 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: GAWN
Date: 2011-08-05 10:51
Dear friends,
the oboe seems to be an instrument that demands a very high degree of commitment and time for daily practice and reed making. So much that you almost need to be a full time professional player and devote you whole day to it.
But what if you can't?
Having played various recorders during my childhood and a trombone in the schoolband I did have some basic musical knowledge when I started to learn the Oboe two years ago. I'm in my thirties and definitely to old to become a professional, but I'm nevertheless very devoted to the instrument. I have to live on another job and I have a family so it's difficult to spend much more than 1-1.5 hrs per day with my oboe. Now I'm about to do a grade 6 exam, but I keep struggling to improve my embouchure and breathing.
Above all, I keep dreaming about achieving 'the Oboe sound' that I hear in others' music. But will this ever be possible for an amateur? I am not talking about virtuosity, speed and the ability to play complex pieces instantly in recording quality - all this can probably only be achieved by full time professionals - but the sheer ability to play a simple, lyrical piece with a pleasurable, soft and smooth sound that a listener would enjoy instead of running away from it...
I'd love to be able to play some chamber music together with other amateurs some day, even risking an occasional public performance, but I'm a bit afraid of imposing my still quite piercing sound on others yet...
Are there any other amateurs around here? What are your experiences? Or are 'amateur' and 'Oboe' two things that simply don't go together?
Cheers,
Georg
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Author: mjfoboe
Date: 2011-08-05 13:29
Georg,
You need to have a realistic time span. Yes, it is possible to be an amateur and play well:
First you need a very good teacher.
Second you need to commit to the long term - 10+ years.
Third - you need to be a craftsman and fool about with oboe reeds.
Fourth - you need to find a beginners ensemble to get your feet wet.
Fifth - you need to plan to buy better and better oboes are you improve.
You already have a musical background that is a plus.
The Art of Oboe playing never stops - It is always work in progress.
I begin player again about 23 years ago (I played very briefly in high school and college) - I am still improving ............
My first oboe solo as a second oboe player was on a broken down rental was two notes - so - do - and I was a nervous wreck!
Now I solo - long lyrical and technically demanding passages - with the appropriate amount of tension!!! and much joy!
I am a good reed maker,
I have a beautiful tone, and I own a very good professional instrument,
I play in two community orchestras,
I am the principal oboist in both,
I play some chamber music, ...........
I am the president of the board in one of the orchestras.
"yet I still have plenty of weaknesses".
(I just began solfege and conducting lessons to improve my playing further!)
If you are in for the long haul - then go for it - you have much to enjoy.
Good Luck
Mark
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Author: Old Oboe
Date: 2011-08-05 13:32
Georg,
As an amateur I too struggle with these questions. What I have started to realize is that there are many amateurs out there on all kinds of instruments who are not satisfied with their sound or their technique but who keep on doing it because they love the experience. My best advice is to not postpone playing with a group. There must be some groups around that consist of others facing similar issues. Assuming that you are working with a teacher who can advise you on reeds, embouchure and breath support, you should develop your own signature sound at some point. While most of us are never really satisfied, the key is learning to enjoy playing at the level you are at now and realizing that the act of playing will make you even better! I'm fortunate to live where there are many community bands of varying skill levels. Sometimes part of the band stays in 4 while the conductor and a few others go into 2. We can crawl under our chairs or just accept it and try again next time. Time in and self acceptance really help!
Linda
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Author: GAWN
Date: 2011-08-05 14:17
Dear Mark, dear Linda,
Thanks alot for your encouraging comments. Well, yes... I don't mind spending many more years practicing. I love the instrument, love playing it and I feel it does me good - it's a love relationship between me and 'her'. By the way, 'she' is a conservatoire system Howarth S5 from the mid 1990s and I got her from Howarth's in London directly. Before she has been played and loved by a lady in New Zealand who apparently took good care of her.
So for now, the instrument shouldn't be the problem.
The teacher - I started of with a very good teacher, but unfortunately my job took us to another town after a year and I got a new teacher there who's also very nice even though sometimes I could use a bit more feedback and advice on how to improve and what to pay attention to...
The reeds... that's definitely the most problematic part. At the beginning my teacher made them for me (and they were fantastic) but at the moment I have to buy reeds. I have tried a dozen different brands until I found a reed that I am somehow getting along with... I hope to attend a workshop on reed making as soon as possible in order to be at least able to fix/finetune bought reeds but for now I'm a bit helpless with this.
