She was fantastic for her age. They didnt say very much about her though and she didnt get through.

Apparently my mum recorded it - what a star. Interested to see all the characters I have heard about on here.

I thought she was good.



And the bassoonist...... impressive

Went to RNCM with my daughter last sunday to a Woodwind Day. There was a 12 Year old boy playing the Masterclass who was very good.

It's nice to see people of that age excelling and it certainly gave my daughter something to aspire to. Looking forward to watching this young lady too.

Yes she was good...only it made me want to play the bassoon too... meh.

You should play bassoon, its awesome. You have to practice constantly though.

To revive this thread a little...
What is everyone else playing at the moment?
I have (temporarily at least) shelved the Bach G minor Oboe Concerto and have started working on the Saint-Saens Oboe Sonata which is one of my favourite oboe pieces.

Hi Keri,

I am not working on anything in particular...I am just blowing in as of yesterday...I may have a quiet play throught the Marcello or the Cimarosa...I have always loved the Siciliana from the Cimarosa

I love the Saint Saens, its a wonderful sonata...


Off topic somewhat but has everyone noticed how few Oboe threads there are running here in Viva Woodwind...we have Clarinet and Flute threads running amok, dozens of them but we Oboists only have a handfull...I guess we just keep rehashing these old threads to keep it to a minimum, Basson threads are as rare as hens teeth which seems a pity, I love the Bassoon such a wonderful instrument......

Have fun with the Saint Saens...

Regards

Andrew

Currently playing:

Two fantasy pieces
Three old french dances

and when it arrives, Albinoni concerto...

Is this the one you have been waiting since the beginning of the summer holidays for?

If you have thats awful!!

I'm playing lots and lots of technical stuff, and Danse Orientale ad the Ciamorosa movement on the G5 lists

Yep



It isn't realy published much becuase it's a very unpopular number.

After waiting 'till August, my mum phoned City music, becuase she's a bit tired of internet book shopping, and it should be soon, but I doubt it... The postal strike might have something to do with it.

I'm going to have trouble persuading mum to buy my books from the internet now...

Next time for Oboe music try Howarths. You can see instantly on their website if it is available or not and they have very helpful staff so if you can't actually see it on the website, send them an e-mail and they will tell you if it is still published and if it's not then they also seem to know of shops with a low turnover who might possibly still have a copy on their shelves. Their delivery is very fast - it arrives to France in less than a week - and postage costs are not exorbitant either. (In fact it is cheaper, and quicker, for me to order from them than to order from a shop in Paris).

Heres a question for all you people with non random oboes (probably a silly one but bear with me please!)

Do you have to put down the C key in order to play B/Bb ? I do on mine but it seems rather awkward..

Yes you do (or the banana key if you have one) or the C# key if your next note will be C#.

You may be finding things awkward if the pads/keys are not properly regulated.

This thing probably could do with a service/overhaul. I can't put down the C# and play B/Bb though... I have to put the C down..

I might be wrong, but I think all graduate/proffetional models can play B/Bb with the C#/banana key on.

This doesn't even have a banana key! I don't even know what one is. Ah well - at least I have an oboe to play, even if its not mine

If you can't play B/Bb with the C# key down then one of the screws needs adjusting. Without actually going and getting my oboe I can't tell you which one. (I will have a look tomorrow and tell you).

The banana key is a little banana shaped key next to the D key which you reach just by stretching your finger slightly further across and which closes the C hole, enabling you to go smoothly from C# to C (although personally I find it easier just to slide my little finger).

I'm guessing its only useful on closed hole oboes then? I'll keep sliding...

Theres actually no mechanism for the C# tone hole to close when a B/Bb key is pressed down, so adjusting a screw wouldn't help I'm afraid...

You do have to close the C# key with the right-hand little finger and then close the B/Bb key with the left little finger. I'm sure you ought to be able to do this, otherwise you can't play B major scale.

