Yay! the Handel and Schumann arrived this morning!



I'm having trouble with counting in Romance no3 even though I know what it's meant to be

Hello Liz,

Try to feel a pulse, maybe tap your foot and count in your head at the same time...that always helps...don't wave your Oboe (you'd be surprised how many people do) and work each phrase one at a time...

Good luck...

Andrew

Clara Schumann's Romances seem to be quite well known in France as oboe pieces. I heard them played in an oboe recital a couple of years ago. My teacher played one in a concert last year and he has suggested I look at them when I have finished Camille Saint Saen's Sonata (which I am working on at the moment).

Funny uoy should mention this... I had a similar problem, and it was down to embouchure. Essentially I was putting too much pressure on the reed, which made the pitch flatter. It's been an age old issue, that only really came to light when I started my MMus!

Arg!



I'm in the school concert this evening (band, not solo), but I forgot that my braces were due for tightening today as well My teeth hurt now, and I don't know how I'm going to play... Paracetamol?

Oh poor liz! Hope things are not too uncomfortable for you.

Try some ibuprofen (or however you spell it!), I always thought it worked better...hope it feels better tomorrow! Good luck with the concert - tell us how it goes...

Yay, it's the school Christmas holidays - more time for me to practise now...

Thanks. It still hurts, but it's better now the top teeth aren't too painful now.

It became a bit milder in time for the concert, so I ended up not needing painkillers.


I guess the top braces weren't tigtned a lot compaired to the bottom ones...

How is it feeling now? All sorted?

It's almost better...

Bump...



Back to school on 7th. I think my first Oboe lesson is on the 8th

realy, 30mins isn't enough for a lesson where a lot of pieces need to be looked at...

Well done Liz, I knew you would ressurect the Oboe thread somehow...

Funnily enough I too have my first lesson this year (2008) on tuesday at 3.30pm...I have practiced thoroughly over the holidays and prepared various new things as well...a couple of studies and I have started work on Eugene Goossens "Islamite Dance" which is rather fun...

I am rather struggling to get my fingers moving...I can see the note I know what it is, yet my fingers dont automatically go to the right note on the Oboe just yet...most are secure but I am still having to think about the fingerings...it has ben twenty years since I last played, in fairness I have only been back playing since early November so I hope it will all slot into place...fingers crossed...

Hope you had a nice Christmas... What are you working on at the moment?

regards

Andrew

Liz, thanks for getting the thread up and running again...I was wondering about posting something myself. I've got a lesson on the 8th as well. I'm not sure how this is going to go, practice has been rather hit and miss recently...too many shepherds and heavenly beings harking around, as well other Christmassy stuff. Now the wise men are just about to appear...!

I hope that the 8th will bring about a change of pieces. I think that my companions have heard enough of Elegiac Dance for now, beautiful though it is. Perhaps something that's a little less contemplative and predominantly in a major and not a minor key. I think that Telemann and Sammartini are waiting in the wings, as well as more Bach difficult passages.

Well someone has a lesson the day before yours Daughter has one on Monday night, she's working on the Schuman Romances (I blame Andrew), just hope her teacher is understanding

Hope you all enjoy your lessons

I love the schumann...

I don't know why, but I can't seem to practice pieces properly untill looked at by my teacher, so it's just 'play it once and that's it' sort of practice ALL the time, which can't be good.


i'll probably do no.3 for grade 7




Yep

I'm working on the same stuff as before....

Schumann
Handel concerto in Gmin (my teacher is SOOOO picky on how to play Baroque music...)
The Bach difficult passeges... well, not much of it, but 1 or 2.

I hope my teacher brings in the Cimarosa....

She's looking at number 1 although she has tried 3 as well, also looking at the Handel and another piece I don't know the name of, trying out a few studies too.

Daughter is very good at sticking with pieces and tends to get them going herself before teacher gets near them. Not always a good thing though at times.

I'm working on the same stuff as before....

Schumann
Handel concerto in Gmin (my teacher is SOOOO picky on how to play Baroque music...)
The Bach difficult passeges... well, not much of it, but 1 or 2.

