Aww thanks Kate, I presume its Kate..Thats very sweet of you, yes I had a lovely day thank you..

We did fair well in the awards thread didnt we, I didnt even realise it was happening..Shows where I spend most of my time..HERE..

Andrew

Dear All,

I can see that congratulations are due to one of the main contributors from this thread - Pushpull has made it on to both Supportive Member Poll and Humourous Poster Poll!!!

... Goes off to compile list ... so many to choose from on this one!

Currently trying of something supportive and humourous to say.

Nicholas Daniel and Huw Watkins due on Radio 3's In Tune programme just before 7.00pm later this evening.

No idea what they'll be playing though.

EDIT:" Oboist Nicholas Daniel and pianist Huw Watkins will be performing Nielsen, Bach and one of Huw Watkins' own compositions in the studio and talking to Sean about upcoming concerts at the Lake District Summer Music Festival 2010."
(From the Radio 3 website)

So there you have it.

Thank you, I shall be listening to that this evening then..

Andrew

NOTE: I posted that YESTERDAY, so you'll have to use iplayer, assuming that In Tune is recorded on it.

Oops, I also missed your alert but thanks Clavicembalo! Fortunately it is on iplayer: click here

*** Four days later ***
That's odd, where is everybody?

I've been off the "net" for a few days and came back eagerly for some "oboistica" and there's no-one here... Only pushpull over there on the other threads busy being one of the ten Funniest Folks on the Forums (congrats for that pushpull! ).

I suppose kerioboe is off at oboe school (looking forward to hearing about htat), perhaps flobiano is already in Finland... and maybe Andrew just has a big post-birthday hangover? And I suppose the rest of you are having a well-earned summer holiday...

No news from Howarths yet as to why my C# and Eb may have become stiff but I'm gradually getting used to it...

I'm still lurking - not going away till the end of the week.

Haven't been doing much new, oboe wise....missing orchestra, missing lessons, but keeping up with the practice - spending a lot of time on scales with different articulations and dynamics focussing on tone, tuning, vibrato. Not incredibly exciting but hopefully it will pay off in the long term.

I'm really looking forward to hearing how Kerioboe has got on at the Oboe school too.

The Oboist in this house has been away on a residential playing one of her other instruments.

She's catching up on practice especially for an audition in a few weeks.

Our little oboist is away too enjoying a holiday in a very small and untouristed village in Espana!

Thank you. I'm even higher in the "funniest oboe playing" charts.

Did you try slackening the rod (ever so slightly)?

Morning all,

well I have been lackse in my attendance here..I have been Piano Hunting..what a trial. I really need a very large Concert Grand for the Studio here..but the Prices are staggering (don't ask) but it's head spinning stuff.. I thought I had found one at a sensible price but we couldn't strike a deal so thats gone by the by..

Looks like I will have to batten down the hatches financially and save for another year or so..

I guess a lot of people on the Oboe front are away on their annual hol's..I wish I could say the same but I am decorating..today its a staircase..not huge thank god but big enough..

Catch you all later..

Andrew

Well, happy hols to all vacationing (and summer schooling) oboists. Sounds like emsoboe is into all sorts of fun!

Pushpull, I look forward to hearing the "funny oboe playing" one day and thanks for the tip - I think I'll hang off a bit from playing around with the rod. I'm terrified of damaging my new "baby"!. Saw my teacher for a couple of beers and he took a quick look, grinned cruelly and said "well that's how it's settled, get used to it". Actually, there is a part (don't know what it's called but it's not the rod) which he thinks could be adjusted. The key is useable, though, so I'll see how it goes. Probably I should wait until I've blown it in and it's got well settled into the climate here before making too many adjustments.

Now the forked F has started sounding stuffier than before. Its fine with the Eb key but I shouldn't need that on an oboe with a forked F vent, should I?

(Gosh, I sound picky today... it IS still sounding Beeeooootiful, especially in the hands of better oboists than me...)

Repertoire for the new term - Vivaldi concerto in C but I don't know which one yet. Got a couple of messages from usually digitally challenged teacher checking that I'm practicing and promising this piece to "loosen up those fingers". In the meantime, I have been inspired by flobiano's example to do a bit more scales practice.

Pushpull - have you ever heard actually that oboe trio piece by Paul Burnell that you recommended a while back? It looks very intriguing but we haven't managed to get 3 oboists together in one place to give it a go (that is, not with oboes in hand - perfectly possible when it's beers!)

Good luck with the piano hunting, Andrew!

