I got:
Albinoni concerto in Bb op7/3 - yes, I'm addicted to Albinoni, it'll be Vivaldi or Bach next lol
Mozart oboe quartet arranged for P&Ob
Saint saens sonata

Okay, I agree, it sounds like it's more a mental problem than anything else. Not being a psychologist, I'm not sure what I can say to help! You just have find a state where you can relax as you get to that bit and not care any more - then it usually goes much better than if you are fretting about it. I often find myself writing 'relax!!' over hard bits in my music, and somehow by seeing that, my brain switches off, in a way, and lets my fingers get through it without me stressing.

Maybe you could post in the General forum or the Teachers forum to see if you can get any tips on how to get into this mental state? It's not oboe specific, after all.

Sorry to hear about the teeth

I have been listening to the Saint Saens Sonata while marking exam papers this afternoon. I was vaguely hoping that I might have misremembered the speed of the last movement (the movement I am supposed to be working on at the moment) but unfortunately I hadn't - it is very fast. My teacher has more faith in my ability to play fast than I do (and seems to think it does me good to play outside my comfort zone).


I think I am just an over-anxious person anyway. I have only managed to play the passages in an unstressed way twice; once when I was convinced I hadn't done enough work on them so it wasn't really worth trying, they were going to go wrong anyway and they didn't. But somehow knowing that I could do it meant it harder to do it again. The other time was when I had a really painful shoulder - so painful that I didn't really care what I was playing - but this seems a bit of a drastic way of getting my brain to switch off.

Sounds like you've chosen some gorgeous music there, Liz

Sara

I love Albinoni too - have any of you seen the film Gallipoli and the music that's in there?

For my Grade 5 (still doing that... ) I'm doing L'Agreable by Marais and Prairie Song by Cecilia MacDowall...and I think I'm doing Apres Ski Waltz for my study...but not really sure... I love my A+B pieces

I am playing the cor anglais in a trio with two of my oboe teacher's other pupils in a workshop on Saturday afternoon and then in a concert in the evening. I am not really sure that a trio is a sufficently big enough group for there to be safety in numbers, particularly as one of them is hopeless at counting and keeps coming in at the wrong place. Anyway, this morning my oboe teacher turned up at my lesson with a cor anglais reed which he said he had scraped specially for me and which is designed to work (and play in tune) regardless of how stressed I might be on Saturday. I'm not convinced that a reed can compensate totally for how appallingly badly I can play when I'm nervous but I was touched by him doing this (and I tried it out and it is a very nice reed).

I've got a reed that my teacher made, and it's the strength my teacher uses, so it needs a bit of scraping by the teacher, but It'll be a hard reed 'till then.



It's nice to play, but it does need a lot of pressure

I have problems with hard reeds... I know I need to try and start using harder ones, but every time my teacher makes me a harder one I have to get her to scrape it down as I just can't cope...

Don't worry about it. I think that's fair enough. There is a bit of a thing amongst some oboists about 'must use hard reed to make better sound' - but there is no point if you can't actually play the flipping instrument because you're exhausted from your reed. It drives me mad when I see student oboists playing on reeds too hard for them.

Play the reed which is the right strength for you, but also be aware of when it might be getting too soft (ie. don't stick on softer reeds just because you always have played them). You'll work up to harder reeds gradually, naturally, if you play regularly.

Well said!

Clarinetists are exactly the same!

Steve

Can anyone suggest some easy studies in keys with four or more flats and sharps? I was thinking along the lines of the ones at the end of Hinke, things I can more or less sight-read with no real rhythmic difficulties. I am trying to improve co-ordination of my little fingers and I am bored of playing scales.

Raina East Technical Exercises?

I've already played those ones as well.

I do have Ferling but they require work and proper practice as opposed to finger practice.

Grade 7 is only 2 months away!!!



and I havn't decided my A piece yet...

Albinoni - maybe.
Cimarosa - No, the first few bars of 4th mvt are too technical for exam with clumsy fingers
Samartini - going to get it soon.
Marcello - going to look at it next week

that's about it....



B piece - Schumann no.3
C piece - Bach study no70.

I presume this is the Trinity-Guildhall syllabus.
In which case, if you still have stamina problems, what about the Fiocco Arioso? This is only one page long.

