So what did you decide on?

My teacher has just phoned and told me my first lesson will be on Wednesday at 9.00 am. Only four more days to wait

He suggested I arrive 15 minutes early and find an empty room to warm up in so hopefully that means we will start working straight away. (You can tell I'm desperate for a lesson ).

He said that once timetables have sorted themselves out (so probably in about two weeks), he will be arranging an afternoon group slot with varied activities: reed making, ensemble work...

And then Wednesday evening there's the orchestra rehearsal.

Sounds like Wednesdays will be fun

In the end, the Vanhal Sonata and three Bach duets ( ) and no unaccompanied solo. We decided that Jacob might be a bit much for the public in question, though I really like the Bagatelles. Its on the agenda for future classwork, though, so that's good...

And I got an extra lesson out of the consultation!



Do I detect a lot of excitment? Great to have a good programme of varied oboe-related activities...
I wish we could make some time for reed-making workshops but we don't have enough oboists at the school I go to to make it worth my teacher's while (only me on a permament basis at the moment). If I joined his other pupils down south in the town where we will have the recital it would be a different matter but even with my oboe enthusiasm I don't think I'm up to spending six hours on a bus every weekend, as my teacher does.

No class next week - replaced by the band playing for independence day shenanigans. It's sounding pretty good - a lot jollier than Save the Queen - and we're pretty well up to speed with only two short rehearsals. Looks as though teacher may be inspired to reinstate the wind band.

Second post of the day... sorry to be hogging the floor here, but I just found a rather useful little resource here.

I'm ashamed to say I don't know anything about Malcolm Messiter. I might be going down to Panama with a friend next month to hear the London Festival Orchestra so I thought I'd look up who the principal oboist is and apparently it's Malcolm Messiter.

On his web site he has recordings and also a page of sheet music, mostly his own arrangements or editions I think. It looks rather useful. There also midi files for practice accompaniment and Sibelius files.

I recently started on these. It took a few goes to hook into the "harmonic language" but I quite like them now. They seem to me to owe quite a bit to Britten - which may be something to do with the dedicatee - Sarah Francis.

I picked that up a while ago but haven't looked at it yet.

I've just started the Nielsen Romanze and am dipping into the Rothwell Bach Difficult Passages collection. The order of the day according to "she who must be obeyed" is legato. Lots of it especially around the tricky B to D area (all those fingers crashing down at once).


I downloaded the Zelenka Trio Sonatas a while ago but I haven't printed any yet. I was put onto them by my teacher who has a lovely recording of the set by Heinz Holliger / Maurice Bourgue.

An aside - I now have lots of staples, gouged and shaped cane and a brand new, BIG reed box. This can only mean one thing

These are great! I played some with my teacher a year or so ago and have been meaning to put them together as 2 Oboes + Cello but haven't ever got round to it. I'll try to find this recording, maybe it'll inspire me to finally get on with it!

Following a recommendation on one of my courses this summer, I ordered Linda Walsh's "The Oboe Reed Making" DVD (type it into google and you'll find her website). It arrived this morning and it is fascinating. The first part shows you the basics of how to scrape a reed, which I knew already but some things she does differently to my teacher. Then there is a bit on all the different machines (gougers etc.) and finally a series of interviews with famous oboists from different countries who talk about their reeds. It shows very clearly the difference between American and European scrapes (and it enabled me to see how a French scrape differs from an English scrape, although this wouldn't be obvious to anyone who doesn't know what a French scrape is).

One of the things it shows very briefly is a "different" way of scraping reeds, starting with the tip. You mark and then "dig" (as opposed to gently scrape) an upside down V about 5mm down from the top and start by scraping your tip. When you've finished the tip, you then scrape the rest of the reed. I have just tried making one like this and to my surprise it has turned into a very nice reed.

I now can't decide whether I go to my lesson with a list of all the things I wanted to ask about playing that I've been stuck on over the summer or whether I arrive saying "I've found a new way to scrape reeds."

