Is it one of those editions where both parts are written on the same page? When I was the only oboist I used to chop and change playing whichever part was easiest. I came slightly unstuck when a second oboist arrived and asked me which part I was playing so she could take the other one and I could hardly say to her, "oboe 1 for the first 3 bars, then oboe 2 for the next five, then oboe 1..."


This happens to me all the time. And the day you decide you're fed up of bringing it for nothing will be the day you need it


Once you know the piece you won't have to count quite so much - you can rely on hearing instead. And 18 bars is luxury to change instruments

Yup, one set of music, two parts. We have only run this piece once, so I haven't really decided which part is easier, I just played the top line everywhere.

Another piece we play that has two oboe parts is the Vaughan Williams English Folk Song Suite, although that is only divided in the third movement. It's just as well we don't have two oboes for the first movement, otherwise everybody else would discover how "approximate" some of my notes are!

It's rather quiet around here...

Maybe I'll slink off again and go do some oboe practice.

Flute interloper her

Probably not much more approximate than the flutes... Dives and Lazarus is just ridiculously hard. Take it you at least don't have the bat distraction issue (looks out copy of Picc part and earplugs...)

Somewhat but we have a REAL bat distraction...

The community theatre in which I have oboe lessons and wind band rehearsal has bats in the rafters (exposed). There always seems to be a week of accumulated bat guano when I arrive for my lesson. I can just about cope but the smell almost makes my teacher pass out. A couple of time we've had to remove a poor, bewildered little bat scrabbling around on the floor between our feet and music stands...

yes, I'm still around! Yet to do oboe practice but will get round to it soon. Penultimate lesson on Friday.........

Have been away visiting family this weekend. Made up for oboe withdrawal by listening to oboe concertos and schubert symphonies in the car

I've just found out that I have to go to Peru on a work trip the week of our salsa gig, our first concert invitation outside of the metropolitan area.

Trying to work up the courage to ring my teacher/our conductor and break the bad news.

EDIT: Just broke the bad news... and in the meantime, some good news arrived, though not mine. An ex student of my teacher's just won a place in the Youth Orchestra of the Americas. Indeed, the only non-North American oboist as far as I can see.

What a disappointment
Is there any chance of you being invited to play again when you will be able to go?

That's a shame Katica. Hope you have another opportunity!

Life is a bit mad here at the moment - trying to balance work, life, oboe and piano. We had our summer orchestra concert on Saturday which went really well - lots of English music - Elgar, Britten, Holst, Arnold, Walton. One of my friends came and said that she really enjoyed it and wants to come to another one!

I had final orchestra rehearsal on Tuesday, no more till September now - which is actually rather nice.

I'm still working on the Mozart Quartet, Telemann Fantasias and have just started the first movement of the Hindemith. I've been thinking about what to play for Stalybridge and will hopefully play a couple of movements from French Suite - it will be Bastille day after all! I need to check the timing to make sure I can do two within the time limits and also depends on whether the accompanist can manage it as well as bits are quite tricky.

Sorry need to rush off to another meeting (fortunately in one of the air conditioned conference rooms!)

Hope everyone else's playing is going well.

Greetings one and all, just popping in..quite a lot going on in peoples lives I see..

Just had a very busy time lately, playing Tchaik 4 and as its "The Julie Bee" as we have taken to calling the Jubilee, I seem to have endless performances of Handels Music for the Royal Fireworks which is incredibly long..never mind it'll make scales a doddle.

Not feeling terribly lively, incredibly hot and humid and the day has been a long one.

Hope everyone is well and happy

Andrew

Nice to see you back Andrew

I've just had a very pleasant oboe lesson .

I went to England for four days last week and when I got back worked two very long days so didn't touch my oboe at all for six days. I was appalled Wednesday to discover that I seemed to have forgotten how to play and to have lost all stamina

After I'd played a pathetically weedy couple of lines my teacher took my oboe to demonstrate ... and sounded just like me He immediately got out his screw-driver and started adjusting things and five minutes later I sounded much better My return from England corresponded to a huge rise in temperature and fall in humidity levels and this must have been enough to upset all the screws.

