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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