Author: vboboe
Date: 2008-11-19 07:15
<< need some tips to remember the fundamentals ... embouchure ... proper posture ...or any other things you might find important ... >>
<< no, I have not been supplied with books or anything by my teacher >>
Wot? No band method book? Are you just doing sheet music for Christmas concert at the moment? Have you asked? If your band teacher has a book 1 or 2 of Essential Elements for oboe you'll find some basic pointers in there. Standard of Excellence books aren't so helpful on oboe basics, good fingering chart though
embouchure's been covered, only thing i'd like to add is *practice every day* until chops had a good work-out, but don't push any further so you get sore lips -- a little bit longer each day adds up to a lot in the few weeks you've got left to Christmas concert
posture ... raise music stand high enough so you have to sit up straight from the waist to see your band director over the top of your music stand,
if it's too low you'll be tempted to hunch forward, bad for any wind player but especially bad for oboe
raise oboe higher than a clarinet but lower than a trumpet, about halfway between
aim at keeping the back of your wrists as straight from the forearms as possible, to do this you'll have to raise your elbows just enough to gently air your armpits, if you bend your wrists (much more likely when you tuck your elbows in your sides and /or lower the oboe like a clarinet) you'll be putting a lot of excess strain on the tendon sheaths in hands and muscle bands in wrists
support weight of instrument on the thumbrest, if it hurts thumb get one of those slip-on thumbrest cushions -- or make a thumbrest if desperate, the wider kind will spread the load over a wider area of your thumb and make oboe seem lighter
don't pinch top joint with left thumb, need to rest it easy on the back so it's loose and mobile for the octave key, support weight on the thumb-rest
if you live in California, there must be some helpful west coaster on this board who can direct you to some excellent medium soft to medium beginner oboe reeds made in state, surely don't need to order from other side of the country
you need reeds that you can play -- after wetting up reed just enough in cool fresh water, test if they're playable for you by placing them where moist pink meets dry red part of your lower lip, in front of your teeth, blow like a whistle -- if you have to roll the reed between your teeth and press it harder to get it to play for you, it's wrong for your embouchure at the moment, might be OK for you later, put the harder ones away until you can play them, get softer ones for now
also ask band teacher when the school oboe you're playing was last serviced -- this recent summer, or year dotto long before you played it last?
if the latter, ask for the mechanism to be needle oiled (does band teacher have an all-purpose band instrument tool kit?) perhaps the basic F cap isn't dropping fast enough so it's not blocking moisture from exiting that hole = spluttering or gurgling -- anyway, if the oboe hasn't been serviced this summer, the whole oboe mechanism probably needs key oiling, especially the semi-auto octave mechanism, if that's sticky you'll get squeaks & no-speak delays as you change octaves
it's amazing how much faster the keys will move when they are lubed just right, and maybe the pads will close up the holes faster to prevent gurgles too, hey you never know, it might be that simple (fingers crossed)
grease the corks when assembling, so you can take oboe apart easily afterwards without wrenching it
if the reed cork is dry and doesn't slide easily into the reed well , work the bottom half of the cork only with some grease -- you don't want to crack a reed by trying hard to pull out a very tight cork, oops, hand slips ... reed smasher!
protect your reed/s like a baby -- it needs a safe place to rest when not in use, they're the last thing to go in oboe, and the first thing to take out afterwards
swob your oboe dry after you've finished playing
put your oboe back in its case when you've finished playing
don't drop your swobbing silk any which way in the oboe case -- instead, wrap up a silk swob by winding it over your fingers and make a neat package of it around the cord and weight -- silk will dry out OK, and the neat little package will prevent tangling cord in oboe, and by completely enclosing the weight, prevent that metal from scratching the silver plating on instrument keys
don't put your oboe down anywhere in the band room with all those other kids in there -- other kids and accidents are unpredictable, and oboe can be damaged -- or put out of adjustment -- quite easily, so get in the habit of getting everything else done that needs standing up or moving around first, then you sit down and assemble your instrument, and then stay seated looking after your oboe until it's put away again in its case
these are some of the basics that often don't get as much attention as they deserve
|
|
The Oboe BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
