 The Fingering Forum
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Author: Woody
Date: 2004-04-26 12:45
I'm a freshmen in highschool and i was wondering if i play they tenor sax (going on 5 years now) and start the oboe now do u think i could be good by my freshmen year of college? I practice from 1-3 hours a day is that enough for the oboe? Does an oboe need a tight emboucher or a loose one?
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Author: TorusTubarius
Date: 2004-04-26 15:09
If you practice 1-3 hours a day on the oboe for four years?? Yes absolutely you should make good progress, if you get a teacher. Four <i>years</i> is a long time to learn an instrument if you practice well. Coming from an instrument like the saxophone however, I would highly, <i>highly</i> recommend that you find a teacher. If you start out trying to play the oboe like a saxophone you will doubtlessly end up with bad habits which you'll have to iron out later (with twice as much work than if you had done it right initially).
Really I don't want to say that there's any specific amount of time you have to practice for this instrument vs. that instrument. It's not so much the <i>quantity</i> of your practice time as it is the <i>quality</i>. That's where having a teacher comes in real handy; he'll make sure you're practicing the right things and making the best use of your practice time. Furthermore I really don't think that you should attribute different amounts of "necessary" practice time for different instruments; it really just depends on how good you want to get. So is 1-3 hours enough? It just depends on what you mean by "good".
I can tell you however that if you get a teacher, and practice 1-3 hours everyday on the oboe, in four years you will most likely be ahead of the game as compared to your average college freshman oboe player. That kind of dedication will pay off, and if you're serious then I commend you. That's just the kind of perfectionist, anal-retentive behavior it takes to cut it on the oboe. 
As for the embouchure, as a general rule you want your lips to wrap flexibly around the reed. I don't really like to say it should be either tight or loose, but rather <i>flexible</i>. Flexible sounds better to me because it implies an embouchure which can make the necessary subtle changes "on the fly" to play with a more refined sound. A "tight" embouchure will strangle the reed, but a "loose" embouchure sounds too lazy and passive.
You will find that on the oboe, you will become much more conscious of what your lips are doing than on the saxophone. Oboe requires much more lip control than the saxophone. You should not bite the reed of course, and you will not be using your jaw to control the sound. The magic happens on the oboe when you are concentrating on using your lips and your air to make it sound good.
If you want a more detailed explanation of oboe embouchure you can go to "Search the Forum" up top and type in something like "oboe embouchure". I know I myself have written extensively about it on here, as have others. I'm pretty sure some of those were actually talking about oboe embouchure contrasted with saxophone embouchure, which you should find particularly helpful. If you have any specific questions, feel free to post them on this thread. Good luck.
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Author: dboe
Date: 2004-04-26 15:49
it's kinda funny because that's exactly what I did! (I'm assuming by freshmen you mean grade 9) If you start now, with a lot of intelligent and efficient practice, you could definitely meet the entrance exam qualifications.
However, a few words of caution:
If you are planning on becoming a music major, music MUST be the one facet in you life that you can't live without-I'm saying this because music is incredibly taxing, and requires vast amounts of time (especially the oboe..reeds!); if you plan on majoring in music, you better like it...a lot!
Find a good teacher. What I mean is find a teacher who plays the oboe -->as their way of life<-- (sorry I don't know how to italicize) because this way, to make any sort of living, they have to be really good, and it means that they have dedicated far many more hours into learning, playing, and teaching the oboe, than any other teacher who teaches a large number of instruments, or is a band teacher.
As far as embouchure goes, it's neither tight nor loose: The oboe must be played with the lips only (NOT lip covered-teeth...heavens!) with only enough pressure exerted from the lips to control the reed. It's more important to get the proper air support/pressure first, and then sort of "add in" the lips after (if that makes sense?)
Anyways, I thinks that's all, so good luck with your oboe playing.
Dboe
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Author: sömeone
Date: 2004-04-27 13:43
just wondering.....'not lip covered teeth'?
i know it all depends on the lips and air pressure,
but.....is it possible for the lips to not cover the teeth at all when playing for a supported embouchure? might be an interesting topic. no offense doboe, it doesn't seem be quite right.
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Author: dboe
Date: 2004-04-27 20:03
It is certainly possible, because I do it myself, and physically is the only way to actually be in the best control of the tone. What I mean is that the red fleshy parts of your lips shouldn't be so tucked in and under that you can't see them. If you put your mouth in this position, you should be able to close your jaw without biting your lips. If you play this way, you logically eliminate your jaw from any tone production (and therefore are much less prone to bite the reed, and strangle the tone).
Obviously you will use your jaw to hold the shape of your lips on the reed, but it shouldn't be used to "control" the tone (i.e. biting a flat reed up to pitch)
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Author: likewise
Date: 2004-04-28 03:22
I have played a pretty wide variety of instruments and have currently been playing the oboe for two years. I have never played tenor sax before, but I did play alto sax for a year in a jazz ensemble. After having played the alto sax and then switching to the oboe you definetly cannot treat the reeds the same way, but the fingerings of the notes are almost identical. I don't know if tenor matches alto, but alto fingerings closley match oboe fingerings, if that's any help.
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Author: jessica
Date: 2005-02-15 01:56
I am also a freshman in high school and im getting ready to start playing the oboe. I originally play clarinet, but i have played saxaphone(the two are very close in fingering) and the oboe has very similar fingering. i know your post was from last year but since youve probably already started playing it do you have any comments or tips to playing it?
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