I am a middle school band director trombone/trumpet player and I just got an oboe for one of my students who has already learned flute and sax. I am having some trouble getting the reed to make a sound. I feel like I have to blow my head off to get anything to happen. Please if anyone has any advise it would be a big help. KEN

That's what it seems like at first! What strength is the reed?
Try soaking the tip (the bit that's been scraped), in cool water for about ten minutes. No need to fit it in the oboe to try it. With the proper embouchure it should 'crow', a high pitch squawk.
The embouchure is a difficult to describe in a sentence but draw your lips over your teeth, stretch them elastic-like, insert the reed up to about the wire. Pinch the reed slightly with the lips not the teeth. The bottom jaw should be down and drawn back a bit. What's similar to brass instruments I believe is that the higher the pitch the tighter the embouchure except that the breathing is quite different. Perhaps more seasoned oboists here can explain it better!!

PF

Having almost been an oboe student once, I can give you a little tip.

You might need to try putting your lips at different places on the reed. I think it depends on how the reed has been made or something like that. But I was told by one teacher to put only the tip of the reed in my mouth, and by another to put it a little further along. One used short-scrape and the other used long-scrape, I'm pretty sure that's significant.

I know on bassoon at least, the amount of reed in your mouth is partly determined by your unique embouchere as well.

But actual oboists might want to correct me on this.

Hi im an Oboe player and i can tell you that youv probly got a to strong reed for beginning. You probly need a meadium or medium/hard. You firstly need to soak it in water for around 5-10 mins then NOT IN THE OBOE out the tip of the reed into your mouth and roll your lips so that your teeth dont touch it and you look like someone pretending youv got no teeth. Then blow gently careful not to squeeze it. That should make a high pitched sound. If you put it a little further into your mouth you can crow it which is low and bity. Now put it into your oboe and it should work.
Sara
x

Wasn't that the same as post no.2 said? Bit confused now.

?
LOL

Hi there Ken

This is a common problem where the reed supplied with the new instrument is probably a fairly cheap and cheerful affair, badly scraped, probably not wired or, if so, done incorrectly and the whole thing is a bit of a disaster. At least, this has often been my experience with new oboists turning up for their first lesson with an instrument I haven't selected for them (Mum and Dad just went out and got something, despite my request not to )and with a reed "supplied by the shop".

Others have given you good basic information about the embouchure shape and soaking the reed properly (only the cane - not the whole thing!). However this, alone, may not sort it. If it is too wide open, you will need either to get it wired by someone who knows what they are doing or at least apply pressure on the top and bottom of the cane (not at the sides) with your fingers - gently so you don't split it - until it closes a bit. However, if the scrape is wrong, no amount of soaking etc will sort it to be ideal.

For a new oboist I would always use a medium soft reed or possibly a soft reed for a week or two, increasing the strength as they gain in confidence. Oboe playing is also, of course, a very different thing to flute or saxophone in terms of embouchure (and hugely different to brass) so don't expect just because your pupil is already a woodwind player that they will just pick the oboe up and play it immediately. Please make sure that they don't try to play the oboe with a saxophonist's embouchure either - I have lost count of the hours I have spent in my teaching career modifying/sorting out embouchures etc from people who've come to the oboe after playing sax or clarinet and still try to play the oboe the same way. That's why I never teach another orchestral woodwind instrument, although I can play them, because I still believe each instrument needs to be taught by a true specialist if at all possible (not always the case with music service provision of course and no offence intended to all our hard-working peri colleagues on these forums).

I cannot stress strongly enough the value of getting your student a few lessons from a specialist oboist if at all possible. They will set them off playing correctly and check out the reed issues, dealing with them appropriately. The oboe (and especially reeds) can be hard-going initially but the beauty of the instrument will win through eventually. The fact that your pupil is already a woodwind player will help of course, though (as mentioned above) please treat each of his/her studies as very different instruments to play.

Hope this helps. Please feel free to PM me if you have further questions.

how come you have an oboe pupil if you dont play it??!!! I dont think I would like the responsibility of teaching something Im not sure about....Im hoping to teach sax at some point but am going to spend a good couple of years geting used to it so I am able to teach it successfully. Luckily the sax is pretty similar to the flute....dont really see the similarity between the oboe and trombone! A weird combination! Good luck though!