Kate,

Its perfectly acceptable to use your Eb key for the forked F even with a vent key..My forked f was awful (shame on Loree) but really the Eb helped a lot, it did settle down and now I dont need to use the Eb key and the forked F is fine and I use it a lot..Don't fret the Oboe will find its feet in its own sweet time plus you will adjust to it..

Andrew

She now has the Oboe/Cor part in the Pit Orchestra along with Tenor Sax and Clarinet

I said to someone, last week, that the NYRO Concert last Saturday would be the last for a while. I thought later about the musical and another production she is also working on at the moment. School holidays!! What holidays?

Somewhere between Oboe playing non-residential and Recorder residential she manged to squeeze in getting a Bronze Arts Award and attended some media training workshop.

Scaredy pants Go on get that jeweller's screwdriver out. In my experience the rods work loose anyhow over time so at some point you will have to get used to tightening them.

Don't do any adjustment after a couple of beers

Funnily enough I've gone through the same thing. In my case, I reckon it was down to me. I found I was using left hand F a great deal because of the better tone and neglected to work on forked F. Consequently when I needed it, it sounded rough. Recently I've been playing quite a lot of stuff which needs forked F and, with practice, I've found it's got back to being almost identical to a "normal" F. In fact in a couple of baroque pieces I've been enjoying using forked F even where I don't need to (well you would have to on a baroque oboe).

Ah well, promise beers after Burnell. I had a go at parts of this ages ago with my teacher (just 2 of us) mainly as rhythmic exercise. I think I have a recording of it for 3 parts with percussion (it's a bit odd but gives an idea of what it sounds like). I thought I got it off the composer's website but it's not there now. I'll check when I get home.

Yes, that trait seems to be getting worse recently, which is a bit worrying. Not very oboist-spirited, I must say. Must find some courage, even if only Dutch...
I did let loose the screwdriver on my old Patricola, though - thanks to detailed advice from Martin Schuring - and it did wonders for a sodden low E.


Nope, it's definitely the oboe. Or a combo of me and the XL. The difference on the Patricola is barely perceptible. I use the forked F almost too much - just now trying to remind myself to practice the LH one more (got another great tip from the Schuring oboe bible!). Still, on the XL it may settle down again or I'll just have to adapt, as you say.


I just looked too and the score's there - but no recording. Presumably because now you can pay for it on iTunes (on Album Leaving the Party on Pluto), I've just found out. That is, you can if you aren't in Costa Rica.

I'm sure there must be a way round that

The oboe summer school was brilliant. Having never attended a double reed convention, I've never seen so many oboists together and playing arrangements of pieces for 25 double reeds was certainly an experience There were also lots of opportunities for duets/trios/quartets etc. The website said minimum grade 6 but I'd have said the minimum was more like grade 8 with most people well past that level. I will definitely go again, although I don't know if next year's holiday dates will allow me to do so.

Katica, one of the rods on my XL was almost falling out about a month ago so I had to tighten that up. During the course it lost a bit of cork on one of the linkages (so the left-hand C/D trill isn't working). I'm taking it to Howarths on Tuesday to have that fixed and get them to check everything else while they're at it.

Good to have you back and glad you enjoyed yourself!!! I was sort of hoping that the Marches might be a possibility for next year but I think I'll be leaving it at least another two or three years, if that's the level. What did you most enjoy playing? Any duets or trios that might be manageable for us more ordinary mortals? Any useful or suprising new tips????

Hi everyone,

I've been asked to play the cor in Concerto de Aranjuez, big solo so I need a good reed! I've not bought cor reeds for about four years so I don't have any idea where I should be looking. Does anyone have any recommendations? I'm thinking of trying Howarths but wouldn't know what makers to ask for, what do you think?

Des

Daughter is playing on Wiggins Medium at the moment on recommendation from her Teacher. She has found them quite good so they may be worth a try.

My teacher makes her own oboe reeds but I believe she buys cor reeds from Fortay.

Daughter also likes Fortay reeds, she has used them for a couple of years now and the Cor ones for several months. At the moment the Medium are too soft and the hard too hard (not so bad when her teacher is around to adjust). Until she can play the Fortay ones "out of the box", so to speak, we will have to defect.

Or until she can adjust them herself?

Yeap! Maybe sometime in the next academic year

Dear All,

I'm missing posting to you all! Haven't been posting here recently because son is on second week with spanish friends immersing himself in the lingo.

If you are on summer holiday I hope you are having a good time!

Hello Oboists!

