 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: claire70
Date: 2008-11-08 16:03
I've been teaching oboe for about 4 or 5 years now, and have started several beginners off; I like to think I'm a reasonably good teacher as most of them progress okay. But just this week I've had two new beginners start who seem to have found it much more difficult to produce their first notes than anyone I've taught in the past. (One is 10, the other 13). They can get the note to come out, but it seems a bit of a struggle, wavers around a lot, and barely lasts a second. Other beginners I've had before seem to have been able to produce a note with a good bit of 'oomph', that they can sustain for a few seconds even if the tuning wanders around.
I explain breathing, diaphragm support etc in exactly the same way to all of them. I'm wondering whether the two who are finding it hard are likely to get the hang of it with a bit of practice, or whether they are just not suited to the oboe! Any thoughts?
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Author: oboedrew
Date: 2008-11-08 16:29
Are their oboes adjusted? If their oboes are leaking, they can do everything right yet still have difficulty with basic sound production.
Cheers,
Drew
www.oboedrew.com
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Author: Dutchy
Date: 2008-11-08 16:34
As a mom of three, one of whom played clarinet through junior high and high school, so I've hung around school music departments a bit, I would definitely NOT tell them casually, "You aren't suited for the oboe" just because their early efforts aren't going swimmingly. The only person who isn't suited for the oboe is the person who doesn't want to play the oboe, such as someone who's been pressured into it by a band director who "needs" an oboe, or the person who just plain isn't trying.
But if these kids are trying, then you've just gotta be patient. And indeed, it's part of your job description as a teacher to encourage them, rather than to DIS-courage them.  What a tragedy, I always think, to encounter adults who say, "I took *whatever* instrument in junior high, but my teacher/band director told me I wasn't any good at it, so I quit." With a little patience, perseverance, and understanding, that person might have made a fine musician.
As regards the oboe, a few thoughts.
1. Some kids are put off by the buzzing of the reed; it's weird, feels funny in the mouth, and so once they get it going, they flinch and back off.
2. Some kids are put off by the sheer noise that a squawking beginner's oboe makes. They don't expect it to be so raucous, and are a little scared of it, and so they instinctively back off.
2. Remember that their embouchure muscles, the facial muscles around their mouth, are still "baby" muscles. They may just not have the muscular strength to make the reed behave in a constructive manner. I'd get them the softest reed you can find, and if they're already on Soft reeds, I'd get them a plastic reed. It's not something I advocate lightly, because plastic reeds make a godawful noise (shudder), but their saving grace is that it's super-easy to get a sound out of them, which at least is a starting point.
I was 50 years old when I started oboe, and even I, with my presumably fully developed adult facial muscles, had trouble sustaining a tone for more than a second, the first couple weeks or so. It's a set of muscles that don't get used for much else, so it takes time and practice to teach them what's required.
The problem you're describing--"can get the reed to sound, but wavers and tapers off"--sounds like it's either nervousness, or a lack of muscular strength. Keep encouraging them to practice, reassure them it WILL get better.
ETA: I wouldn't tell a child student that he "wasn't suited for the oboe" until he'd been playing for at least 6 to 9 months with absolutely no progress at all--say he started in September, and now here it is May, and he's still unable to get more than a couple of notes out. *Then* I'd tactfully suggest he switch to some other instrument, but I'd phrase it more positively as, "Now that you've had a chance to hear some of the other instruments in Band, is there something else you'd like to play better than the oboe?" Rather than, negatively, "You can't play the oboe." Because if he's been struggling for 9 months to play the oboe, it means he really wants to play, and if you tell him flat-out, "You aren't suited to the oboe", he may interpret it as "You suck at Band", and he'll just give up on Band altogether, whereas if you tactfully steer his attention to some other instrument, the world will have gained a musician, albeit not an oboist.
And I wouldn't just blurt it out bluntly at the end of a lesson--I'd set up a meeting with him and his parents, and then you can all discuss it, hopefully in a creative and supportive manner.
ETA: And I'd like to address this, if I may...
Quote:
I like to think I'm a reasonably good teacher as most of them progress okay.
I'm hearing, "I must not be a very good teacher, if I can get these other students to play right off, but these two kids are struggling." It's not a reflection on you as a teacher, that these two kids haven't gotten the hang of it at the same speed as your previous students--teachers the world over, in all disciplines, not just music, have to deal with slow learners. Goes with the territory. It's not about you.
Post Edited (2008-11-08 16:49)
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Author: johnt
Date: 2008-11-08 20:37
Make sure these students are not biting the reed. Use the purse string analogy for embouchure formation. If that doesn't work, have them whistle. Have them also visualize a grapefruit sitting on the tongue & try to pin the navel against the front side of the spinal column. Have them gargle with water, then have them imitate that feeling in the throat while playing. Most importantly, remember Stevens Hewitt's statment: "The memory of how it feels is your only method." All this should get them off the ground.
Best,
john
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Author: jhoyla
Date: 2008-11-09 08:01
I second Duchy's advice about plastic reeds. Yes, they sound dire, they are expensive, and generally out of tune. But they have the following advantages:
1. They need no soaking so they work (literally) out of the box
2. They last forever - or at least until crushed against the shoulder while looking for your fingers (warn them/train them with this in mind, BTW)
3. They are dead-easy to blow
All of these make them really good for beginners. Tell them they'll sound like Francois Leleux next month, and for the time being they should just honk away on one of these plastic jobs and build up their technique, confidence and enjoyment (kids actually enjoy making a dreadful noise).