Well I've been working on the Jacob all week, and bits of the Galop are starting to grow on me. So will see what teacher says at lesson tomorrow.

Katica - glad you managed to sort out something to play. Hope they are all going well.

Keri - that sounds like a really good DVD, I've not started on reed making at all - though teacher has mentioned about doing some scraping practice. So maybe in the next couple of terms will start doing something.

Andrew - hope things are going well with your new accompanist and lovely new piano. Which pieces are you starting with?

Pushpull - I'm guessing you are starting on a mammoth reed making session, hope that is going well.

I've had second orchestra rehearsal tonight and have been asked if I could play first oboe part. Current first has decided she would rather play second as she's been finding it a bit hard going. She is a very lovely woman, in her 80's and has been playing in local orchestra's since before I was born. I thought it was very gracious of her to offer to swap, but she said she was beginning to find it all a bit stressful and would rather play the second. So that's all a bit scary really. But tonight's rehearsal seemed to go OK.

I'm just back from my first oboe lesson of the new academic year
And it was a very satisfying one

I got there about 15 minutes early to warm up in an empty room (as my teacher had suggested) so that I could make the most of the lesson. I was a little taken aback, however, when I went into the room for my lesson and he said he had been favourably impressed by my tone quality from what he had heard when I was warming-up. I deliberately didn't choose to warm up in the room next door to him so he wouldn't hear (but apparently he had gone out into the corridor to talk to the previous pupil's mother).

I suggested we start by me telling him everything I thought needed working on in the 1st Movement of Vaughan Williams Concerto but he said "No, you play it to me first, that way I can hear the good bits as well." And he settled down on a chair to listen (as if he were at a concert), which is something he never does

I played the first two pages to him and he was very complimentary about it; saying that my posture and breathing had both improved (that I was actually standing as though I wanted to share the music instead of being hunched up as if I wanted to keep it for myself and didn't want anyone else to hear ) and that as a result my tone was much richer He has given me some tips for practising what I consider "the problems" but he didn't see them as anything particularly major.

He had another play of my XL (on the pretext of checking whether it needed any screws tightening) and said again what a lovely oboe he thought it was and added rather wistfully that in some ways it was a pity he hadn't known about them when he replaced his own oboe last year.

I decided a discussion on reed making could wait until next week's lesson - I've got three workable reeds and I was desperate to play.

The only downside to all this is that the Orchestra isn't starting until September 29th so I've got another two weeks to wait

Keri I think you've given me a christmas present idea Emsoboe is desperate to try reed making but I don't think her teacher will start showing her until after Grade 8.

Hope the reed making goes well pushpull.

Flobiano the Gallop is a really fun piece.

Hope the new Piano is working out well for you Andrew and the lessons are on track.

I made a start yesterday and I appear to have a surfeit of fingers and thumbs.

Good luck, reed-makers!!! I wish I could find the time...

Last night's menu of patriotic tunes went very well and was great fun. Rather enlivened by the band conductor (who is my oboe teacher) deciding during the final speech from the Mayor that we needed an extra piece and dashing off to find the parts to a jolly little beguine we used to play a while back but hadn't rehearsed for a while... emerging just in time but with an incomplete set. I rapidly had to remind myself of the oboe part by peripheral viewing of my neighbour flautist's part . It was quite a riot and amazingly it actually sounded really good! I wonder whether it wasn't actually a deliberate ploy to spur our musical creativity...

I'm so glad your first class was such a success, kerioboe. I really enjoyed your related contribuitions on 2childmum's threads. Funnily enough, I think my teacher has been won over with the XL too... Yesterday he asked for a go and offered to buy it when I want to sell. I think he was joking but that's a pretty big complement coming from a convinced Lor?e man.

Good luck on first oboe, flobiano. You'll have no probs and I'm sure you'll love it.

Des - let us know if you manage that rearrangement of the Zelenka trios. That'd work just great here.