I was so pleased to discover that it was the oboe and not me that I was much more relaxed than usual and so my playing was better too.

Thethread is getting rather tatty on my current reeds, nearest to the cork, and I'm a bit worried it's going to come loose, especially on my 'awkward' reed (that has a tendency to randomly refuse to sound), which I can actually see part of the cane where the threads have moved. Is there anything I can do to stop this getting any worse?

Put some nail varnish on the bit that looks like it is unravelling (but this would usually be for a loose end down the bottom). Otherwise, you can cut the end of a roll of cling film and wind this around the thread and slightly above.

That said if the reed really is "randomly" refusing to sound (ie it's the reed, not you that is at fault), then either it needs re-scraping or it is "dead".

Thanks, I'll give that a try. It is the reed as it's done it since day one but I couldn't be bothered to send it back.

Thanks again Roseau. I did some diy on my reeds and they look much neater and the 'awkward' one is airtight again so hopefully it'll play a little better now

Glad it's playing better
Does your teacher look at them at all? When I first started my teacher asked me every lesson how my reeds were and used to get me to do a long note on each reed to make sure they were working properly. He would adjust them either if I said I was unhappy with them or if he felt I was struggling with them. These days he no longer asks and encourages me to adjust them myself but if I insist he will do it for me.

I've not had a lesson for a while. I don't actually have regular lessons; can't afford them, especially with orchestra subs to pay! Will try and get one booked in the next couple of weeks though to work through orchestra pieces and possible solo piece for the performance evening (although am not convinced i'll go through with that).

Hope you manage to get a lesson booked in Mrs B.

I'm finding practising in the heat a bit wearing - though I do like the sun so don't want to complain too much. I had a very pleasant couple of hours in the garden on Saturday tying on oboe reeds and doing some initial scraping. I'll post about that in the other thread though!

I had a 40 minute rehearsal with an accompanist for Morceau de Salon this afternoon and have some what mixed feelings about it. She is a much better accompanist than the usual one and it was glaringly obvious that I am not cut out to be a soloist. The usual accompanist just thumps things out which forces me to play fairly loudly just to be able to hear what I am doing but this one followed my dynamics so things just got quieter and quieter to the point where even I felt they were too quiet but I couldn't do anything about it. In the end she suggested that rather than following me, she would play a bit louder and see if that gave me a bit more confidence. That did help but, as she pointed out, she is not the one who is supposed to be leading

I picked up my oboe today for the first time in ten days, following a very pleasant holiday. I was rather afraid that it might be a bit of a disaster, but was actually pleasantly surprised that the technique, lip stamina and muscle memory seemed to have enjoyed the break too!

I missed one lesson for my holiday, my teacher will be on holiday for our next scheduled lesson and we couldn't find another mutually convenient date, so I am basically on my own for six weeks, during which time she expects me to master the first movement of the Cimarosa Concerto. A lot of work needed, methinks.

Not been on here much, I have been busy revising . I had a lesson yesterday, it wasn't too bad, I just have to work on double tonguing... Any advice would be appreciated, I do do it on the flute, but that is much easier because there is no reed in the way!

Unfortunately, I havent had much time to practice recently, though I did buy 4 reeds today, I probably should be making them but I havent got time and I need some reliable ones for a course at the beginning of July.

After playing terribly in orchestra this week and then not being able to practice due to to work, I just had a great practice session in which I made some noticeable improvements to my pieces through proper focused playing. And then treated myself to a couple of disney tunes at the end as a reward

Can I ask how people warm up when playing in orchestras etc?

When I'm playing at home I spend a fair while warming myself and oboe up, playing scales and exercises within scales (all from a book as my memorising skills are rubbish) and then usually play through a few short studies of G1-3 standard before starting on more complex stuff. I feel it takes me about 15-20 mins to settle into my playing.

At orchestra we only get about 5 minutes in which to warm up before playing and all I can usually manage is a handful of scales and a few long notes. As a result I'm often not yet quite in tune myself to lead the orchestra in tuning and I don't feel that I play very well at the start of the session. The conductor comments every week that he wants us all to work at playing better at the start of the session, but I'm a bit at a loss as to what I can do to improve this without getting there 15 mins early and finding a room to play in by myself!