There is physically no way for the C# tone hole to be closed while the C# key is pressed down - its on 1 linkage with no joint. I discovered this when trying to play B major!

I don't understand what you mean here - did you really mean to type C# twice?

Yes - though I don't thnk I'm explaining myself very well...

This is the same make as the oboe I have - if you look theres no joints on the C# mechanism, so it can't be closed without letting the key up.

OK I see what you mean now.

I just assumed it was standard on all oboes as it is quite common to have B and C# following each other. I know I use it a lot and it drove me mad when it wasn't properly adjusted and the B kept coming out in a funny way.

If you ever get round to buying your own it will be one (more) thing to look out for.

Yes.. In fact in finding that pic for you I've run across this

It's certainly cheap but the ad doesn't really say much about it (like how old it was, when it was last serviced) and the punctuation is ambiguous (is it just the reeds that are in "good, clean condition")? I bought my Marigaux from ebay but asked loads of questions first.

I know... I need to get Dad onto it really - he is the one with an Ebay account. And I'm supposed to be saving

You'd probably have to think about how much it would cost to have it fully serviced as well (easily several hundred pounds).

I am currently saving up for a cor anglais and am going through the same sort of dilemmas.

I recently bought my daughter an Oboe from ebay, it cost considerably more than this one, I was very lucky in that when it arrived it was in excellent condition. I lost alot of sleep over it, firstly deciding if to bid, then what limit I should quit at. i saved some money with the view to having it serviced but it wasn't required.

I don't know that I would do the same thing again.

Before you buy ask the seller lots of questions, even if they can't answer them you will get an idea of their character. One of the things i did was ask the seller to email me extra pictures.

Good luck

Its too expensive now.. I only have £400.75 and with a serive... Ah well. Another excuse to save and go to London

B major is proving rather interesting...

Keep looking! That's what happened to the one I was bidding on, it was low to start with then soared. You might be better waiting until January when everyone is skint.

Ideally I shouldn't be spending ANY money... I have £4000 for world challenge to raise, which is just about covered by my wage if everything goes horribly wrong...

Theres some hope though - I'm intending to take a gap year and get a full time job for then, so an oboe will be forthcoming then if I don't get one before. Just as long as the school let me hang on to it for that year...

I've just looked at the price and it's still not too bad, although it probably is if you don't have too much money in the first place , and it will probably go up quite a bit more. Don't your Music Service lend them under the endangered instrument scheme? My daughter borrowed one under that initiative to start with, it wasn't great but it least had mose of the common keys.

I'd suggest Fame Academy Bursary when it reopens but you'll probably have saved enough for one by the time you hear.

Can anyone help me, I'm going slowly crazy!! I've posted on the Oboe BBoard and had a few good ideas but I wondered if anyone else could help? I've been playing for about 8 months now after a long break and I seem to have developed a really tight left hand ring finger. This is causing me to slip right across the 3rd G key and makes it virtually impossible to use my left hand E flat key which basically means I can't use the key. My finger will bend onto the key but I subconciously straighten it as soon as I start playing. I've just changed from an uncovered to covered hole Oboe and its made no difference.
My teacher has suggested practicing using both E flat keys and generally working on the movement of my finger, but i've got such a tight tension in it, it gets painful after a while practicing. I'm contemplating going to an AT person to see if that may help. Arrrrrrggghhhh!!

Scales and finger excersizes could help - try going from D to Eb using the LH, do it slowly, and as it feels more natural speed it up. Do the same with the other LH keys there as well, so your finger is flexible.

*Hopes someone more experienced comes along* !

Notmusimum - my music service aren't great, and I'd have to have lessons with them as well - which I can't afford time or money wise

What's a banana key?

*Ducks, as is supposed to be an oboist*

On a conservatoire oboe (not sure if it exists on the others) it is a small longish (banana shaped) key beside the D key. It closes the C tone hole so you can slur from C# to C without having to slide your little finger from one key to another.