I hope my teacher brings in the Cimarosa....
[/quote]


I hope that you enjpy the Schumann. I've played the first one, which I loved, but didn't really look at the third. I rather got the impression that my teacher didn't like no. 3. I'm growing to enjoy the Bach difficult passages, it's doing wonders for my stamina as a lot of the passages are very long with few places to breathe. Bach's music is so architectural, every time I play it I get a feeling of soaring church arches.
I'd love to play the Cimarosa, but as I've been asked to buy other things, I don't think that's on the agenda just yet. Shame!!

[quote name='itchy1' date='Jan 6 2008, 05:24 PM' post='652411']
I'm working on the same stuff as before....

Schumann
Handel concerto in Gmin (my teacher is SOOOO picky on how to play Baroque music...)
The Bach difficult passeges... well, not much of it, but 1 or 2.

I hope my teacher brings in the Cimarosa....
[/quote]


I hope that you enjpy the Schumann. I've played the first one, which I loved, but didn't really look at the third. I rather got the impression that my teacher didn't like no. 3. I'm growing to enjoy the Bach difficult passages, it's doing wonders for my stamina as a lot of the passages are very long with few places to breathe. Bach's music is so architectural, every time I play it I get a feeling of soaring church arches.
I'd love to play the Cimarosa, but as I've been asked to buy other things, I don't think that's on the agenda just yet. Shame!!
[/quote]

It was the Cimarosa that daughter was looking at and she likes it, pity it's not on the cd

Ah the Cimarosa...what a lovely concerto...the Siciliana is particularly beautiful...

I think every Oboist longs to play this Concerto though it has to be said it is not as easy as it reads, The first movement is to my mind a prelude of what is to come, I never think of it as a movement as such. The articulation in the second movement is a horror, grouped quavers slurred and tounged in pairs and with the upbeat tounged it can be a real twister sort of T-tay-ut T T tay-ut T T Tay-ut T T ( hope I got that right ), Then the Siciliana, beautiful but the tuning has to be spot on and after the previous movement the lip is all a quiver and the tongue is still vibrating so lots of control to make it seem as effortless as it should sound. The Fourth movement goes like the clappers and is all singled tongued pretty much (double tounging really wont do) so though in print it looks fairly freindly, once ornamented its a piece for a virtuoso player. Of course its lovely to play, but fingers and tongue have to be precise or it comes out in a mess...best played of course at full tempo but in reality to keep it neat it has to be slowed down dramatically until everything runs and articulates with alarming accuracy, then and only then can it be played at tempo...

Anyone considering playing the Cimarosa should listen to Nicholas Daniels recording, its quite staggering, he doesn't miss a beat, a note or a single articulation....one can go off people very quickly

As a suggestion if any of the Oboists have friends who play Oboe and Cor...try the Beethoven Trios, one is based on a theme from Mozart the other Pure Beethoven, they are heaven...there is a third I think cant quite recall...I'll look them out if anyone is interested, I have a library of music so can always dig it out if anyone needs opus numbers, publishers etc...

New Year, new challenges for us all....

Happy tootling or snake charming as my sister calls it.....Philistine

Kindest regards

Andrew

I've got a recording of Nicholas Daniel playing the Cimarosa...awesome...but even more awesome is his playing of a Vivaldi concerto, it's just silver streams of notes and stunningly beautiful.

I don't!

It's okay, but I don't like it that much. Other concertos are better.

There's always one

With a birthday in the not too distant future any recommendations for cds of the music under discussion, Romances or Cimarosa or anything about that standard?

[quote name='AmandaL' date='Mar 4 2007, 09:25 PM' post='474159']
[quote name='pianoboe' post='474098' date='Mar 4 2007, 08:41 PM']Albinoni D minor concerto.
[/quote]

I'm practising a piece of Albinoni for my grade 6 exam! i started 4 years ago and play in the orchestra! Quite cool, the people there are awesome!

My favourite oboe piece is gabriel's oboe! that's a great one!

Daf

welcome DAF...hope to see you around here...lord knows we could do with bumping up the number of Oboists here...

Oops I just realised how old this topic is! I just saw it in the section and theought, hey look! Haha! Oh well!

Daf

I've only really worked on the second one - my teacher says the first one is overplayed and he is not as keen on the third one. I do like the second one but at the time I had the impression that it was harder than the other two and did find it rather a struggle.



I agree with Claire. I think my favourite is the Marcello concerto.

