Author: Dutchy
Date: 2008-11-19 16:49
Wanna address this:
Quote:
I probably should be on a medium reed by now.
You should never feel that you "ought" to be playing such-and-such a strength of reed "by now". I went through a lot of unnecessary grief when I was first starting out, because after I'd been doing it awhile, I too felt like I "ought to be on a medium reed by now", especially since I was an adult, and I thought I "ought" to be able to play on a harder reed sooner than a kid would. Well, I was completely wrong, and once I reconciled myself to the fact that I just plain wasn't ready for a Medium, and went back to ordering Medium Softs, I made MUCH better progress.
***
On the subject of method books, do get yourself some, since if all you're doing is just tootling away on Christmas songs for the Christmas concert, you aren't learning anything, you aren't progressing.
The Hal Leonard books are, IMO, in the category of "better than nothing", but--speaking from my personal experience of having spent the last nearly four years working my way through every single method book that's out there, including the totally obscure ones that only eBay sellers have ever heard of--allow me to recommend the Blaine Edlefsen/Belwin Mills series of books. Each level--One, Two, and Three--comes with Studies and Melodious Etudes, Oboe Student, and Tunes for Oboe Technic. Of all the method books I used, these were the ones where I actually learned something about playing the oboe, that weren't just series of exercises. Even Rubank, for all its tradition, didn't *teach* me as much.
On the subject of not-horribly-expensive reeds, I have found that the Selmer reeds from WWBW are decent.
And I highly recommend the reeds from Edmund Nielsen Woodwinds. Not too expensive, they play well, and super-fast shipping.
But come right down to it, I like Fox reeds better than Nielsen. YMMV.
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