Finding a beginners ensemble will certainly be the next step...
I'd love to hear more about the experiences of all the amateurs out there... that's very encouraging!
Cheers,
Georg
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Author: Oboelips
Date: 2011-08-05 15:41
I too, am an amateur. I play for the love of playing. I began oboe at 30, (I was already a 'really good' flutist, but my dream had always been the oboe.) I was lucky. I got a great beginning teacher, and several years later, I signed up with an incredible teacher who had studied with H. Gomberg. He taught me that the important thing is to learn how to teach yourself. Every single time that you sit down behind your oboe, you can learn something!
I'm principal for my community orchestra, which is a busy one. I do pit orchestras (doubling or not) I have a successful Wind Quintet, and am in the ensemble-forming stages (we should soon have our first gig) with a Doublereed Ensemble. My husband (a bassoonist) and I initiated the formation of both chamber groups. Don't be afraid to start your own. Nearly everyone wants to be asked to be in an ensemble--so find the proper instrumentation and start asking! It doesn't hurt if one of your members (or more) is a music educator, but it's not required. There are many free pieces out there in the Petrucci Music Library and other places online. Playing more will only make you better.
And..you may surprise yourself down the road. About 10 years ago when my quintet first got together, it was to explore the repertoire, build ensemble for the orchestral section and learn how to count better. Now, we have regular gigs, (weddings, garden parties, luncheons, business parties, Christmas). We didn't expect to have all this business, but ?
So, keep at it--play every chance you get!
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Author: A.U.K
Date: 2011-08-05 16:52
Stamina, breathing and embouchure all take time and usually longer than you expect, I still struggle with stamina but it gets easier..keep at it day by day and little and often and it will come along with your tone which will develop, but all in good time..
I don't think that a timescale of 10 years to really get things going is anything other than sensible and realistic..The Oboe isn't as impossible as non players think but it does have its foibles and quirks and the difficulties come from the outset so you face a lot of challeges straight off..dont get downcast, go back over old territory and music and you will see how you have improved even after a short while..
You will have good and bad days, plateaus and stumbles but its all a learning process..one writer above posted about learning to teach themselves under the guidance of their teacher which makes good solid sense..make every practice count and get the best reeds you can afford..
Keep at it, it will come..
Andrew
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Author: HautboisJJ
Date: 2011-08-05 17:45
I was told it was impossible to earn a living from music in Malaysia when i was 17. i started the oboe then out of curiosity while i was still very much in love with the clarinet then, all without a teacher of course, coming from a town in the far east island of Borneo (yes, i live only 1 hour away from the original "survivor island"). Upon graduating from high school, i was determined and for a few weeks went for private lessons with a really amazing Dutch oboe player working in this region (capital of malaysia - kuala lumpur, a whopping 2 and a half hours flight from Borneo), and subsequently failed all the auditions that i took for potential music schools. Went into a local college at 19 with a music department and after 2 years won a scholarship to a good conservatory in Singapore. I have since graduated, am 24, and have a full time principal orchestral position in my country. Yes, i am no amateur in oboe playing but an amateur in everything else in life. You, Georg, is an amateur in oboe playing but a professional capable of providing your family and thus bringing endless possibilities to the lives of your loved ones. So, you want to make music on the oboe? Pffpt, piece of cake if you ask me!
Howard
Post Edited (2011-08-05 17:49)
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Author: Dutchy
Date: 2011-08-06 22:16
I'm a fifty-something amateur, I've been playing for a little over 6 years, and yeah, there's a big plateau at about 2 years. You've mastered the basics, you've stopped the desperate dying-duck squawking, and now you're ready to start working on refinement of tone.
Ten years to mastery sounds about right, yes.
Stick with it, it'll come, with time.
Second what everybody said about finding other people to play with. It's a world of difference from playing along with CDs, or by yourself. Needing to match a pitch with others in real-time, and being uncomfortably aware of how you're sounding to them, will do wonders both for your motivation at sticking with practice, and also with simply mastering the skills required.
