of our teachers, she taught the youngest one flute (the teachers first instrument) and I wasn't happy. At the moment the same person is teaching my older daughter 2 instruments and I can't wait til summer when we ditch her. The truth is some people will make a good job of teaching on their first, second or third instrument. These are people with good teaching skills and who are pupil focused. Others will have sound knowledge of their instrument and not be able to help/support pupils to advance. Just be glad that your teacher is able to support you to the extent that they have.

With a real shortage of professional playing opportunities for wind players, many have to make teaching their first career. Regrettably however, there are students who think that an instrumental teacher and a professional player (of the same instrument) must be two different things. They aren't. Many schools teaching services treat us that way though, which gives lesser knowledgeable parents the impression their child is being taught by a glorified school teacher.

So true Amanda

My daughter's current Flute Teacher doesn't play professionally to my knowledge but it doesn't mean I respect her any the less.

I'm really surprised that so many of the oboists on here are actually taught by oboists themselves because I know lots of people who are taught the oboe by those who aren't oboists and I think that can make a big impact on the tone quality of the oboist. Lizbun, just 'cause your teacher isn't an orchestral oboist, it doesn't mean you can't be taught well by her. My oboe teacher is exactly the same. She doesn't play in an orchestra ( I don't think!!!) but she's fantastic at teaching oboe. I'm lucky to have her.

In our case she's taught under an endangered Instrument Scheme where she's loaned the Oboe and gets free lessons. I suspect this may have to be deliverd by an Oboe specialist.

Gah - I found myself looking at oboes on ebay!

You lot are a BAD influence...

You can have mine if you like!

I heard my daughter play a solo on Oboe last night, she's played once before but the concert wasn't for parents, I was very proud especially as she's the youngest in Concert Band by at least a couple of years.

In P.E. yesterday, a football hit my lip, so It realy hurts to play the oboe The school nurse said it will hurt for a few days


I'm surprized that no other year 7 & 8s are in the band notmusimum. Anyway, well done, I'm sure she ws good
All the solo's for my concert band are for Y10s and Y11s, but I do get good parts where everyone can here the oboe clearly.

Oh come now, would we ever do a thing like that?!

Sorry to hear about your lip, hope it's better soon!

It's our version of the County Wind Band and Orchestra. There are some Year 10's amungst the String players but nearly all the wind players are older. The entry requirement is Grade 4+ for both but Orchestra is generally considered more difficult.

The good thing is there are two Junior Wind and String Groups and a training Orchestra so everyone can play at their own level.

I'd offer mine too but daughter seems to have taken to it

Can I afford it?


Do you want me to answer that??!

I'm going to have a lesson with year 7 recorder student
1. untill easter or
2. untill I'm Y11

According to the student herself, she quit flute before end of term, and it would be a waste of money to not-have lessons,(it's a termly fee) so she's doing the recorder until end of term, even if my oboe teacher doesn teach it.

According to my techer, she's going to be in my lessons untill I'm Y11.

At least the recorder is 'doing grade 6 soon' sort of standard.



Ther's this perents evening/concert next week, and I'm doing a duet with the recorder
It's a grade 5 piece if you play it on the recorder. It's 'a little latin' from the book 'Jazzy recorder 1.' i think it's volume 1 anyway.(only I'm playing it with the oboe)

My eldest daughter is playing A Little Latin for Grade 5 Recorder, don't know if it can be played on Oboe and the version we have is not a duet.

Pity about your lessons and having to share, wondering how your teacher is going to manage Grade 6 Recorder if she can't play one herself.

All/most recorder music can be played on the oboe, because the recorder has a more limmited range than the oboe(i.e. middle c to top ???)

It's not a duet really, It's just the recorder and me playing the same part together, with 1 or 2 twisted bits to make time for me to catch my breath.

It's all good experience have a good time and enjoy playing it!

Now would we ever?...

Yes!

No!!!

