 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: oboedallas
Date: 2004-12-11 02:26
Hi!
I am starting back to playing my oboe after 30+ years. I am very nervous about it, because I have forgotten so much. I'm so glad this bulletin board will let me ask questions as I don't know of any oboists close to me.
My oboe wood seems somewhat dry after being in storage this long. What can I do to recondition the wood? Also, does using silver polish on the keys accomplish anything other than making them look shinier?
For those of you who started back playing after a long hiatus, what can I expect? Sore diaphragm, sore lips, anything else...I 've forgotten what it was like when I started playing. I should tell you I played for 15 years before I became pregnant and stopped playing.
Any help and support you can send me will be greatly appreciated. This is really scary and yet exciting for me.
Thanks so much.
dallas van koll
dallas@gwi.net
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Author: beany
Date: 2004-12-11 10:14
Hello Dallas
If this were me, I would have the oboe serviced before I even tried to play it, the bore will need oiling, or it may crack if it is as dry as I think it may be.
Also, all of the pillar joints will have dried out and will need oiling, and the pads/corks will also have dried out and need replacing.
My understanding is that oboes do not respond too kindly to not being played regularly - at least that is what Howarths in the UK have told me.
Yes, your lips will be sore, you will realise that your lungs are not what they once were, and your fingers will seem rather stiff etc.
I hope this is some help
Regards
Karen
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Author: Skuff
Date: 2004-12-11 12:13
Hello!
Your situation sounds familiar to me. It's been almost 30 years (27 to be exact) since I played daily in school. Now I'm reading all those technique sections in my old books, and I'm starting again (even looking for a teacher). Wonderfully, the notes seem hard-wired in my brain, but I'm out-of-shape with breathing, embouchure, and everything else required.
Now come all the conflicting replies.... I took my oboe in for service, just yesterday. Mostly everything looks good. It has been stored in my bedroom (where ever we lived) all the years it's been idle. The service man (who I do like and have worked with for other instruments) did not recommend bore oil. That surprised me. He commented that it is a balancing act with the inside and the outside of the instrument. Too much swelling on the inside from oil (when the outside is drier) could cause a crack.
Because of my experience with solid wood guitars, I'm going to keep my oboe out of cold weather (or any sudden temperature changes). I'll be watching the humidity in the house (making sure things don't get too dry). Obviously, swabing good after playing. And I'm going to love getting reaquainted with my old friend.
I wish you the best,
Marcia
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2004-12-11 14:37
Hi --
I started playing "for real" again (on the clarinet) a couple of years ago, after playing only intermittently and for one-shot occasions (like, something in a group at church) over the course of many years.
The biggest challenge I had was developing the endurance to play sustained passages (breath). There was also the issue of my lips tiring quickly and getting twitchy, and fingers, hands and arms feeling like lead after playing a little while.
After that (and related to it) came the ability to read consistently and quickly. When you're playing by yourself, you can stop whenever you need to. When you're playing in a group, you have to keep up. At first, I found that I just couldn't "see" the music as easily as I once did (i.e., look at the page and have it translate immediately to the fingers).
Joining a community band helped me get back into it -- forced me to get back into it, actually. It was either do it, or quit!
Last year, fulfilling a long-held dream, I started playing the oboe. This year, I am going to play the oboe in the community band -- and I expect that to be a *real* learning experience!
Susan
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Author: sömeone
Date: 2004-12-11 14:46
its really great seeing so many people getting back on their oboes once again.......believe me.......the music of the oboe is truly amazing......
God bless oboists!
Good luck to all of you!
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Author: ObOeGiRl05
Date: 2004-12-11 15:09
Since your oboe hasn’t been played in so long.. you can’t just pick it up and play it for a long time.. you have to introduce moisture back to the wood, if you don’t it will crack. So you need to play it for like a half an hour and then swab it out and put it away for like an hour… and you need to do this for like a week or 2…
And I wouldn’t recommend silver polish on your keys.. you can go to a music store and get a cleaning cloth.
Well good look with getting started… and yeah you lips might hurt a bit
Kiki
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Author: vboboe
Date: 2004-12-12 03:17
O WELCOME Starting Again ... this is really Wunnerful ... here's yet another phoenix resurrection from the ashes of a non-playing former life ... this is a REAL PHENOM, folks ...
