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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