My cheeks always go red when I play the oboe because of the puff needed. How can I stop this? I don't think I'm using too much puff.

Yesterday's concert/parents evening went well enough. Everyone else played well, but I was too nervous to use my diaphragm proporly partly because I forgot to bring my piano accompliment part for the teacher to play, and I had to play absolutly solo.

My teacher played 'gabriel's oboe' at the beginning of the concert, and that was realy good. She's a 'semi-proffetional' oboist.

I'm sorry that you didn't have a good evening yesterday, but don't dwell on last night, you probably sounded ok. When I talked about this with my teacher he reckoned that it always sounds worse to you, but the people listening just hear you playing your oboe and don't hear all the glitches and bad sounds that you hear. Oh dear this is a bit convoluted, I'm sorry.
But today is a new day and don't dwell on how it went yesterday.


Once when I forgot the piano accompaniment to a Handel sonata I was playing, my accompaniest (is that how you spell it??) played the accompaniment from the bass continuo part. She was a brilliant organist , absolutely soaked in the music of Bach, sadly she died a few years ago. I still miss her. Now I always check twice that I've got everything!

I don't know about how to stop your cheeks going red, I can only think that something isn't quite right with your breathing, perhaps this takes a while to get right. I always try to imagine a stream of air coming up from my lungs and just flowing easily through my oboe...I don't always/often succeed!

Being a little pink-cheeked (or totally pink-faced) is not unsual when playing the oboe. Some people are more prone to it than others, but I don't even know any professional oboists who've managed to avoid the problem altogether. Phrase length plays a big part in how red ones face might go, but generally speaking it's something of an occupational hazard for those who indulge themselves in the oboe.

The urban myth to this, is that oboists burst blood vessels in their head and neck more easily. I've never managed to track down any medical evidence of this and even after speaking with doctors who treat musicians injuries, it's not something they've come across either. Obviously, if playing th oboe gives you repeated migraines or bad headaches, then your body is trying to tell you something, ie. play a less strenuous musical instrument.

I've never checked on my level of redness whilst playing, maybe I should practice in front of a mirror..but perhaps not....

I've never heard of that before. I think the difference isn't significant enough to prove medically.

I posted his on a different thread, but what exersizes apart from long tones are good for improving the tone on the oboe?or is long tones the only answer?

Anyway....I don't know the effective way of practicing long tones. I can't keep any most of my notes straigt like they should be.

I posted a bit of a reply on the other thread.



The whole point of practising long tones is to keep them straight!
Start with a note you are comfortable with (A or Bb in the middle register probably) and work out how long you can comfortably play it correctly for (ideally at least 8 beats). Then play it for half your comfortable length (eg 4 beats) and slur up (or down) a semi-tone (or a tone if you don't yet know all the chromatic notes) and play it for the same length of time (ie 4 beats). Try to make sure that the tone is identical for the two notes. When you can do this satisfactorily play the new note for 8 beats (or whatever your maximum length is). Then slur this note to the next one in the same way.
This method means you only play a few notes each day but eventually you should find that the range of notes on which you can reliably play long tones increases.

The next step up from playing long tones with an even tone is to play them with a diminuendo.

My daughter's oboe teacher has her doing both of these exercises, she does them on Flute too. I'm wondering if my eldest might understand your explaination as she won't listen to her sister and she needs to work on her Clarinet tone.

Thanks. I'll try that.

Kerioboe thanks for the tips on playing long notes and then slurring up to the next semitone or whole tone...I've been playing slow scales and octaves as a way to improving my tone, holding each note for a slow count of four.

Sounds good, I shall give it a try! I need to stop sounding like a duck in time for the school concert in July

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think you said you haven't got a teacher.
If you're trying to do things by yourself try and work out why you are making a duck sound. There are three possible causes: the reed, the embouchure and the breath pressure. Assuming the reed is a (reasonably) decent one what you need to try and do is see if the problem is mainly due either to your embouchure or your breathing (or a bit of both) and you can try to work on them separately.