I'm sure you are quite right. 5 minutes isn't a long enough warm up. One orchestra I go to is just up the road from home so I can do a bit of a warm up before getting there. The other session I do is 2 windbands and orchestra one after the other. The first one is used as a warm up.

But, generally yes, long notes and scales.

I have found that as I have progressed I need less time to warm up but I remember how you feel! I play in a windband on Tuesday evenings and go there more or less straight from work. Since I also work all day on Mondays I usually haven't touched the oboe since Sunday and am always worried about how the reed might have changed since Sunday.

My teacher suggested playing a long A, then notes from a D major (or minor) arpeggio but always returning to the A - so something like A - bottom D - A - mid-octave D - A - octave A - A - F - A etc. gradually speeding up the other notes but playing the A long enough each time to make sure it is in tune and a stable sound. If possible finish with a quick scale to get your fingers moving (choose the one you know/like best).

Thanks. I think I'll have to work at fitting more into the time available.

I try to get to orchestra early so that I can at least warm up enough to play an A in tune. Similarly to Roseau I do D's and A's, arpeggios and scales - always coming back to the A to see if it is in tune. If it is very flat I gently blow warm air through the instrument without the reed to warm it up more quickly. I find blowing up to the higher notes does bring the lower notes up to tune more quickly too. Fortunately our conductor does realise that wind and brass instruments do need warming up and will usually start off something loud and straightforward with lots of tutti sections to help the process! Quite often we'll retune after that before proceeding with the rest of the rehearsal

The Cimarosa is one of the loveliest concertos for the Oboe, the first movement is particularly nice as is the Siciliana..it's all beautiful and I have played it many times..each re-visit brings something new to my attention and it gets better each time..I remember very clearly how it was the first time I played it and how difficult I found some of it but things get better and easier with time..Have fun with it.

Sorry, I've got yet another question

I can just about play up to a high D# but some of the music I've been playing with goes up higher and I'd appreciate some help. I'm trying to learn how to play an E but I can't get it to sound at all and I'm struggling to get my fingers to press down both the G# and left hand Eb keys at the same time, what with them facing opposite directions. Is there a technique I'm missing here? Could anyone post a picture of their fingers doing this to help me see how?

Good for you if you are trying out notes in the oboe stratosphere! What on earth are you trying to play?

There are often alternative fingerings for many of these high notes, so pick the one which is easiest to change to and which sounds best on your instrument and reed. For your particular question, using the LH G# key and the RH Eb key achieves exactly the same set holes open / closed on the instrument as your version, and is much easier to bend the hands around. I have found this website to be a useful source of fingerings for basic notes, trills etc, where information is available in a neat table form, so you can easily see the alternatives.

Yup. That's the one I use. Plenty of air needed too.

Thanks! My chart only gives the one option so it hadn't occured to me to use the right hand Eb. Will try that tomorrow.

I've been playing The Entertainer and Ladies in Lavender both of which go up to an F so I have to miss those bits out. There may be more in my growing music collection. Am determined to get there eventually though.

It is one of those things that gets better with practice. It's true that you can use the right hand or the left-hand keys but you really do need to be able to play it either way because if you are playing it just before or after a D or a C# then you ought to use the left-hand keys to get a really smooth change.

That said, if it is windband music I would be inclined to put it down an octave. You've probably got notes that high because it is a flute/oboe part (rather than just oboe) and you are likely to be in unison with the flute. If you're not used to playing that high then it is very likely that you are not going to be in tune (and flutes are very often not in tune anyway).

No it is oboe music. I could probably drop the note in the entertainer, but the ladies in lavender ones are at the end of a scale. There's a high E in one of the Schubert movements I've been playing too, so I'd like to learn it for that. Thanks for help

Even if it says "oboe" on it, it is still an arrangement though and likely to be very similar to the flute part. That said, a top E at the end of a scale is probably the easiest way to start playing one. I'm guessing that most of the orchestra are playing the same scale and that there is a cresecendo up the scale; it is important that you use more breath pressure and don't "pinch" the top notes to get them out and doing a very marked crescendo will help.