Well! Lesson tonight and her teacher was a little suprised by the Schumann Romances, not really what he was expecting They did work on the first one though. I blame Andrew!!!

My son's got his Oboe G7 results back....and he passed with merit And he was given the certificate in assembly this morning, but no mark sheet until his lesson on Friday. Hurray I'm really pleased.

Sara

Woo! Thats great! Onwards to 8 then!!

I bought some oboe reed cane today and am going to attempt to make a reed tomorrow after its soaked all night. Looks like ti will be harder to do than the bassoon reeds. At least it will put all the old reed staples to good use.

My vote's for the Vaughan Williams



all night?! won't it have turned to mush by now??

I don't really know what I'm talking about, I admit, so maybe I'm utterly wrong. I would have thought that overnight is a bit long, though...

It is too long (if you are immerging them totally in water). About ten minutes is probably enough. (I've never actually timed it but I put the reeds into soak and then get the reed-making stuff out, put some music on to listen to and by then they're usually ready). If you have soaked them for hours, do let them dry out before scraping them as if you scrape a reed which is too wet the cane tears.

As a rule of thumb, my reed teacher soaks his cane for about twenty minutes in warm water, a little from the kettle and generously topped up with cold water. The cane does need to be flexible enough to fold and tie on but soaking it overnight will saturate it and make it way too soft...

Once tied on scrape the tip and then leave it to settle for 24 hours...

Good luck...

Andrew

Fantastic!! That's an excellent result!!

Congratulations to your son Sara...is he going straight on to G8 material, or is he going to work on some other things first??

Lesson yesterday...my tone and breath support is improving quite well. The start of Elegiac Dance is still not quite spot on, but I rather think that it has got implanted in my head with the wrong rhythm.
The Bach was mostly fine. Now I have a Sammartini sonata to work on and the first four bars of the Dance. I'm determined to get it right, but it might drive my teacher to drink in the process...!

Yes he's going straight on to G8 material. He's already started the Handel Cm Sonata and he says he loves the G8 selection so that's very hopeful Has anyone got any advice on the C List? Nothing too strenuous cos he was really waning by that stage in the G7

Sara

Well done to him!
and after one year and a bit of playing too.





I like the Bach no.5. I played it through once

I love the grade 8 list...
Mozart, Haydn, Saint-Saens etc... Havn't got round to playing it yet though

Will do some time...
in the future...
When my teacher's finished with getting my technique and tone up to standard...

My teacher said that I would probably pass grade 7 if I do it in March, but not with the good mark I would get if I waited a bit, so I'll probably do it in June (hope it doesn't clash with Y10 exams)

Congratulations on your son's mark Sara. (I seem to have missed the post when I looked earlier this morning).

What's your son planning on playing in the list B? The first movement of the Saint Saens is nice; there are two tricky runs (one in particular) but there are plenty of places to breath. Although, on further thought, I don't know that I'd be overkeen on the last few bars in an exam situation; there is a very long (several bars) trill and then ends on a long high D.

As for the C list, I too like the Bach. Ferling studies are quite nice too and there is a choice between a slow one or a fast one. However, I think both are likely to be quite exhausting in different ways. Britten's Niobe is mostly OK apart from one longish passage in the middle where there is nowhere to breath.

A slightly tonegue-in-check suggestion would be that he does a Trinity-Guildhall grade 8 and opts to play one of the pieces on a cor-anglais. I find the cor so much less exhausting than the oboe.

Thanks for all the kind wishes for my son. On the B List he's looking at the Poulenc 1st movement for now. I agree that the Saint-saens is brilliant, but the second movement is my favourite and it's not on the list! The C list is the hardest to choose I think. He's looked at the Bach and is not really sure about it, he played Bach for the Grade 7 and was too exhausted to really play well. I think he might try out the Ferling studies next, or at least take them along to his lesson for some guidance.

He'd really like a Cor (as you can probably imagine ) Let's see if he can get through Grade 8 first

Sara

I like the second movement of the Saint Saens best too. On the previous syllabus you could choose any one movement - I don't know why they have narrowed it down to just the first or third. I worked on the first and third movements of the Poulenc sonata when I had been learning for about eight months (my teacher gave them to me to as something to "get my teeth into" over the summer and we spent most of the following term on them). At the time I found them far too challenging (particularly the third movement) and in the end begged him to let me have something easier, which is when he gave me Ferling's studies... (and yes, I did find them easier). A couple of months ago I cautiously had another look at the Poulenc and decided that it was not as horrendous as I remembered it being but, as a result of having tackled it too early, I think it will be one of those pieces that I will never feel confident playing.