I love the Marcello Too much, in fact, to want to learn to play it just yet.

Only one page, but an extremely slow-moving one, with hardly any decent pauses for breaths!!! I would say that it's pretty tough stamina-wise.

Each to their own stamina My own problem is that I tend to snatch breaths regardless of how long the pause to breathe in actually is and, in stressful situations, I hold my breath during bars' rest.

On a completely different topic. Is there an ideal position for the thumb rest?
I bought an adjustable clarinet thumb rest to try on the cor-anglais (where the thumb rest is in an uncomfortable position for me) but the screw holes aren't in quite the right place. Whilst considering my next move (send the thumb rest back or try and find a repairer who would drill new holes) I decided I'd try the thumb rest on the oboe where the screw holes are in the right place. I hadn't felt that the oboe thumb rest really needed changing but I am suffering at the moment from a shoulder problem caused by writing too much on the blackboard and as a result have been playing with the oboe held at a closer angle to the body than I did previously which (amongst other things) makes the third octave harder to play. Anyway, putting the thumb rest lower did seem to make it much more comfortable and I decided I would leave it on the oboe and find something else for the cor-anglais. All well and good until I tried to put the oboe away and it won't fit in the case with the adjustable thumb rest.

So I now have a completely different dilemma; do I cut a bit out of the inside of the case to make it fit (but I don't want to ruin the case completely)? Do I just wait for my shoulder to get better (It has been going on for over six weeks but I only have two more weeks of teaching and I am seeing a physiotherapist tomorrow)? Part of me also wonders how much difference a lower thumb rest does actually make and if maybe my shoulder was just less painful because several of my classes had tests yesterday so I didn't write as much as usual.

I have some problems with my thumb rest. I don't know if it'sd because of the way I holdthe instrument or not, but my thumb keeps getting into a awkward position. I don't know if cutting a bit of the case would help, but if it's only room for a thumb rest, it can't be that damaging?


I've got the samartini sonata. It's quite nice, but i've got about 2 more A list pieces to try...

I'm still dithering about what to do (and dismantling the adjustable bit of the thumb rest each time I put the oboe away). The case is still quite new (I replaced the old one that came with the oboe) - hence my reluctance to attack it with a knife - and I'm not sure what the inside is made of and what might happen to it if I cut through the outer layer.

And my shoulder is still in the same state On Thursday I saw a specialist and was supposed to be seeing a physiotherapist just afterwards but the specialist decided maybe it wasn't a shoulder problem but a neck problem and wants me to have a neck x-ray before manipulating anything.

So how's the shoulder and oboe case?



My grade 7 list is...

A - Samartini (probably) or if not, the Albinoni
B - Schumann
C - Bach no.70


The Marcello in Dminor is going into the possible CYO audition piece list. June 14!!!

I'm going to be soooo sad if I don't get in, but I don't know how many Oboists are auditioning, and there is only room for 1 oboist so I don't know what to expect.

Other possible pieces would be the grade 7 pieces or Cimarosa.


I love the Marcello, and I THINK i can get it ready by the audition date. The Bach ornamentation in the Adagio is quite hard, but oh well...

The shoulder and the oboe case are still in the same state. The neck x-ray was negative but my next appointment with the specialist isn't until 19th May. At least I've now finished teaching until September (the exam period doesn't involve writing on the blackboard) so with a bit of luck it at least won't get any worse.

I'm still dithering about the oboe case - the music school is shut until next week and at home I can fiddle around unscrewing the thumbrest after each practice. I'll have to make up my mind on Wednesday morning.



Good luck for the audition. Is your grade 7 likely to be before or after?


I want to learn to do a really good vibrato before I play this - I like it too much

.



Grade 7 is going to be near the end of june, so the audition is first






My Vibrato isn't that good... I don't know how to make it controlled.

Vibrato takes a little bit of regular practice, I am sure you know what to work at...I wish you luck with yur grade 7 and the Marcello, a lovely concerto...

I am currently working on Sarabande and Allegro by Grovlez...it's lovely but fairly challenging in places...

regards

Andrew

Liz, what a great list of music. I started to play the Sammartini, but then lost the music which is a great pity as I was really enjoying it. I'd love to play the Marcello. I think I'll ask my teacher once I've got through his list of pieces.