Pushpull - how's the Nielsen Romance working out? Any suggestions?

Glad you had a great lesson Keri, nice to get such good feedback on your tone.

Katica your patriotic tunes evening sounds like it was a lot of fun.



Just be careful not to accidently cut one of them off and I'm sure it'll work out in the end.

I had a pretty good lesson tonight, though fluffed some of the bits of the Jacob that I had always done well when practising. Oh well. We also had a look at the Ferling Study in C (no 1) which I'd done last term. She said that either of them would be fine for my C piece and it's up to me which I do.

I'll practice them both this week and see. I do like the Ferling but it is hard to keep control of tuning and dynamics in it. I've found in previous exams that it is the C piece where I feel most nervous, probably due to not having the security of the piano, and I'm wondering whether with nerves which is likely to be most affected.

the Jacob is pretty quick and has been interesting fingering bits, so if I get all fingers and thumbs that could fall to pieces. On the other hand, the Ferling is all about control and intonation - which could be even worse.

I think in my grade 5 it was the intonation that went more than the fingering which is making me lean a bit more towards doing the Jacob. Any thoughts?

Either way, my teacher has told me to put my entry in this week, so definitely going for it this term! Next step is finding an accompanist.

On the DVD reed-making video the presenter gives a list of all the equipment you need for reed-making (with each item appearing on the screen as she mentions it). Then she says "And if you are a complete beginner you might also need..." and there is a slight pause. I was convinced she was going to say "plasters" (but she didn't).

And if you're talking about the tying on Pushpull it does become much easier with practice. I look on it as the only bit of reed-making which is straight-forward and requires virtually no concentration.


I don't know the Jacob but have played the Ferling. My teacher said that this 1st study is used as one of the set pieces in the first round of professional orchestral auditions in France because, although the notes and rhythm are straight-forward enough, it is very hard to play really well and separates the "excellent" candidates from the merely "good" ones.

I'll practice them both this week and see. I do like the Ferling but it is hard to keep control of tuning and dynamics in it. I've found in previous exams that it is the C piece where I feel most nervous, probably due to not having the security of the piano, and I'm wondering whether with nerves which is likely to be most affected.

Katica, your patriotic night sounded fun - the Costa Ricans obviously don't take themselves as seriously as the French

Actually, the patriotic stuff is very important to them but their general attitude to life is that it should be enjoyed with as little stress as possible - I wish I could apply their philosophy to oboe playing!

It's odd but you certainly wouldn't catch me doing anything like this back in Old Blighty. Even if I was paid 1000 quid to sing Land of Hope and Glory and GSTQ, I'd probably run half way round the world to get away from the Last Night of the Proms (nothwithstanding other good stuff they may have on...)...

Only just started so I'll hang fire on suggestions Sounds very promising though - I like it.


I started doing a bit last year and actually found it fairly straightforward, but having left it alone for a bit, the muse seems to have escaped me. Never mind, by the time I've filled this new box I should be getting the hang of it again.


Funny isn't it how we don't mind Johnny Foreigner being patriotic but when it comes to ourselves we think it's Jingoistic?

Flobiano,
I've just been having a look through the score and profess myself slightly confused. The note values in some of the bars don't seem to add up. Bars 5,8, 17, 22. Erm.... Help!!

Is this for Krystall?

In bar 5 I had a dot missing on the crotchet which confused me slightly initially but I'm pretty sure it's a printing error as there are other bars with identical rhythm.

Notice that the key signature does keep changing

Bars 5, 17, 22 are all in 4/4 - quaver, quaver rest - dotted crotchet, quaver - triplet quavers (equiv to 1 crotchet)

Bar 8 - 3/4 - quaver, two semi quavers (one beat) and then 2 sets of triplet quavers (equivalent to 2 crotchets).

So seem OK to me...

Do you have the same thing, or are you looking at one of the other movements?

Yes it's Krystall.