I am unfortunately not on hols, still here in wet and sticky London working hard!
As it's a bit quiet in here at the moment I thought I'd give a quick(ish) update on my progress, for those that are interested!

So I've been having lessons since the end of April now, which I guess is about 12, what with breaks for holidays and everything. I'm really enjoying it but getting frustrated at my lack of opportunity to practise which is really holding me back in developing my breathing and support technique. Getting home at 8 p.m. and being away for lots of weekends is really not helping!

The main things I need to work on are: putting a faster air stream through, relaxing the breathing so that it comes naturally from my diaphragm instead of my chest, and a lighter tonguing action (I usually disturb the air stream too much so that the sound is interrupted. I think I have a fat tongue!)

My sound is improving, sometimes it approaches acceptable! The higher register is better when playing scales as I can focus on producing a rounder sound. In pieces the high notes tend to be quite thin and the intonation is more of a problem.

The lower register is best when played legato. I have been really struggling to maintain a good sound in non-slurred passages lately due to the tonguing issue. The second half of the first movement of the Corelli is my nemisis at the moment!

In terms of pieces I am working through the Hinke book (sticking to the simple, early ones to keep working on basic techniques, trying to set some decent foundations!) I also have the Corelli of which I've looked at the first movement the most but am now playing through the third and fifth.
I have been asked to pick up Nielsen's Two Fantasy Pieces this week to look at the Romanze so I'm looking forward to seeing what that's like and having something new to attempt.

My teacher made my last reed for me and after a shaky start (much shorter scrape, very hard to play at first) it's now working well and I find I can no longer use my old reeds as I'm overblowing and the sound is much worse. I don't want to think how much money is sat in redundant reeds in my spare room!

My rented S10 is going back, along with the brand new S40 Howarth's lent me on approval. I am going to buy the second-hand Cabart as I have got very attached to it and think of it as mine. (It's not a bad instrument, either..!)

So I'm getting there, slowly, at times painfully, more often frustratingly, but all the while thinking "one day... one day I will sound like that!"

That's it from me for now, hope everyone else is continuing to feel the oboe love!

Well done Isi, it sounds like things are coming together for you..The Hinke is a very good method to stick with not that some of the studies make any sense whatsoever musically speaking..They are however very useful and work you through all the keys at a sensible pace..

With regard to the sound developing, try to open the throat nice and wide to allow the air to flow freely, this will increase the sound somewhat and give you more fullness or roundness in the overall tone..As you rise through the scale increase the air as a singer would and crescendo as you get higher..don't bite, increase the air and support from the Diaphragm..build the sound up as you go..

Good luck with it all, I am glad you have found the Oboe you want, the Cabart is of course made by the Loree factory so you have a very nice Oboe there..The French Oboes are very different from the The English Oboes and I am sure you will find that as your playing develops that you will become very attached to your Oboe and somehow nothing else feels the same.. I am one of the few here that play on a French Oboe, they are very special in my opinion..I have of course tried English Oboes but for me the French suits me better..

keep us posted..good luck with the Corelli

Andrew

Thanks Andrew.

The throat thing; I know it makes total sense, and can picture it in my head, but I find almost impossible to translate into a physical state. Maybe not helped by the fact I can't sing for toffee, so have never actually experienced the sensation of proper singing, and therefore it's not something my body knows how to replicate immediately.

Practice practice practice!

Re the French oboes, I am half French so always had a sneaky soft spot for them even before trying one!

Isi,

imagine yawning, that will open the throat, just try to replicate that sensation..Just because you say you dont sing..not even for a toffee..just sing a scale and increase the volume as you climb the scale..it doesnt need to be beautiful or even in tune just crescendo as you get higher..this will require more air passing over the layrinx and you will find this helps when playing scales on the Oboe and in phrases that climb into the 2nd and 3rd Octave..increase the air and the volume as you climb the scale..

Andrew

Try a scale on repeated staccato notes. Set the metronome to say 60 and do each note as 2 repeated quavers, then triplets, then semi quavers. Then once you have the speed, try to join the notes - so go from staccato to full note value seperating each note with the tongue as lightly as you can manage. Once you are happy with your tonguing at that speed, increase it a couple of ticks.

I have sometimes spent a few minutes trying the first note of a piece, trying to get the right kind of attack. That seems to influence how the rest of the piece goes.

Also have a go at some of the staccato studies in Hinke.

Sounds like oboeing is going well Isi - glad to hear it!