I find the cor anglais so much easier than the oboe. I spent over a month getting used to the fingering (it is thumbplate and my oboe is conservatoire) and didn't take it to my lesson until yesterday when I was confident that I was not going to get into a mess with the fingering. My teacher got quite excited when he heard me play it as he said that none of the technical problems I have when playing the oboe are present when I play the cor. I said it was because as an instrument it was so much easier, but he claims it is only a little bit easier and that the difference in most people's playing on the two isn't usually very significant. He had me playing a phrase on the cor and then the same phrase on the oboe and then back to the cor etc. to try and get me to unconsciously play the oboe the way I play the cor; at one point I suddenly did and the difference in the ease of playing was amazing. He suggested I play only the cor this week in an attempt to firmly anchor what he calls the "good reflexes" and, hopefully, transfer them to the oboe.

I know what you mean about tackling pieces too soon. My son has found exactly that with Gabriel's Oboe. He hasn't played it in ages and says the difficulty of it at the time has put him off the piece.

Sounds like the Ferling would be a good C list choice from what you say.

Interesting stuff about the cor anglais. Is the embouchure much easier then? Which technical problems do you mean?? Only to a non-oboist I would have thought the Cor would be more difficult you see.

Sara

I never realy played a piece that's too hard for me exept for trying one or two of the difficult studies from the bach difficult passages without checking out the accidentals... Those realy need to be worked on properly.

Gabriel's Oboe can be good for practicing breath controll if you don't breath at every oppertunity.

Orderd:
Cimarosa concerto
Albinoni concerto in dminor op.9no.2
Albinoni concerto in d op.7no.6
from Juneemerson hopefuly come soon.

I'll be playing the Handel concerto 1st&2nd movement in the Cornwall music festival (in march)
I wonder how many Oboes there'll be...?

I see my main problem as being one of stamina. My teacher says that the reason I have a problem with stamina is because I create one for myself (he doesn't put it quite as brutally as I am doing) but basically what he says is that my two main faults when I play are psychological: I am too tense and lack confidence. Because I am convinced I am going to run out of breath, I tend not to use enough air at any time and hold back particularly at the ends of phrases; musically this means my phrases start off nicely shaped but then become completely flat, technically it means that I have even more stale air to get rid of before I can breathe in which makes it harder to exhale properly before breathing in so my breathing tends to get shallower and shallower and on days when I am particularly tense I stop breathing altogether. Instead of trusting the oboe to play in tune (as he puts it) I approach intervals I find tricky far too tentatively, stop putting enough air into the instrument and so end up playing out of tune (which, because I know I'm playing out of tune, then of course adds to the tension and so it goes on). A purely technical problem is that I don't hold the oboe at quite the right angle - he is always telling me that I need to put more weight on my left hand by lifting my right elbow up and that this would make the tone fuller.

With the cor I have apparently naturally found exactly the right angle to hold it at but (more interesting from my point of view) is the fact that I don't have the same breathing problems - in fact I don't have any breathing problems. The cor reed is marginally larger than the oboe reed and so you're not trying to force the air into such a small aperture and because it needs more air you don't have so much stale air to get rid of when you need to breathe - in this respect I find it much more natural than the oboe. It also seems to respond to the slightest variation in air-pressure so that dynamics are really easy. I don't have any hang-ups about it not playing in tune and so it plays in tune. I have no stamina problem whatsoever with the cor and the only thing which eventually stops me playing is that I haven't quite found the correct angle for my right hand and after a while my right wrist hurts, particularly if there are lots of C#.