Doh. I should have looked more closely at 17 and 22 which DO show the dotted crotchet which is clearly missing in bar 5. Bar 8 in my copy (1984 Musikk-Husets Forlag) has two 3 note groups of which only the 1st is marked as a triplet. I guess the second group should also be a triplet as you say.

Thanks Flobiano.

I didn't even notice that the second group wasn't marked as triplet, but yes that is missing in mine too. It must be though - and that's how I've been playing it.

Yes that seems to make sense. I've just had a little go and I think I'll like it.

I had the first rehearsal for this last night. It was really fantastic.

The whole thing sounded amazing (to me anyway!). I need to do a fair bit of practice on the fast bits, but I am so looking forward to the performance.

Just had my lesson this evening as well, and everything seems to be coming on OK. I've decided to go with the Jacob as my C piece. I've enjoyed practising it more this week, it is definitely growing on me, and I think there is less scope for it to come completely undone under pressure (hopefully!)...

I'm coming out of the woodwork to admit that I'm tentatively planning to take G8 in March.

At the moment, I'm working on Marcello Concerto in D minor, Hindemith Sonata and Phaeton from Britten's Metamorphoses. I've also looked at some Bach but didn't get on with it.

I'm very uncertain as to whether I'm at the right sort of standard - I'd have no problems putting any exam of for months/years if necessary, but I don't really hear many oboists to make a comparison with. So, do you think that this person's playing of the Hindemith is about G8 standard?

Aside from that, other reasons not to take an exam are that I need to work on aural again, and I'm not used to playing the oboe in front of other people. I'm planning on obtaining a book/cd to practice aural, and will be enlisting friends to listen to me. I might even attempt a forum concert.

Any suggestions?

I love the Marcello In fact I like it so much that I haven't yet worked on it - I want to wait until I can really do it justice. I quite like the Hindemith as well and did mention it to my teacher a year or so ago but he advised waiting saying that while notes and rhythm were easy enough to put into place interpretation was a whole different ball game. That said, like you I have no idea of what grade 8 standard playing is supposed to be so I will be interested in people's opinions of the clip you posted.

I am working on the first movement of Vaughan William's oboe concerto which is also a grade 8 piece (although not an AB one).

Sounds like a good plan! The aural tests are changing very slightly in the new year so I imagine that new editions of the books will be out.

I've been using the Paul Harris Improve your aural books, though I'm not overly impressed with the Grade 7/8 one. The Grade 5 and 6 ones have some good info on the "describing the music" test which I've found helpful. I've also just signed up to Hofnote which is an online thing with test practice. Will withhold comment on that till I've tried it out a bit more!

Do you have a teacher? I think the key thing with the higher grades is the interpretation and musical detail. It isn't enough to get the notes right! I don't know the Hindemith sonata so couldn't comment on whether that was grade 8 standard or not!

Forum concerts are a great way to get used to playing with other people, so definitely a good idea. Also do you play in an orchestra at all? I've found that another good mini step of playing in front of people, while still being able to hide a bit in the ensemble. It is also great for sight reading practice!

Good luck in your preparation and keep posting to let us know how you are getting on.

I've had a look at the clip. I'm far from being any kind of expert. Hope someone comes along soon with a more informed opinion.

What I do think is it's difficult to tell from the quality of the Recording. In some ways it sounds similar to my daughter's playing, from what I can judge on the recording, and I don't think she's quite ready for Grade 8 (that's just a mothers intuition thing though)

Hi!

Just had a look at the Youtube clip. Firstly, I'd say if you have a teacher then you must ask their advice and follow their advice. If you don't have a teacher then I would definitely find one to help with grade 8.