Kerioboe - glad you had a great time at the oboe course. I was thinking about doing it next year but sounds like I could be better off waiting another year after that. Will see how things are going next summer.

I haven't played for the last week or so as I've been visiting family in Finland, while there I made the happy discovery that I am not the only oboist in the family! I met up with one of my cousins and his daughters, who I have not seen for over 10 years (yes, shame on me, I know ). Turns out that eldest daughter is a very good oboist and has just secured a place at a top notch Conservatoire!

I was very excited, I'm so proud of her!

Isi, it's very thrilling to hear about your progress. You may be feeling frustrated but it sounds as though you have advanced very quickly and you are also probably able to hear and feel more problems too. I've been at it for about two years now and a lot of your difficulties still plague me too - must put pushpull's and Andrew's advice into practice myself. You're obviously doing well if your teacher has recommended the Nielsen - I think these pieces are on the Grade 6 syllabus, if I'm not mistaken.

Flobiano how exciting to discover a fellow oboist in the family. I discovered that a cousin of mine also used to be an oboist but sadly she gave up. I hope Finland was fun?

Cross fingers for me - I'm playing in a concert for Mothers' Day (15 Aug here) tonight. Only two very short, simple duets. In fact, one is just a Barret study which I am playing with a cellist but it sounds really lovely (professional cellist with a lovely instrument). I wish I had more repertoire with cello accompaniment because I like it better than the piano, to tell the truth (well, depending on the piece).

Dear Katica,

Good luck for your mother's day concert. I'm sure that all will go well.

Agree wholeheartely that cello is a beautiful sounding instrument and was son's other choice for second instrument along with oboe. His first instrument is piano!

Hope your concert went well Katica - sorry didn't see this last night! Oboe with a cello does sound rather lovely!

Finland was lovely, thank you. Catching up with family not seen for a number of years, so a bit emotional as well. I won't leave it so long next time.

After a week off oboe playing, first practice wasn't as hard as expected - managed about 40 minutes and tone not toooo bad. Need to get some serious work done now. I'm struggling with a jump from D' down to A followed a scale run up in the Albinoni where my fingers and tongueing seem to get out of step and it sounds very untidy. I can't work out which is slower though, have been practising legato to make sure my fingers are working smoothly, and then adding in the articulation and speeding up gradually. but it still seems to not work when I play through. Am going to try the tips to speed up and lighten up tongueing that pushpull mentionns below. Any other tips on how to keep them together?

Hello - I've enjoyed reading all your posts. Seems a great way to share ideas & tips.
I did join the forum a while back, but have never written anything before on here.
I've just returned from a Baroque chamber music course at Benslow, & met another oboist there who recommended the forum to me, so here I am.
I play the oboe & cor & cello & live in West Wilts. Would love to meet others to play more for chamber music.
Kerioboe where was your course?
I'll try & be an active memebr

I think I might know who that was....

Welcome to the forums, hope you have fun here. This thread is a very active one, if you fancy coming to a forum (or other) event, have a look at the events list in the forum events sub-forum...

Dear Hardying,

Big Welcome to the Oboe forum!

What music did you play on the Benslow course?

Thanks for the welcome everyone
We played a wide variety of Baroque music at Benslow, Handel Telemann, Bach, Marcello, Vivaldi, etc. There was a chance to play duets, trios, quartets, Quintets & a mix of instrumentaion, so played with other wind & strings & harpsichord.
I even managed to sneak in the Beethoven trio for cor & 2 oboes - not Broque, I know, but opportunities to play that piece are very rare!
cheers
Helen (Hardying)

Hello Helen,

Welcome to the Forum - lovely to have another oboist! this is a great place to be able to get and give advice, and share frustrations and triumphs with people who understand!

Glad you've come to join us!

How long have you been playing?

Not a straightforward answer I'm afraid.
I took up the oboe when I was 19 & played for about 3 yrs & then I went off & did a degree & life got in the way. Didn't play anything for many many years. & then 4 yrs ago I heard Steven Isserlis play the cello & it was so winderful it blew my mind away. Shortly afterwards I saw an article in classic fm about the cello that said you could make a good sound on the cello quite early on & that it took so much energy to press the strings down that you wouldn't need to visit the gym (the latter isn't true, unfortunately!!), so I thought I'd give it a go, & got hooked very quickly.