I think my problem is that I am a good sight-reader in a part of France where pupils can't sight-read and my teacher is not used to having pupils who can play through just about anything that is put in front of them. Once I'd finished the Learn as You Play he just kept bringing in harder and harder things and, no matter how much practice I put in, I had neither the technical ability nor the stamina to make much more of them than I did the first time I sight-read them and it was musically very unsatisfying.

i thought i would say hi. im a twenty something and i REALLY want to learn the oboe (i wanted to at school but i was too busy floundering on the trumpet). i have been looking for teachers for ages, not really wanting to go for a generic 'woodwind' teacher... i have a couple of leads.

being off sick and extremely bored i have managed to read the post from beginning to end so i thought id add my own contribution.

i LOVE the cimarosa concerto - i have the nicholas daniel version with the peterborough string orchestra

i have a master plan to learn to make my own reeds in the fullness of time, i guess its something i will have to discuss with an eventual teacher, but is there an ideal time to start learning - i guess you have to have a reasonable amount of control over your instrument to be able to figure out how your reeds need altering but i have also heard that it takes a while to get your reeds up to that standard.

i also have a question regarding instruments, all opinions will be gratefully recieved! i am the proud owner of a very old cabart instrument the closest to which i can find on the net is this loree from 1902

http://www.music.ed.ac.uk/euchmi/ucj/ucjg1679t_s.jpg (no third octave or automatic bits but lots of trill keys)

(someone is helping me research it because im a total nerd about these things - i have to know everything!), it is a thumbplate oboe, it has been regularly serviced/repaired etc and has a lovely light tone . anyway the question is would it be potentially suitable to start lessons on to make sure 100% that the oboe is for me? i know it will probably need a little adjustment, but if i could use it for a while money i would save on rental would enable me to afford a more intermediate instrument (thought probably still second hand)

anyway nice to meet you all and sorry for babbling!

Hi Fliss.
Don't worry about being too old at twenty something, I also really wanted to learn the oboe at school (and struggled with the violin instead) and didn't take the oboe up until in my late thirties (and haven't looked back since).

If your oboe plays (ie the pads seal) then I am sure you will be able to start learning on it; any oboe teacher ought to be able to try it out and tell you. I started off with a plastic oboe which my partner bought me as a present from the internet and, although I was a bit sceptical about its qualities, after hearing my teacher play it, realised it was in fact a very satisfactory starter instrument (although I have since upgraded to a second-hand wooden Marigaux).

I started learning to make my own reeds last year after I had been playing for about three years. I can now produce a satisfactory reed but not yet the reed of my dreams.

Thanks Kerioboe for the info on the cor reeds and breathing issues. I can understand what you mean entirely and it's pretty encouraging for the future. He played the Händel in his lesson today and didn't have time to mention Ferling Studies. I looked on YouTube for any performances and they're all on Sax

Sara

Thanks Kerioboe for the info on the cor reeds and breathing issues. I can understand what you mean entirely and it's pretty encouraging for the future. He played the Händel in his lesson today and didn't have time to mention Ferling Studies. I looked on YouTube for any performances and they're all on Sax

Sara

Thanks Kerioboe for the info on the cor reeds and breathing issues. I can understand what you mean entirely and it's pretty encouraging for the future. He played the Händel in his lesson today and didn't have time to mention Ferling Studies. I looked on YouTube for any performances and they're all on Sax

Sara

Thanks Kerioboe for the info on the cor reeds and breathing issues. I can understand what you mean entirely and it's pretty encouraging for the future. He played the Händel in his lesson today and didn't have time to mention Ferling Studies. I looked on YouTube for any performances and they're all on Sax

Sara

Thanks Kerioboe for the info on the cor reeds and breathing issues. I can understand what you mean entirely and it's pretty encouraging for the future. He played the Händel in his lesson today and didn't have time to mention Ferling Studies. I looked on YouTube for any performances and they're all on Sax

Sara

I had an oboe lesson this morning in which I just played the cor anglais and my teacher was still getting all excited about how different my playing is on the cor from the oboe. For next week I am working on Alan Ridout's cor anglais piece The Rainbow and a couple of Bach's difficult passages but on the cor, not the oboe. He said that in next week's lesson we'll start with the cor and then try the oboe to see if (having played nothing but the cor for two weeks) my technique on the cor will somehow transfer itself to the oboe.

Oh God. I realy want a Cor now......
<--- it's a clarinet smiley, but it's an oboe as well lol
I hope the Cor will improve your Oboe playing

So, I'm auditioning for the CYO on Oboe AND Violin and see what offer I get.

For the Oobe one, I have to play a piece and prepare 4 scales and arpeggios.
It's not 'till June anyway...