However, having said that, I'll now offer a little of my opinion on the clip. There are some aspects of the boys playing that are reasonably well developed - he is able to hold some good notes with shaping and he also manages to play through the piece without any major fluffs. However, I would have concerns about his tone and intonation, I think he needs more work on his breathing technique as I'm not convinced he's using his diaphragm as effectively as I would like a student to be able to do at this level. I would also want to watch his embouchure very closely to ensure it's neither too loose or too tight, including his throat. Also, his performance is lacking in interpretation which is so essential to take pieces like this from notes on the page to a real performance. For this reason, I would not recommend the Hindemith as a grade 8 piece, even though it's on the list. It's a lot easier to turn the Saint-Saens Sonate 2nd mvt or Grovlez, for example, into a performance than it is the Hindemith.

The Hindemith, in my opinion, needs real maturity in interpretation and real mastery of the relationship between soloist and accompanist.

However, it is difficult to judge a persons playing based on one Youtube clip, which doesn't have the greatest sound quality, so I'm purely judging what I can see.

Yes, I've got a teacher, and she suggested I would be ready - she seemed to think this term would have been ok, but I am skeptical.

Thanks for all your opinions on the Hindemith - I'm certainly open to changing pieces, I have previously looked at the Saint-Saens. The consensus seems to be that the boy in the clip is not quite there? A pity as he was my favourite of the amateur recordings (I couldn't find another lively one).

I'll sign up for hofnote and I'll probably try another couple of orchestral playdays as well as getting a sightreading book.

I trust your teacher does aural and sight reading work with you?

Hello plonkee, nice to have you back!

My flatmate (who's studying the Hindemith right now) and I took a look at the clip. We aren't at all qualified to judge whether the young oboist would pass grade 8 (no ABRSM here) but our opinion coincides very much with notmusicmum's and music margaret's. He did pretty well for 13, though, didn't he?

flobiano - great that your Handel went so well. Which part are you playing?

And I must say I have really enjoyed the oboists' contributions to that warm-up thread... MUST MUST pay more attention to all your good tips... I'm just going to "pop in" there before logging off to do some more practice before getting on the bus south to Perez Zeledón, which is where my Saturday recital is taking place (about 3 hours south of San José). I'm taking some time off so I can prepare properly with my flatmate, who lives there Friday to Monday. We already had to ditch the Vanhal Sonata because we couldn't get enough practice time together. That leaves me with just a couple of Bach duets ( ). I feel as though I won't be pulling my weight in the recital but at least I can be more relaxed and enjoy everyone else's contributions. I need that - I've had such a horrible week, with oboe technique collapsing so badly under pressure that I really wondered whether I have the "stuff" to continue. I am horrified to say that I was really happy and relieved when my teacher cancelled my lesson today (an extra one this week) as I don't think I could take any more pressure and frustration right now. The Bach isn't sounding too bad, though, so that's encouraging.

And back on the topic of how "ticos" celebrate Independence Day, if anyone is at all interested here is a hotchpotch homemade video of our patriotic shenanigans last week, put up on YouTube by folks in Ciudad Colón (where I study and am the band oboist...). Don't judge us too harshly, it's not good video quality.

hope you recital goes really well Katica, I really enjoyed watching your video. Looked like an amazing day.

You definitely have "the stuff" to continue! Don't think otherwise, it will all come together in the end.

I'm playing 2nd oboe in the Handel, there are some interesting bits in the overture which I've been practising today have nearly a couple of months to get them polished up though so think it will be ok.

Apologies for the hiatus in communications - I've been very busy doing things like my annual pilgrimage to the Sibelius festival in Finland - wonderful as ever!
Now back home & at work.
Yesterday I booked a place on the Big Double Reed day on 10th Oct at Guildhall. Is anyone else going?
Would be great to meet some of you
Helen

Dear Hardying,

Son will be there. Know one other oboist and one bassoonist going too. I wonder how many oboeists there'll be?

Hello! Feels like I've been away for ages! The main reason being, I've not been in school to check the forums at break time, because I had a baby! Rah!

AND! I met Flobiano the other day!

xx

Congratulations on the birth of your baby

Are you back to playing the oboe yet?