After 18 months or so I thought I'd have just a few lessons on the oboe so that I could play that in the local novice orchestra & then got obsessed with that. Unfortunately this has also caused me to suffer from tennis elbow, so although I've been playing again for about 2.5 yrs, there have been long gaps. Got a cor about 18 months ago, but have to be cautious with that because of the elbow.
I upgraded my oboe to a Howarth S6 in Jan 2009 - it's meant to be light weight, but is heavier (but considerably better) than my old Louis LM6T Rudall Carte model that I purchased in 1979.
Love playing though, so it's hard to limit myself.
Great to be able to "oboe talk" to other keen oboists!
Helen

Great that you have been able to take it up again - but sorry to hear about the elbow troubles. I think the oboe is an instrument that can be quite obsessive.

My playing history is in two halves as well. I took it up about 10 years ago in my mid/ late twenties and had lessons for a couple of years and took my grade 5. Then life and work took over a bit and I didn't play for a number of years. Last year a number of groups/ activities that I had been involved in outside work came to a natural conclusion and I was thinking about what I wanted to do. I started having a play on my oboe nad wondered why I'd ever given it up! I started lessons again last September, joined a local orchestra and am hopefully to do my grade 7 soon.

I upgraded to a Howarth's S45 last Autumn and love it, though it is a little heavy. I'm finding that it can become a bit of an obsession as well. I've promised myself a Cor as a treat if I manage to eventually pass grade 8....if I can resist till then.

Cello is a lovely instrumnet too!

Good Luck with the grade 7 & grade 8!

I decided not to do any exams - life's too stressful without them!

My teacher pushes me hard though - recently I've worked on the Hummel "Introduction, theme & variations" & Kalliwoda "Morceau de Salon op 228" - both gorgeous pieces, but tricky in parts.
Over the summer I'm tackling Gordon Jacob's "7 Bagatelles for solo oboe" & the wonderful Telemann
"Sonata in A minor" & the Bellini concerto plus studies etc so plenty to keep me busy!

Helen

Dear Hardying,

Son has an S6 which has a beautiful tone. However, as I enviarably end up carrying it home might be "light weight" to play becomes a "heavy weight" to carry!!

P.S. The next question we all ask is what reed do you like to use! You'll see!!

Welcome Helen,

nice to have you join us here in the Oboe section..It sounds like you have already had a lot of good experiences playing and that you are very active in Chamber music.

There are lots of different standards of player here mostly in the UK but some are overseas, France, Italy and one all the way from Costa Rica who has just purchased a New Oboe..

All that aside, welcome, I hope you become an active member of the Oboe community here on the ABRSM forum and that you find it useful to you..We are a very friendly group and all share our experiences, highs and lows..Reeds and their dramas often crop up as you will see and we all know what that can mean to an Oboist...

Have fun and jump right in..

Andrew

Many Thanks
Still trying to find the ideal reed - as I suspect we all are! I now have over 100 reeds - everytime I think I've found the right make for myself & oboe, & so order 5 or 10 of that make, the next time I try them I'm disappointed.

Sometimes it seems that just turning the reed over does the trick!

Am just learning how to adjust reeds, but am still a bit apprehensive about this, but hopefully my confidence will grow.

Helen

Dear All,

Just to let you know that son's Grade 7 oboe result has arrived. Good Merit of 126.

Just trying to decipher the handwriting which is very spindly. Pleased with the examiner's comments as it addresses areas of improvement.


Albinoni: The first movement had an ideal tempo and a sense of the bright lovely style. Most was clearly articulated with some thought for dynamics. Tonality, mostly well under control apart from small [intonation?] slips. A suitable "Adagio" tempo and you played accurately although phrasing could still be more persuasive and expressive. 26

Dring: You played with a good swing at a sensible temp where you could control a lot of the detail. There was some rhythmic [intonation] and attention to dynamics, and you played accurately although at times [ intonation] and tonal control needed still more reliability. 25

Bach: A well chosen tempo and you played with clearly and rhythmically. Quite a lot of the phrosing detail was clearly shown, with some dynamics, although still more shaping and control was possible. 25

Scales: Well known and played promptly at suitable speeds. Most were well controlled apart from small lapses with tonal control and [intonation]. 18

Sight-reading: A sense of key. You kept this moving and it was mostly accuratre, although it seemed to forget dynamics. 18

Aural tests: Good responses. A was mostly correct. B- partly correct. C – correct. D – Correct period and some thoughts on style. Incorrect time. 14

Additional comments: Well done. Some very promising playing here, needing still a little more control, and even more flexible [p ? ] phrasing to propel it even higher.

That is excellent news! Congratulations on the merit. I hope you and your son are happy with the result and will build on it.