P.S. - warn the parents in advance about the dreadful din their budding genius is going to be making, probably for several months. Placate them with recordings of Gordon Hunt.
http://www.musiclink.co.uk/oboist/albinoni.mp3
J.
Post Edited (2008-11-09 08:05)
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Author: vboboe
Date: 2008-11-09 15:25
... i second the idea of a very easy reed to start on, although that doesn't necessarily have to be plastic since learning to pre-wet oboe reeds is an important little ritual for oboe students to learn early, along with the ritual of careful assembly / disassembly & swobbing their instrument
are their reeds actually soft enough for them? and/or wetted up enough first?
can they freely squawk the reed OK before attaching oboe? Or is getting anything out of the reed by itself a challenge?
have you played their oboes to determine resistance in the instruments?
if their oboes are hard to blow for you, that's horribly discouraging to kids, and discouragement is an emotionally loaded deterrant to youthful progress
if they don't get results soon, they won't want to keep coming back for more of the same and will plead with their parents to quit lessons ...
If the reeds and oboes are OK, then maybe teacher could become deviously artful?
picking up on the possibility they're nervous or shy and/or uncomfortably unfamiliar with everything, how about a less formal approach, adopt a more casual approach, more organic, cut down to kid-size?
10 & 13 are still kids, even if they want to seem grown-up already, so silly funny nonsense can still appeal to them
why not try a funny or silly kid's song as a warmup to squawk their reed in rhythm, teacher maybe conducting with a toy magic wand or something just as funky, goal to get them giggling and laughing, then help them identify their laughing muscles to blow the oboe ... with a silly and funny duck song?
After that, maybe cue any future weak blowing attempts with your toy magic wand ... 'i'm gonna tickle your ribs ... laugh ... use your Ha-ha muscles"
just letting them waggle their fingers any way they like over the tone-holes with resulting squeaks and weird sounds, while their embouchures are in the beginner's stage and can't blow very long, makes it easier for them to get something out, rather than nothing while trying too seriously hard to get an authentic note as written on the staff
This associates happy feelings with getting results = important connection
... be creative, goal in mind, encourage more laughter until they are comfortably relaxed with you each lesson and until they can really honk their horns with confidence, then you can move on to the real substance of oboe lessons
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Author: D
Date: 2008-11-10 15:48
A useful image for me is a reminder to push the air all the way out through the bottom of the instrument to hit something about a foot away from it. It makes me build a faster airstream and that seems to ease everything up. I got the feeling of everything backing up in my mouth a lot when I started out.
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Author: claire70
Date: 2008-11-14 15:23
Thanks for all the thoughts. Here's a progress report:
Kid 1 (the 10 year old) made a *lot* of progress with a week's practice, and has more or less got the hang of it now. There are still issues of course, but I'm confident he's on the right track now.
Kid 2 (the 13 year old) - still *really* struggling. I scraped her reeds down massively today (not having a plastic one to hand!), and suggested several of the things that you've suggested above. Still not much better. She basically seems incredibly tense, and is blowing much too hard - so the note either gets strangled, or comes out at a higher octave. (She can squeak the reed with no problem, though.) I kept telling her to relax, and she very occasionally managed it for about a second, but then the tension usually came right back again! Any helpful hints?
She also has a big problem with tonguing - she just doesn't seem to be able to move her tongue back and forth! So even if I manage to get her to do a reasonably long note for, say, 3 seconds, as soon as I try to get her to repeat it with tonguing either nothing happens (ie. it stays as one long note), or the tension comes back and the notes get strangled again.
I'm wondering if blowing into water through a straw, or something along those lines, might help, or whether it could just end up confusing her...
Post Edited (2008-11-14 15:24)
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Author: D
Date: 2008-11-14 16:08
In order to explain tonguing to this one, how about making her do so on a recorder. No problem with getting a note out, just looking at the tongue. It's a way to separate two separate issues. I wouldn't worry about confusing her. She probably will appreciate the effort you go to to find different ways of explaining things. If you have any other wind instruments easily to hand get her to try blowing all of them too. Sounds mad, but it might free up a mental block in her head and help her to start understanding how to relate what you are saying to how her body feels when she blows. Flute, good example of volume of air and how air speed might change. Clarinet, pressure but more air than the oboe. Sax less pressure again and more air. Recorder, air has to be very focused due to the lack of resistance or the sound is all over the place. etc. Get her away from the oboe for even just one lesson to concentrate on breathing out and understanding different ways of doing so.
Lets face it, at this stage it couldn't possibly hurt. Just be really sure to explain you are not trying to suggest she shouldn't play the oboe. If she wants to play it then she shall. Of course she might take to something else like a duck to water!
Something else. While she continues to struggle with basic sound production, don't forget to keep her moving on other music knowledge. If she can clap or sing the rhythm/second line in a duet now then when she can actually play a few notes she will gain speed and confidence so much faster.
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Author: ceri
Date: 2008-11-14 16:27
I'm not sure that playing a recorder would help that much. I could tongue on a recorder and a flute but it took me quite a while to be able to tongue satisfactorily on the oboe. Two things helped: one was to blow out air at a high speed as if I was playing the oboe and tongue without the instrument, the other was to experiment with where exactly on the reed I was putting the tongue.
My daughter took over six months to learn to tongue on the trombone. Her teacher and I tried all sorts of things (including straws) and one day it just "clicked."
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