Thank you! A bouncing baby boy, weighing 7lb 6oz on the 26th of June.

I am... I had about 11 weeks off, which took a bit of getting used to! I'm playing in the same Handel performance as Flobiano, and back to teaching, and am doing lots of cor depping...

The week before I had him, I was playing cor in Staravinsky's Firebird- certainly taxing on the lungs!

xx

Congratulations, violobist!!!

Was very nice to meet you violobist. Hope you enjoyed the rehearsal as much as I did.

I finally got round to showing my "new-technique of scraping" reed to my teacher in my lesson this morning. I showed it to him without saying how I'd scraped it and he said it was the best reed I had ever made .

When I told him I'd started with the tip, he said he knew of one Parisian oboist who scrapes his reeds like that and that he had tried it himself a couple of times but without much success. He then said that what matters is the result, not how you get the result and that since this seemed to suit me I should try scraping some more like that and forget his way of scraping.

Good for you!

As a matter of interest, how does your teacher go about it?

Folks here start at the tip, American-style.

He starts from the bottom and scrapes the whole reed, scraping diagonally towards the corner (scraping diagonally means you leave a central spine), then he scrapes the tip. At this point the reed should crow and you then do final adjustments. This seems to be the standard European way of scraping - it is what is described in Evelyn Rothwell's book on reed-making and almost all of the DVD on reed-making shows you this method.

I find it hard to scrape perfectly symmetrically using his method and usually end up with one of the four sides (if you count as separate sides, right and left on both the bottom and top blade) thinner than the others and sometimes the spine is not quite central To get everything perfectly symmetrical I have to scrape very slowly and constantly compare all four sides and am constantly worried about taking too much off.

I thought they did the body of the reed first, then the tip and then those silly "windows"

I now have a dozen tied on ready to scrape - gulp.

Maybe most do but my teacher starts with the W at the tip. I've also got reedmaking instructions that advise working on the tip as much as possible first, then moving down to do the rest, and moving back to the tip at the end to make final adjustments.

I tried this with my first attempt and although I think I had pretty well removed the backbone (very important to retain structure on American-style reeds with so much else taken off), it still chirped more or less as it was supposed to. Then I started on the rest and it won't sound at all! . Much too embarrassed to show it to my teacher as he will laugh his head off.

After the reed debacle before the recital last week (only decent reed split the night before ), I presented him with three new tied-on reeds. I hope that this time it doesn't take six months to get the finished product back.

I have a new reed in the interim with one of those newfangled metal tubes (nickel - I also have a brass one). The only thing is one of the rubber bands has disappeared so it only just stays put in the oboe (and doesn't at all in my teacher's Lorée). Has anyone tried those staples? I think they sound pretty good in the XL.

Good luck with the scraping, pushpull!

Anyone else listening to the first UK performance of Rodion Shchedrin's Oboe Concerto on Radio 3 right now?

(Should be available on iplayer later, I would think)

Must've just missed it
Shostakovich 15 now...

I only caught it by accident myself.

I have a few recordings of works by Shchedrin, all on the piano though: 24 Preludes & Fugues, Notebook and concertos.

Unfortunately I'm at work but I'll catch it on iPlayer later. Jonathon Small - Principle Oboe with Royal Liverpool Phil and tutor at RNCM.


My first teacher had one reed on one of those (a present from someone famous!!) and I was invited to try it as she thought it was quite soft. It wasn't and I was in no position to comment on whether the staple was any good.

Thank you. I'm sure I shall need it.

me too.

At that hour?

Me too but I'm on lunch break. And the IT guy is working on my work computer but I have my netbook with me...

flobiano - did you see that you are on for a Forum Award bronze medal for the Best Username!?!

No rest for the wicked.

Hrmph. I AM the IT guy but I still can't access the Beeb from work. Never mind I do have the technology to download (as opposed to just listen) from iPlayer.

ooooh, how do you do that?