Assuming this is not an arrangement this is likely to be the most problematic one to learn as if it is Schubert's oboe part (as opposed to an arranger's) it will be important musically.

(As you can tell, I have come to the conclusion - confirmed by my teacher - that a lot of arrangers don't really know what an oboe is and the part is a) often not adapted to the instrument b) not really essential to the piece so that if the orchestra/wind band doesn't have an oboist the piece will still sound OK).

I can't decide if today's oboe lesson was totally depressing or the exciting start of a new stage of learning

I have managed to hurt my arm using a mouse (so am now trying to use the computer with my left-hand only) and have an anti-inflammatory patch and a compression bandage which provides some relief round my right arm. It is only when the arm is prone that it's painful to do anything so playing the oboe is not a problem but my teacher decided he wasn't willing to let me take any risks and would only let me play a couple of bars at a time. Instead he had me working on varying the air-stream - blowing out a narrow stream of air but following the music so incorporating tonguing and dynamics in the right places. I found this very hard to do partly because I kept losing the pulse but largely because he seemed to have such a huge variety of effects and even after several attempts I couldn't imitate everything he was doing; then he had me "draw" a picture in the air of how I felt the passage was phrased. When he finally let me play the passage on the oboe I played about a bar and a half and just stopped out of sheer surprise because I couldn't believe how good I sounded

And then, of course, once I started thinking about it, I couldn't produce the same wonderful sound I have instructions this week to rest my arm, play very little and instead spend my usual practice time blowing and drawing pictures in the air (the rest of the family really will think I've gone mad ).

He claims that it is the ability to constantly vary the air-stream to shape the music is what turns a competent oboist into a good oboist. He stressed that what he was asking me to do was not easy and said that a year ago I would have been incapable of even attempting it so I should see it as proof of how much I have progressed. His image was that I've got to the top of the mountain and that I can now start finding my way down the other side but my own vision is that I thought I was almost at the top and now I've suddenly discovered that there's another mountain behind it which is even higher than the first

Definitely the exciting start of a new stage of learning.



Sounds really interesting, are you blowing with or without the reed? My teacher is trying to get me to think about phrasing and how to shape each phrase and know exactly where each note sits in the phrase. I find it quite difficult so maybe I should try drawing it in the air.


Take it as encouragement that you are making progress, but I fear there will always be a higher mountain to climb.
I hope your arm gets better soon.

My oboe playing is going OK, I am still struggling trying to balance both oboe and piano practice and I'm still waiting for a date for my piano exam which must now be in the last 2 weeks of the exam session. At this stage I'm hoping it is the last week as that will be easier to manage with work but would also mean that I won't really have any time at all between exam and Stalybridge which could be a problem. I've decided that I'll be playing the second movement of the Mozart Oboe quartet, as I won't have time to learn anything new and everything else I'm learning at the moment is either too long or has too difficult an accompaniment. It seems a bit of a wasted opportunity to play without accompaniment as I so rarely have a pianist to work with. Hopefully it will be OK, stamina is a bit of a problem with it but I'm sure the audience will be kind. On the other hand I'm convinced that my (seemingly endless) piano scale practice is really helping my technique on the oboe. I can tell from piano that my fingers are getting stronger and working more independently and on the oboe I'm finding it much easier to play things quickly and cleanly.

I've also been asked to play at a Garden Party the weekend after Stalybridge. The principle flautist at orchestra is involved with a local charity, who are having the party and various people people have been asked to do a short slot. She's put me in touch with a local accompanist and I'm getting together with her on Monday for a run through. The brief is that it should be light and accessible so my tentative program is the Oboe Quartet First movement (sadly slightly too long for Stalybridge!), Oblivion and Dring's Italian Dance (which I played for my grade 7 so hopefully can get it up to standard without very much effort!). I'll see how it goes on Monday.

It was blowing without anything - this was one of the things that made it hard because it was without the resistance of the reed but he insisted on proper deep breaths and supporting with abdominal muscles. And there's the problem of needing extra breaths because you haven't got the resistance of the reed so you use up air more quickly.


