Author: lbarton
Date: 2007-02-11 23:11
I teach about ten students ranging in age from 9 to 18. Many of the popular school methods have good material but I seriously disagree with some that get into forked F fingerings, and keys using three flats very early. New students should get the simple fingerings of g, a , b, c, down well, with decent air support, tone, and pitch before attempting the confusion of alternate F fingerings, half hole, octave key use etc. It only takes a few weeks before they are ready for more advanced fingerings. Because most band music is in flat keys very often the school band director never even teaches the regular keyed F fingering. This makes for a habit hard to break later, when forked F fingerings are awkward and undesirable.
At each lesson we warmup on scales, checking pitch with piano, followed by an assignment from a method book, the school's or Gekeler or Alfred Learn to Play Oboe depending on age of student. Then we always do a duet and a solo with piano accompaniment. The "solo" is their "dessert" as all students feel like they are really making music when they hear all the harmonies. Unbeknownst to them I use the accompanied solo and duets, to make them count accurately during rests, match pitches with piano etc. Most of the method books Essential Elements, Standard of Excellence etc. have piano parts available for order and add a lot to their learning experience if you have a piano available. I check their instrument and reeds before I attempt to teach them. Often the problem is in the school or rental instrument. If those things are acceptable, then we stop throughout the lesson for problems with intonation (from lesson #1), rhythm, fingering etc. as needed.
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The Oboe BBoard
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