I'm now working on one of the obbligatos (?) from the Bach B minor mass and the Haydn oboe concerto. It's very long but I think I will like it, except my C/D (? the one that trills the middle C from D) isn't working properly, so I have to try and take the key off and clean the hole and also see if oiling the mechanism helps. I've never done anything like this before so I'm really nervous about doing it!

I would say if you're in any doubt whatsoever, then DON'T. I have too often had a problem, started to optimistically tweak things, and made the problem much worse. If you don't know what you're doing, it's not worth the risk.

Either get your teacher to do it if s/he feels competent, or take it to a repairer.

Go and describe your problem on the oboe forum at www.woodwind.org
There's a very friendly chap there called ChrisP who works for Howarths and is a walking encyclopedia on woodwind repair!

Steve

I thought of you this evening Lizbun - I went to an open air concert (it was supposed to be indoors but the weather was so nice it was transferred outside into a very nice courtyard) given jointly by four professional musicians who have been holding master classes for would be professionals on their respective instruments. The first person to play was an oboist who played all three of Schuman's Romances. Which one are you doing for your exam?

He played it very nicely (no stamina problems there ). My only gripe is that over the past five years four different oboists have come to play in the small town where I live and all four have played Schuman's Romances, much as I like them, it would be nice to have a bit of variety.

Forgive me if I'm being a bit dense about this, but why not do some proper practice, working carefully at the Ferling studies and then, once you know them well, use them for finger dexterity work?

How about the Brown studies, or Brod? Some of those are quite challenging, but not so much so as the Ferling.

Easy studies won't provide the technical challenges you are seeking, so bite the bullet now. The alternative is to make up your own awkward note patterns that require finger dexterity, working at them initially with a metronome until you can play them fast and legato. Play each phrase, without making a mistake, four times, before moving on to the next.

Have you thought about trying the book of '20 minute exercises' by Gillet. Those are real finger twisters!

Thanks for the advice Steve. I've been reading some of the posts on that forum, but feel too inhibited and inexperienced to join in.
I did sit down yesterday, took my courage in both hands and took off some of the keys on the top joint of my oboe to clean out the tone holes where the two trill keys are. I had to take off some of the keys lower down to get at them, but everything is now back and still works and I feel really pleased with myself !!!
I've also oiled the moving bits where keys meet the rods.

Apparently I should be oiling all the moving parts about every 3 or 4 months or so, and I presume cleaning out some of the tone holes very occasionally. Last week my teacher unblocked the C key which was quite clogged up and playing very flat as a consequence.
I know it's only a little thing, but having taken oboe keys off once, I know I can do it again when I need to and not worry about doing it, which is a nice feeling.

Maybe I didn't explain very clearly. What I wanted was something that I could incorporate into my warm-up (10 minutes of long notes, 10 minutes of scales, 10 minutes of finger exercices). Ferling studies are too complete in the sense that they work on lots of things at the same time. I am currently working on Telemann Fantasias as studies in my lessons and didn't really want something which was as challenging. Also (not a musical reason I know but nonetheless it has an importance) I find the print in the edition of Ferling that I have visually tiring to read (there is not enough contrast between the black and the white). I also saw playing easier studies as being useful sight-reading practice and a way of getting into the habit of using alternative fingerings by anticipation.


I worked through Brod a couple of years ago but I don't know Brown or the Gillet you mentioned. Thanks.

Yes, it's surprising how easy it is, though there are a few keys on the lower joint that have to come off and go back on together. Fiddly- though not exactly difficult.

The very first time I took a clarinet apart, I took some digi photos first and numbered the keys as I took them off. That way, I was able to work much faster when I had to do it again. I did the same thing for the oboe. Most important - put each key and screw somewhere secure (I use small plastic sachets) when you don't need them. Those little screws are just begging to get lost!!

Steve

As I'm not at all mechanically minded I feel totally unconfident in my ability to take apart the whole instrument and get it all back together again. I have a vision of myself with an oboe and just one or two little screws left over!
Steve, did you take your own oboe/clari. apart or did you have the luxury of an instrument you could play with?? I'd love to have an old oboe that I could take to bits, just to see if I could put the whole thing back together again.