Treat neglected oboe like dry fine wood furniture and tarnished silver plate
You can spring clean the oboe, polish the silver, oil the movables and recondition the wood all by yourself, no mystery to Maven Martha fans ... when keys and wood in better condition from that TLC then blow in oboe again as long as your lips and lungs can manage, daily ...
Yes, waist muscles were surprisingly sore the first week, not any more
Embouchure hard to develop for me, found reeds very coarse, so lightly surface smoothed them with a fine emery (manicure) board; also found square-cut corners sharp on my tongue, so I smooth-rounded them off. Lips still somewhat swollen, but much denser texture now. Love my newly deepened smile dimples!
Can speed up embouchure development first few days (while you're waiting for wood oil reconditioning to soak through from both outside and inside applications?) by moistened reed-crowing two or three times a day ... when oboe ready, add the breath pressure behind embouchure and work up to more of that ... myself only managed about 3-5 mins actual playing to start, now three months later can manage more than an hour's steady practicing before my lips give out
Breath pressure and sustained airflow remains an ongoing challenge, just keep up regular practices ... and it varies from day to day depending on how rested or tired I am at practice time ... definitely better if I do some general physical exercises first though, and I haven't had anything to eat or drink just recently
Joined an intermediate adult band in early November and discovered many musically humbling experiences
... just keep up daily practices in Keys of E and A flat ... not C, F, G or D
... thought I could sight-read music pretty good (lots of previous practice in Handel choral) but how come my fingers don't automatically play the notes & tempo I'm reading during new sheet music run-through?!?
... where are these squeaky notes coming from? This bar's not in upper octave! Ooops ... Ab key still open ... half hole has slipped open on super-smooth key to a quarter hole ... and hey, this is Conservatory system, take your thumb off the 1st 8ve key, it isn't a thumb-plate! (notice Howarth still makes thumb-plate oboes, I'm tempted)
... count all rest bars and entry bar rests during practices, don't skip them, otherwise PC (Personal Cranium) doesn't program the entire piece del capo al fine
... watch myself fall to pieces at the director's much faster tempo !!!
... hey I just practiced this and got it yesterday ... where did it disappear today?
... seems my fingers were a lot faster catching on to these infernally achromatic whole note sequences 35 years ago ... ?!?
... aren't quarter-note runs slower than that??? Please?
Do find fresh fruit and vegetable juices discourage arthritic tendencies whereas yummies, baked goods and excess seasonal food stiffens fingers up, yes I know Christmas is coming, and anything with chocolate is my downfall ...
Must make sure you're not even mildly anemic, must have optimum blood-iron for best oxygen carrying capacity, oboe breath control is athletic concentration worthy of olympian recognition
May we all eventually develop modest 150-minute smiles, 90-second sostenuto lungs, auto default any key signature finger-work @ minimum 144 and acquire the jewel of flutter tonguing (no it's not just for flutes) -- and before long, our collective oboe-song can arise from Gaia to play the music of the spheres (or some-such dormant generational imperative?)
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2004-12-12 13:57
Love your posts, vboboe!
Now a year into it, I am disciplining myself to do an hour's worth of scales and arpeggios each day, and it is paying off. I had one of those miraculous "break through" experiences yesterday: after a couple solid weeks of scales, went back to a repertoire book that had always seemed out of reach, and, mercy me, the stuff just flowed out of my horn.
However, you can take Ab major and sh . . . uh, um, ah, *learn* it.
Wow, do I hate that key on the oboe. ![[mad]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie9.gif)
But -- I am now being able to grab the alternate Eb fingering from below, which is real progress. And I'm keeping my fingers relaxed, which in itself has a very salubrious effect on my tone production. I don't quite understand why that should be, but it is.
My favorite keys are E minor and D minor. They just lay so well on the oboe, and are so much fun to play.
Susan
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Author: oboedallas
Date: 2004-12-13 19:01
I am so thankful for your posts....I was elated to think that I could play 9 notes, then crashed when I realized that that was all I was playing that night. My lips wonder what has happened and we won't even mention my ribcage, abdomen, etc. which are still sore 3 days later.
I keep reminding myself that there will be better times ahead and your posts confirm that. It's just a long process of doing a little bit at a time for a couple, 3 months.
I guess the other thing I have to keep in mind is that it is OK if I never get to the level of playing that I was at when I quit. I'm doing this because I love the music and I love the instrument. Competition is not part of this equation anymore.