The time element tell me about it! Head of Music Service going mad tonight with eldest cos she can't play in the Pitt Orchestra, she's snowed under with art coursework and can't afford to miss a day off school.

If your MS are running the endangered instrument scheme then you wouldn't need to pay for lessons. You would make much more progress with lessons but I know it's not always easy.

Fame Academy will probably reopening their Bursaries sometime in the new year (if the current round are ever resolved), if you're not in too much of a hurry it may be worth looking into.

Good luck whatever you decide

Yep. Thumb plate has it as well.



I find it a bit unnatural for my hands when I play with the Banana key...

Woop!





The albinoni concerto's arrived!



I played it through, and it's a nice piece. Op7 no12.

To return to the B-C sharp question (how are you lot managing to do a sharp sign??):

It's quite common for student-level oboes not to have a link, so Rosemary, yes, you do have to have the C key down for B natural and then get over to the C-sharp key, if you're doing a B major scale. It helps if you try to play the C not with your fingertip, like you normally would, but lower down on your finger, somewhere close to the top knuckle. (ie. play a C-sharp, then roll back your finger to play the C, without actually moving it - that'll give you an idea which part of your finger to use). If you see what I mean...

Thanks Claire - I do know what you mean, thats how I've been (just!) managing it. I guess most people would upgrade before they need to play B major then....

The sharp sign is the hash key # - its next to the backspace, under the ~ on my keyboard

Rosemary, I don't know how seriously you are contemplating buying an oboe but if you look on John Myatt's website they do offer cheaper second-hand oboes than Howarth's do. Ex-rental ones come with a guarantee, ones they sell on commission don't but they do give their opinion about the condition the instrument is in. They are in Hitchin (Hertfordshire); I don't know if that is convenient for you to get to if you wanted to go and try them out.

Thanks for that Keri. I don't really have the money to buy a decent oboe at the moment, so I'll keep using the school one until I leave or I save up enough to buy one. I don't know enough about oboes to just buy one off a website, but I don't have any music shops here that even sell basic oboes... It'll be a summer trip to Howarths if I ever do scrape the funds together!

Hello Rosemary,

I feel I must advise you to try before you buy, John Myatts isnt far from London being in Hitchen Hertfordshire so maybe you could make a couple of days it trying Oboes at Myatts and Howarths..

True Howarths isnt cheap but in my experience they do provide a very good service and product. Myatts also has an excellent reputation so take your pick.

my final thought is that you should buy the best you can afford, go for a full Gillet system with or without thumplate whichever you prefer...if you find a super conservatoire instrument then go for it and have a thumbplate added if you play that system afterwards, its not an expensive thing to add...

I know Oboes are a huge investment but in my eyes and ears they are worth every penny...

Good luck

Regards

Andrew

Help help help, anyone got any ideas, was trying to do a G trill tonight and my finger doesn't move quick enough. Trying a guitar trainer has anyone had any experience of these for Oboe?
Thanks Laura

Complete change of subject.
I have scraped a reed every day for the past four days and every time have produced one that is decently playable. I am feeling very pleased with myself

Well Done Keri, thats a great achievement...nice to feel pleased with ones self isnt it...

Andrew



Hello Laura


Oh my word, you are getting yourself in a dreadful knot it seems....Tension seems to be the problem here, you maybe getting yourself all worked up prior to the event and in return your hands and fingers are just not responding as you would wish...

I would certainly start by slowing everything right down, trill at a comfortable speed, given time it will speed up quite naturally...

As for the left hand ring finger..well I find that practicing in front of a mirror very useful, I conciously watch my fingers to make sure that they are where they should be, close to the keys and not standing up like cocktail sticks and that my joints are flexing where they need to and not where they might want to...given time it becomes the norm..

It seems that maybe you just need to relax and stop beating yourself up over it, slowly work away at it concentrating on what you wish to achieve and watch (via the Mirror) that your fingers are doing what is required.

Good luck..

Andrew