I don't consider myself mechanically minded at all, but I am very methodical and cautious. That's why the first time, I kept such detailed records of what I did. If you have a diagram (digi photo in my case) and mark clearly which key you're taking off, then there's no problem. Never force anything, store each key and screw together, and arrange them in reverse order, so you know which ones go back on first.

To be honest, a decent clarinet or oboe is pretty solid and the worst thing that can happen is having to take the pieces, red faced, to your music shop.

I started becoming interested in them only by accident. I had a student Hanson clarinet and wanted something better, so I bought another one from Ebay. My very first purchase from Ebay.... and also my worst! It was a horrible old Selmer Student Console that needed work doing to it. So I corresponded via email with a guy from the woodwing.org forum and started doing it myself.

Fast forward four years and more clarinets and a few oboes. I just finished repairing a clarinet for a friend's son, but it's only a hobby. I just gave it a good clean, oiled the bore, changed four pads, oiled the keywork and adjusted the linkage. The only things I don't like doing are changing springs. I've done this on clarinets, but never on an oboe. Some things are best left to the professionals!

Don't forget the screw adjustment on oboes. I use a small DIY book by Carl Sawicki, but there's one by McFarland... think. Worth its weight in gold!


Steve

Ok, now I understand. Good luck with the Telemann - having originally been written for flute, yes, they ARE difficult to play on the oboe.

Not an oboist but are there any good POST-BAROQUE oboe concerti / concert pieces out there? I am the regular accompanist of an oboist and at the moment we are going through the Mozart and both of the Krommer and it's her birthday soon and I thought I would buy her something. Post-baroque is just my preference; I hate playing orchestra reductions of baroque music ( )

There are loads - though mostly C20. Before you get there, though, right after Baroque, there's Haydn, then Hummel. Later on, people like Kalliwoda, Bellini. C20: Vaughan Williams, Strauss, William Mathias, Woolfendon, Alwyn, Martinu, Ridout, Arnold. (But orchestral reductions of anything are not that nice to play, I imagine.)

You might want to check with your oboist what she already has, though - a lot of these are standard repertoire.

If you want to ask about 'concert pieces' as opposed to concerti - how long have you got?...

If you don't like orchestral reductions wouldn't it be better to look for sonatas rather than other concertos?

On a completely different topic...

I decided to cut a piece out of my oboe case this morning so the adjustable thumb rest would fit in. I did it very carefully and, feeling pleased with myself, put the oboe back in (with the new thumb rest still on) and went off to my oboe lesson, leaving my reed case (and all my reeds) on the top of the piano

I don't mind playing orchestral reductions, I just hate playing orchestral reductions of baroque music

Looks like the Schumann Romances or the Mozart oboe quintet might make an appearance sometime soon.

I've looked at music by Joseph Horovitz (a sonatina and an concerto). Anyone know if they are any good? One of the BBC young musician clarinetist did the Horovitz clarinet sonatina and I loved it, and would be something up her street I guess.

You can also play Clara Schumann's Romances (originally for viola I think) on the oboe. Bellini wrote an oboe concerto. Donizetti wrote a concerto for English horn but also wrote a couple of things for oboe and Piano.

There is also an oboe concerto by Vanhall which might appeal (my teacher described it as Mozart without the interpretation difficulties) but it is theoretically out of print so you have to track down a shop which has an unsold copy.

That'll be the Mozart Quartet. Unless you've discovered a long-lost manuscript no-one knows about!

Those are both pretty standard repertoire, are you sure she won't have them already? Something C20 might be less likely to be known already - how about the Britten Temporal Variations? Apparently the piano part is quite challenging!

(Kerioboe, Clara Schumann's Romances were originally for violin.)

Yes, my mistake. The one in F, K370. Works better I think as an oboe + piano thing. Making an appearance as in I will start learning the accompaniment and she can do whatever with it. I am scouting on Naxos music library at the moment to hunt for some less well known gems, so far to no avail. Shall post when something remotely interesting comes up

hope people don't mind if I change the tack of this thread a little for the moment.

Daughter's teacher wants her to take G6 Oboe in July. She hasn't any pieces other than one she sightread last night (Nielson). I have worked out that between now and the exams there are only 7 lessons.

we are assuming the Nielson is to be one of the pieces, she's possibly looked at a study but have no idea on what the 3rd piece will be or even if we have the music.