Thanks again for your encouragement. I hope I won't sound like a whiney one, but I'm trying to just do this and not spend too much time on how hard it is and how out of shape I am.
dallas van koll
dallas@gwi.net
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Author: vboboe
Date: 2004-12-15 01:40
... nine notes now, AWESOME!
... enjoy, enjoy, enjoy ... especially enjoy finding your playing skills again ... just be patient and persistent, and schedule daily practice to get yourself back in shape ... some days are definitely better than others ... I've given myself two years to "blow myself in" again, that point where it all feels comfortable and right with me ... if it happens sooner, good-oh!
Can you join a beginners band in your area? You're not a beginner in previous experience, but you are as far as being able to play the instrument just now... this might help speed up things for you ... especially since previous experience is a great motivator to cheer you on ...
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Author: SuzyQ's Mom
Date: 2004-12-17 05:09
OhSuzan wrote: "However, you can take Ab major and sh . . . uh, um, ah, *learn* it. Wow, do I hate that key on the oboe. But -- I am now being able to grab the alternate Eb fingering from below, which is real progress.
What do you mean about being able to grab the alternate Eb fingering *from below*? I have a hard time when I have both Db and Eb (key of Ab major) and am wondering if there's something I don't know.
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2004-12-17 15:11
<<am wondering if there's something I don't know.>>
Ha! I can't imagine that I know *anything* that anyone else doesn't already know -- and better, at that!
It has always been more difficult for me to manage the higher left hand Eb (top space of the staff) than the lower one (bottom line of the staff). In particular, I have had difficulty moving up from, say, the mid-staff B to that higher left hand Eb.
I don't know any "tricks" about how to do it -- but I do find that the more often I do it, the more automatic it becomes. And that's what I meant when I said I am now able to "grab" the l.h. Eb from below -- at least some of the time!
I am also a clarinetist, and perhaps for that reason, the pinky keys on the oboe have not generally presented much difficulty for me, except for this one fingering. Fingerings for the upper octave of the oboe are very similar to the fingerings for the upper register of the clarinet -- except that clarinets normally don't have the l.h. Eb option. One of my high-end clarinets does have it, but I find it very awkward and just don't use it.
Susan
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Author: vboboe
Date: 2004-12-18 01:46
Aflat Maj ... ah yes my "love-to-hate" band key! But, is it really any harder than four sharps with that C# to D# combo?
My toughie just now is hitting the low B and Bflat key without opening the left G# key!
... it helps me to use alternate fingering freely in Aflat Maj, depending on going upscale or coming downscale
FINGER DRILLS
... until you do them daily over and over again, you'll go stark raving crazy with the following suggestion ... nobody in their right mind plays oboe, eh? ... but after awhile when it all comes together, hope you like it
... my first oboe teacher umpteen years ago made me do dreaded-dreadful drills on forked F's using right and left Eb key as resonance, and forked Bflats using right or left G# as resonance, forcing those reluctant fingers to move together as one ... so now I find it's an ambidextrous bonus to be able to use alternate fingering in Aflat Maj (forked Bflats also in Eflat Maj)
... going up from Bflat or C to Dflat - try using the "forbidden" fingering of just closing the F# hole with all other open holes (this plays top C# or Db) instead of the standard fingering
... coming down, try left pinkie Eflat for top forked F and top Eflat, and use right pinkie Db (C# key) with half-hole standard fingering up top, or closed for low Dflat ... and do like the finger-drop method on the half-hole for those top to low octave leaps
... also find forked Bflats very useful in Aflat Maj (using right-side Ab/G# "trill" key as resonance going up, and left (standard) Ab/G# key as resonance going down) -- this combo very sharp in pitch though, lovely restful & relaxing split second for embouchure :-)
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Author: Debora L. Osborne
Date: 2005-01-13 04:30
Here here!!! I totally agree....it's great & very encouraging to see so many former players taking up their instruments again....the world cannot have enough really good oboists, as far as I'm concerned!!! Kudos to all, and keep up the good work....take it one day at a time.....sometimes, one note at a time!!!
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Author: whitefork
Date: 2005-03-14 17:34
Me too - it's been 30 years since I picked the thing up, so I took it in for service and just got it back Saturday.
What a cantankerous instrument it is.
I wasn't a bad player, but pretty undisciplined.
My motivation is maybe an odd one. I've been studying Alexander Technique for years, using it in horseback riding and swimming, and suddenly it dawned on me that I might be able to apply it to relearning the oboe. My AT instructor is an opera singer, but she's given me a lot of advice on posture, breath control and the like.