You should think "o" with your mouth and the oboe should be resting firmly against the bottom lip with the top lip closed around it but not biting down. Try experimenting by widely varying the amount you press down with each lip and see what difference that makes on the sound. Also, if you are used to playing the clarinet the oboe is held at a far wider angle from your body. Try lifting your arms up and see what this effect this has. Do all this while keeping the breath pressure constant and make a mental note of how you were holding it and how your embouchure was when you sounded best.

Then experiment with the breath. Don't tongue but just breath gently into the oboe and gradually increase the breath pressue until a note comes out (and whatever you do don't change your embouchure), keep increasing your breath pressure until you like the sound of your note. Try and identify how you feel when you get the sound you want.

If you have got everything right you should be able to touch the octave key and the higher octave will come out.

Until July should be enough time to get rid of the 'duck' noise.

Thats right, I havn't got a teacher, although my clarinet teacher also teaches oboe, she doesn't know I've taken up the oboe - yet! Thanks for the advice though - its very useful! I seem to naturally lift it higher than my clarinet, I have already managed to bash the stand with the end of it At least I know why now!



Excellent! I didn't reaaaaaly want to make a fool of myself in front of a lot of people who somehow got the impression that I was a good musician

What book are you using to learn from?

I borrowed a book from one of my school teachers, 'A tune a day' I think, but I got through it really quickly as a lot of it was devoted to reading etc. which I alredy have! Mainly I'm just doing technical excersizes at home, perhaps the odd short piece until I'm good enough to tackle the kind of music I really like!

I know this sounds stupid, but what is breath control?
is it just supporting your breathing with the diaphragm and being able to play long passages without taking a breath?

Breath control is about controlling the air-stream which you send into your oboe and concerns the speed and the volume of the air and you do this by using your diaphragm. (Actually I think from a strictly phsyiological point of view that is not quite true and that the muscles which do the work have a different name but the name is not really that important).

My oboe teacher has a huge number of images which he uses to describe how you do it. I think he has so many because different ones work for different people. I can only really remember the ones I found helpful these include:
- imagine your lungs are a half-deflated balloon and then imagine a pair of hands squeezing the bottom of the ballon (the bottom of your lungs) and forcing the air up to the top (and down the reed).
- get someone to place their hand gently on your stomach and as you play try and push their hand away with your stomach muscles.
- to play quietly imagine you air-stream is like air coming out of a tiny puncture in a bike tyre. (For forte, imagine the air is coming out of a puncture in a lorry tyre).

What is important is that you keep the air-speed constant. One way of visualising this, which my daughter found helpful for the trombone (but she is only nine and this might be too babyish for you), is to put a tiny bit of water in a glass and then blow into it with a straw for as long as possible, making sure the bubbles you make are always the same height.

Don't know if this is any help.

Yeah, I think It's the muscles the belly, not 'just below the lungs', where the diaphragm realy is.



Thanks! So it's all about using the muscles in your belly to squeeze the air out of your lungs.

I tried something similar to the 'try pusing the hands away' method before, and I find I can only play short passages using the diaphragm support, so a long passage goes without support from about half-way...

I find this sometimes too. I did, however, make an interesting discovery when I went to one of the forum playdays and played for much longer than I usually do and was forced to take breaths without long pauses. Diaphragm support is the key to everything; if you maintain the support with your diaphragm it can revitalise an exhausted embouchure and if you concentrate on this support you can keep playing even when you think it is physically impossible for you to continue any longer. (My teacher had already told me this loads of times but I must admit I never really believed him before I went to the playday).

I've just remembered two other exercises which I found helpful when I first started.

1) Play a long note and decrescendo until the sound stops, then push with your stomach muscles and bring the sound back again.

2) Play a longish note (until you feel you need to take a breath), breath out quickly but don't breath in, instead play the same note again simply by pushing with your stomach muscles.