I think this might be too big an ask, I've not yer been able to contact the teacher, what do others think?

As some of you will probably know she has a Merit at G5 from the winter 07 session. She's already entered for G3 Piano (no worries) but important and G4 Jazz Sax (ok) for fun so not as important. She'd be ok with the 3 exams but I'm not sure about the timescale for Oboe.

Any advice or thoughts appreciated.

Hi Berni,

It does seem a bit of a rush and a push. I know your daughter works hard but whats the panic...is it to meet a quailifying deadline for something?...if not then I would wait till the next session...far better to take a little time and get everything well learnt and settled under the hand. Being ill prepared is always going to show up when one least needs it too...

Hope you and yours are well..

Andrew

I hate all my oboe reeds I had one one which was lovely at orchestra last thursday and suddenly it has decided to just die. Grrr!!!

I don't know what planet your teacher is on, but the deadline for entries was a couple of weeks ago. So unless s/he has entered your daughter without telling you, it's too late anyway. (Presuming we're talking AB here, not some other board.)

I also think that if she hasn't at least started on all of the pieces yet, it is way too late. (And does she know all the scales? There are a lot more for grade 6 than grade 5.) Personally I don't enter anyone unless they are already playing a fair selection of the pieces reasonably well by the time the deadline comes round.





Ahh, the travails of the oboist... It never gets any better, either.

It's not too late for her to enter at all. The closing date is not until a week on Friday. It's AB on a special visit.

I've spoken to her Teacher and he admits it's going to be a lot of work and there are only seven lessons, which is something I don't think he realised.

It's come to light that she has been playing a study and has looked at one of the other pieces although ot in any great detail.







Thanks Andrew!

There is not really a rush, that's what's taken me by suprise and her too I might add. I think it's because he knows she doesn't really want to do G6. The pieces seem ot be a bit samey and nothing has really caught her attention. also I think he realises that she's waining a bit after all the work she put into G5.

We are going to give it until next Monday and asess it then. Waiting until December would be ok normally but she isn't that mad on the pieces. I can't see her playing them all over the summer. I'll end up nagging her.

Sort of wondering if it's worth going for and accepting a pass and then taking time to G7.

I was looking here. Closing date of 2nd May. Maybe special visits are different, I can't be bothered to work out the dates, but it still seems surprising to me.




She doesn't have to *only* play the exam pieces over the summer. She could learn them, go and learn something else, then go back to them later.

And it sounds like she's only looked at two of the pieces so far - couldn't she branch out and look at some of the others, in case she likes them more?

I would've done the Albinoni if I did grade 6.

The nielsen is a nice piece





6-7 weeks for 3 pieces needs a lot of practice though. I'm sure it can be done.





I was having soooooooooo much difficulty playing with a unresponsive reed yesterday, and today the same reed seems fine...

She has looked at several of the pieces but can't connect with them in the way she usually does. We don't have the Abinoni for G6. We've just realised that and will get it asap. We listened to the cd ages ago when she messed around with the pieces before taking G5. Her opinion hasn't really changed since then.

She's actually been working on several other pieces since taking G5 including some of the G7 list. I think, having just heard her, that the Teacher reacted to her playing of the Nielson in the lesson. Not that I believe that it's any reason to rush into the exam but I get where he's coming from.

I agree that she doesn't only have to play the exam pieces over the summer and wouldn't in any case. I'm just concerned without a goal it will be easy for her to put Oboe on the back burner. She's definately not ready for G7 in any seriousness. On the other hand it'd be easy for her to be distraced by another insturment.

I think the Special visits are entered a month before the exam and as this one is at the end of the session the closing date hasn't yet gone.

What have other people played for G6 and did anyone have similar reactions to the pieces? What are your pupils feelings Claire?

Just a quick reply for now (while my daughter is in the shower) I may add more later.

The Nielsen has a tricky piano accompaniment - it really is a part in its own right - and she would need to reherase it properly with the pianist (not just one play throught before the exam), am I right in thinking that her teacher does not accompany her?

If she doesn't like the grade 6 pieces why doesn't she miss out grade 6 and aim for grade 7 next summer?