I still have all my music books. I even remember some of the exercises.
Although my fingers remember the notes, my embouchure is pretty rusty, and I have a hard time getting to the lower register - the transition from B to A is <bwak!> a lot of the time.
I'm going to try a few different varieties of reed-hardness and see what works.
Any advice that you might offer? The cat doesn't run away when I play, so that's a good sign...
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Author: wrowand
Date: 2005-03-14 21:13
No offense intended, but I couldn't let an earlier post go without commenting on a couple of points mentioned:
vboboe wrote:
>>> ... it helps me to use alternate fingering freely in Aflat Maj, depending on going upscale or coming downscale
IMO, when starting (or returning to) the oboe, it's too easy to develop bad technical habits. Please use the prescribed fingerings so that they become second nature to you. The only alternate fingerings necessary in Ab major are the left-hand Eb and forked F.
>>> ... my first oboe teacher umpteen years ago made me do
>>> dreaded-dreadful drills on forked F's using right and left Eb key as
>>> resonance, and forked Bflats using right or left G# as resonance,
>>> forcing those reluctant fingers to move together as one ... so now I
>>> find it's an ambidextrous bonus to be able to use alternate fingering in
>>> Aflat Maj (forked Bflats also in Eflat Maj)
Forked Bb is a trill fingering. The pitch and timbre of Bb fingered this way is no substitute for the usual Bb fingering and you shouldn't get in the habit of using it.
If your oboe has a forked-F resonance key, adding the Eb key is not recommended as it will make this note sharp. On most Loree's, forked-F is already too sharp. IMO, the "covered" timbre of an in-tune forked F is generally preferable to the bright sound of a sharp forked-F fingered with the Eb key.
>>> ... going up from Bflat or C to Dflat - try using the "forbidden" fingering
>>> of just closing the F# hole with all other open holes (this plays top C#
>>> or Db) instead of the standard fingering
Don't do this -- for the same reason mentioned above. Open C# is a trill fingering and should only be used (a) for trills, (b) when there's no other solution, (c) for a rare but sometimes-desirable alternate timbre.
Best Wishes,
-Woody
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Author: vboboe
Date: 2005-05-30 00:03
So, oboedallas, how's it going for you now after some 4-5 months -- overcome sore lips, sore ribs OK? Playing something recognizable?
I started all over again last September, and I began feeling much more confident with the results I was getting in April. Fingers were working, able to find the reed's sweet spot more easily, tone improved. Still lots of things to work on, but think I'm past the first big hurdle of frustration caused by wanting to play but couldn't get any results ... how about your progress?
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Author: OboeAgain
Date: 2005-12-06 17:54
Good for you! As my nickname implies, I went through the same process a few years back. I suspect partly out of ignorance, I just started playing my old Gordet. It is 1960s vintage, and I hadn't played it in years. I found no problems.
My first playing, like others who have already responded to your post, was in a summer band which played ten concerts in an outdoor band shell in July and August. That was actually kinda good because I could hardly be heard over all of the brass. It gave me courage. Of course, there were some small solo passages which made it fun. That was about eight years ago.
Initially, I bought reeds from various sources, but I eventually got back to making my own. There are lots of sources for reeds online these days, a lot more than when I started up.
A couple of years ago, I found a teacher and have been working with her ever since. These days, I'm still in a wind band, but also play in a wind quintet, a double reed trio (2 oboes and bassoon) and this year also a double reed quartet (add an English horn to the trio).
Playing is one of the joys in my life. I've made some great friends and have a blast playing all sorts of music. My biggest problem is having a enough time for it all: I'm still a working stiff.
So, go for it. I don't remember that much physical pain when I started up, but you might want to take it slow at first. Buy some good reeds, try to find a group of other players who are playing just for fun and enjoy!
Walter
Walter
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Author: GaryT1957
Date: 2006-02-18 17:25
Wow....this is great! I thought I was the only one that has had a 30-year hiatus. I have a VERY old Cabart (open hole, automatic octave) and it does need some work (pads, corks, etc). But it still sounds great. However, I've ordered a new oboe so I'm pretty excited about it. The new one is a resonite oboe with all the bells and whistles that my old one doesn't have (3rd octave, left F, F resonance, Bb resonance). Eventually, I hope to find an adult community band or orchestra to play in. I played for 11 years before stopping. Hopefully, I'll get some of that "oomph" back (with practice ofcourse).
Just wanted to chime in.
Gary
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