Note that your oboe will inevitably sound different to you because of the way that sound waves are transmitted through bone; listeners are hearing a slightly different sound. You may not be as horribly squeaky as you think; what does your teacher say? I found that a big hurdle to get over at first was the way that my oboe did NOT sound to me the way oboes do on recordings; I was put off by the way I was hearing "clarinet upper register" tones instead of sweet reedy "oboe" tones. But I recorded myself, and what was coming out of the oboe was definitely "oboe". Recording yourself is always instructive.
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Author: GAWN
Date: 2011-08-07 13:20
Dear all,
thank you so much for your posts - that's very encouraging! Yes, I'll definitely join an ensemble or try and found one. The combination of my dreams would be a mix of winds and strings: oboe, flute, violin/viola, cello and harp ... could play anything from baroque dances to celtic airs and the occasional world music experiment or so... but that's just phantasies yet.
Anyway, I'll work on that.
@ Howard: Having received a PhD in Southeast Asian Studies as well as traveled and researched a lot in Southeast Asia (though mostly on the mainland with occasional short sojourns in Singapore) I know how beatiful your area of the world is, but I can also imagine really well how difficult it must be to make a living as a (western) classical musician over there! I admire your commitment and dedication to still pursue this path against all odds.
Also I have to thank you for your great video recording of Bartok's 3 Folksongs from Csik ... it's one of my 6th grade exam pieces and listening to you playing it again and again has really been helpful to get me 'there'... it's a pity that I can no longer find the video on youtube...
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Author: HautboisJJ
Date: 2011-08-07 14:08
Hello GAWN, thank you for your kind words. I will make the video available again for you right away! http://youtu.be/pgN6zu0J65g
Now, a phd in southeast asian studies? Ha! THAT's what i call against all odds! Although, yes, i myself had to do an introductory course to south east asian studies when i was studying in the national university of Singapore. It's very interesting to know that you were once here in this region before. Indeed it is not easy to earn a living by something that one could say is, slightly irrelevant to society in Asia. But there is indeed a niche market and at the end of the day all depends on the amount of work that one is willing to put in...and the sacrifices one is willing to make. Who knows what will happen in the future but we all try!
Regards,
Howard
p.s. like what you said about "the sheer ability to play a simple, lyrical piece with a pleasurable, soft and smooth sound that a listener would enjoy instead of running away from it...", that itself is enough to bring you on absolutely the right track. at the end it all boils down to careful study and 1.5 hours a day is not so bad, really. All the best!
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Author: GoodWinds ★2017
Date: 2011-08-07 20:44
dear FRIENDS!!
what a lovely way to start a thread!
yes, you are surrounded by accomplished, competent players who have 'other lives' earning their living in other dimensions than music...
I have played since Middle School and could probably have pursued a career in music... if I practiced enough. But I went another route (nursing, teaching, overseas work) and NEVER regretted being 'only' an amateur.
I DON'T practice as much as I 'should';
I make great reeds but not as consistently as I'd like;
I have a beautiful sound but usually have to 'work' a bit to produce it (due to lack of practicing, I'm sure);
I had a GREAT teacher but wished I'd studied with him longer (tragic, sudden death cut things short).
I REALLY like playing in ensemble, I'll play principal by default but enjoy supporting a player who is better than myself.
I play in community theater groups, community symphonies, and the occasionally 'sub' job for a true professional.
I have and can teach beginners to get them on the right foot, but I'll hand them off to more seasoned oboists as soon as I'm out of my league.
I LOVE to mentor/coach in the youth symphony world.
YES< you CAN be an amateur and an accomplished, appreciated player.
GoodWinds
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2011-08-07 23:21
When I decided to take up oboe again after around a ten year hiatus, I concentrated on establishing a good tone first and technique came second.
So the best thing is to have a firm idea of what good oboe tone and playing is which you can only do by listening to top pros and soloists and then try as best as you can to recreate that amalgam of very different but equally good sounds and playing styles you now have in your head.
You will get there, plus age and maturity will be in your favour as you'll now have a well developed sense of what a good sound is.
While I'd give anything to be able to make as similar a sound as Heinz Holliger, I know not many around me will tend to appreciate it - so I've opted to go for the thicker, darker sound to blend in with other local players. But then I might just go for it and make the sound that I like when it suits me!
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: plclemo
Date: 2011-08-09 00:41
I am DEFINITELY an amateur! I've been playing less than 3 years and I only play with our church orchestra. But I do have 40+ years of experience on the clarinet. SO that might possibly have given me an edge when I took up the oboe.
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