Author: vboboe
Date: 2006-03-18 03:51
Hi there A-person13, you need an oboe teacher, yes?
I'm not a teacher, but like everybody else on this board, we have experience playing oboe, so i think we can all help you a bit.
Print this list of stuff I'm giving you, keep it with your oboe music, and decide what you're going to do about it. Show parents first.
What band book are you using? Does it have any pictures and instructions about playing oboe in it? Have you read them yet? Even if you have, read them again. You may discover something that makes more sense to you now but you missed it first time.
Does your band book have a playback CD? Hope you're using it :-)
Ask your band teacher if any of the other band teachers in the whole school district have oboe players in their bands, and is there anything that could be done for all of us at once, like a workshop, a summer camp?
Maybe even band teachers could learn something useful from this?
Maybe one of those other band teachers knows somebody else who plays oboe in a local band or ensemble? Ask if maybe they could be invited to talk about oboe at your school as a band-class guest speaker?
Ask all your friends to help connect you with older kids doing private music lessons on piano and violin, and then ask them if they would give their teacher a note from you asking if they know anybody who teaches oboe and please get back to you if they do (so talk to your parents about this one)
There are oboe teaching videos out there (hey, better than nothing at all) so search *** band music stores *** online for sources, items, pictures, info, prices, and talk to your financial sponsor about that
Better, see if your band teacher can get something like that for your school's music library on school funds, so you can borrow it free :-)
Practice your band assignment pieces every day.
Daily workouts are the only way to build up your mouth and puff power over time. You need strong lip muscles and strong puff muscles to play oboe. Takes time, but you can do it, a little bit at a time, every single day.
Oboe players have to work for years just to get a good SOUND.
Get some good oboe music to listen to as this helps train your 'oboe ears'. Listen to it a lot, get to know the music and get so you really hear how the oboe should sound when played well.
If your computer has all the right bells and whistles (see your financial sponsor) download some live recording samples of oboists from online sources, and build yourself a little music library in your media player.
Look for CD's with the word oboe somewhere in the title, or oboe somewhere on the cover. Ask the CD store if they know of any good oboe music and can get some for you.
REMEMBER TO SOAK YOUR DRY REED IN COOL CLEAN WATER FOR ABOUT 3-5 MINUTES *** BEFORE *** YOU START BLOWING IT.
Figure out a system that'll work for you to presoak your reed for band at school. A pop-top bottle of drinking water and a snap-top mini container might work for you.
Make it easy on yourself. Dry reeds are hard to blow and break quickly.
Try and make your reeds last as long as you can, but they don't last forever anyway. You'll always have to have more new reeds. And, not every reed you buy plays for you just now. Put it away, try again in a week, or month from now. So buy three at a time. One of them probably works better than the others.
When you're blowing, keep trying to play softly rather than loudly
... but DO NOT BITE WITH YOUR TEETH
KISS YOUR REED by pressing it firmly between your lips until you get it to buzz and can keep it buzzing.
Then hold it there as long as you can.
Yes, those sore jelly muscles are exactly the ones which must get really, really strong. When your lips are tired today, STOP, don't force yourself to keep going today, because sore lips don't want to get started tomorrow.
If you're worried you can't blow as long as you need to learn all your assignments, do *** silent finger practice ***
BUT ... you must concentrate very hard on putting your fingers down perfectly every time, so you mustn't do anything else at all, not even listen to band book playback CD ... just zone out when you practice silent fingering, OK?
When student is ready and really wants it to happen, oboe teacher will appear
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