Good luck for the exam
Periodically I think I would like to go back to playing the piano more seriously and then think that I just wouldn't have time to practise two instruments so I'm very impressed by what you're doing.


My teacher keeps suggesting this piece to me and I keep telling him that I'm not overkeen on Mozart and chosing something else. The last time this happened he said that I couldn't go on avoiding Mozart for ever


Sounds fun - I hope the weather's nice for you and you enjoy it.

My experience of mountains is that even if the next one you tackle is smaller than the current one, it may well be harder.

Today I discovered the Corelli oboe concerto by way of my repertoire book and I really enjoyed it. I've got movements 1 and 4. I'm considering whether to buy the whole pieceto get the other 3 (?) movements. It's about grade 4-5 so much more my level than a lot of my music collection (although I really enjoy pushing myself with the more advanced stuff) Is anyone familiar with it?

I've been busy with my first year recital- I played Albinoni Concerto in Bb, first 2 movements, Poulenc Sonata, first movement and Richardson French Suite first movement. After that; I went on tour as part of the Conservatoire Folk Ensemble, which was amazing! Then I was starting to think that there wasn't going to be much to for the rest of the term, when I got asked to play in 2 Conservatoire orchestras! Now I get to play 3rd (and 1st to give our 1st player a break before big d'Amore bits) in Bach's B Minor Mass on Friday, and then play in the Symphony Orchestra in a contemporary concert the next Friday

After that, I'm playing in my old school's show- Phantom of the Opera in July

Just starting my scales and orchestral excerpts for next year now- but that includes Tchaik Romeo and Juliet fantasy overture

But one of the screws on my oboe keeps coming undone

Wow, you've been busy! I love the Albinoni concerto

I spent a pleasant hour or so playing trios with my teacher and another oboist this evening . Since I had had a week to practise the pieces I kept up much better than last week when it was all sight-reading (although there is still one patch in one where the rhythm catches me up). My teacher commented on how much better everything was: tonguing, intonation, rhythm and general confidence... I said that it ought to be given that I'd been practising them all week and there was a slight pause before he said "I don't know what I'm supposed to say to that, I'm not used to having pupils telling me they've practised, "

If anyone is out there in oboe land just now, during the course of this evening's concert on Radio 3 there will be a performance of James McMillan's Intercessions for 3 Oboes. A fabulous piece. I don't know what time it will be on but tune in now. Some fabulous Stravinsky and early music while you wait for it. This is my idea of intelligent programming.

More Bach Mass in B Minor, and then Bridge for a quartet coaching session- so slightly contrasting!

Hello folks, I haven't been around for quite a while and no time now other than for a quick drop-in here.

I have only played the oboe once, briefly, in more than three weeks. Travel for work - and work in general - is really exhausting right now and leaving no space at all for the oboe. I got back from the last trip to find that lessons and band rehearsals have been suspended until mid-July because our teacher/conductor is tied up with opera rehearsals. Then in August I'm off to the UK and probably a work trip to Canada shortly after returning, so I'll be lucky if I get a couple of lessons before mid-September. Between May and September probably no more than half a dozen lessons total. I'm also a bit worried about fulfilling obligations to my own student. Oh well. Looks like another year of slow oboe progress.

Seriously starting to consider major career/job change. Definitely by mid-2014 and possibly a lot earlier.

I'm fascinated by your new do-it-just-breathing approach, Roseau. This may well be a good alternative for me while travelling. I think I might try it with a coffee straw, though, as a transition to no resistance at all. I have been taking music with me, so I haven't been entirely inactive. I even took the oboe on the last trip but I really couldn't play it at the hotel I was staying in.

Glad to see MrsB still hanging in there and all the rest of you.

Great to hear you're having such a good time, OboePiano. I thoroughly enjoyed the Conservatoire Folk Ensemble at the 2009 IDRS conference. Totally mad and huge fun!

Good to see you back


Oh no
I'm trying not to think about the fact that the music school shuts for the summer at the end of June and I won't have any more lessons until mid September

I feel that I'm on the verge of understanding lots of things and that two and a half months with no lessons will mean that I'll fall back into my introverted ways again

Would your teacher give you some private lessons over the summer, or is that absolument interdit?