Author: vboboe
Date: 2006-10-09 00:18
Wow, another mature 'recruit' on oboe, welcome!
<<Do you think it's appropriate for a retired person, who has never played an oboe, to purchase an oboe? I haven't had a lesson yet, but I do
have a teacher willing to teach me >>
You have a teacher already, and you really, really want to play oboe?
GO, GO, GO! Yaay!
Everybody else has addressed your question about how to go about buying an oboe. I think your teacher is right-on about the Yamaha, I'm familiar with Yamaha 411 and 441, and think they're both very good beginner - intermediate oboes ... but you're looking at a Fox, so ...
the Yamaha comes fitted with low B-flat, F resonance key and Left F ... IMO these really are *** must-have *** keys for beginner/intermediate right away
The Fox Renard 330 is also a good intermediate oboe by reputation, but the particular instrument you have in mind needs to pass your teacher's approval by test playing it. If it's declared OK, and it also comes fitted with those three must-have keys, then buy it right now and you can love it for several years before you feel you must have a better one :-)
The tarnished keys of that Renard can polish up nicely and it will look so beautiful after you do that, don't let its present appearance put you off
Some thoughts about some Challenges for Mature Starters on Oboe from personal experience
Older lips have less cushioning fat and thinner skin. Very important to build up oboe embouchure gently and very gradually, and take care of lips with replenishing creams in between. You literally have to grow thicker and denser lip skin to cope with the demands of high-speed reed vibrations. STOP blowing BEFORE lips feel raw or sore, otherwise will be too painful to even start blowing tomorrow
Bonus -- rapid face lift, takes years off lower face, jaw & neck in particular ... sigh, haven't got similar solution yet for eye area :-)
Air support -- unless you already have a vigorous aerobic activity period every day, lungs are coasting along at maybe a third of their total expansion capacity and muscular ability to rapidly pump large air volume is soft. Intercostal rib muscles front & back aren't used to pumping the lungs as hard as they did in youth, and this low volume and weaker muscularity just isn't good enough for oboe air support.
The very first week i started oboe my ribs were almost too sore to breathe normally, wore off OK for me, but if you're not particularly aerobic, caution to take this part seriously, don't over-strain yourself. Other muscles that get hard work-out are core abs behind belly button, and all trunk muscles used to expand and squeeze the lungs. All complained bitterly to me in my first few weeks! Now, former midlife couch potato ( ) has concave waistline
) (
I find 'swimmer's' exercise helpful
The Front Crawl, exhale, count arms over 4x; inhale, count arms over 4x, repeat several times, do pool laps. Excellent shoulder exercise for older arms as well. Emphasis on exhale first, just like prepping air support to play oboe; emphasis on 4 count, most common tempo beat. Time your arm overs, what can do comfortably for longest period of time? -- largo, adagio, andante, moderato, allegro, presto?!?
Underwater surface dive and submersion swim -- hold breath and swim underwater as long as possible. Out of water, practice with a stopwatch to time yourself to see yourself getting better at it. 1 minute minimum goal, 1.5 to 2 minutes good, 2.5 mins very good, 3 mins amazing! No need to try for any pearl-divers record. Point of exercise, build up body's tolerance for going without fresh air so you don't ever get light-headed or dizzy playing oboe.
Better to practice blowing oboe several times daily for only a few minutes at a time in the first months, until able to comfortably manage both embouchure and air support for 15 minutes at a stretch. Then extend daily blowing sessions from there.
Fingering skills -- older hands tend to curve inwards, looks great in curved position holding oboe -- but, actually fingering the keys demands that curved over fingers lift backwards and upwards -- at the knuckles.
This puts lots of strain on tightened and shortened tendons in the palm of the hand, and also demands that over-long looser tendons in back of the hand tighten up more than they're used to. The wrist-band muscles ache after a short while doing this, so don't overdo it anytime.
This is all very hard work for older and less flexible hands, so they have to be retrained gradually over a longer period of time. I find frequent (twice daily) silent fingering practice, physio conditioning exercises targeting weaker 3rd fingers in particular, and full hand/wrist massage with joint manipulations all helpful. Keep hands nice and warm in colder weather.
Flap them often during oboe warmup period.
You will probably find your own age-related issues too
Younger teachers don't realise some of these Challenges of Mature Students on Oboe. You'll have to educate them, as gently as you restructure your body to play this beautiful instrument.
Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!
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