 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: GoodWinds ★2017
Date: 2012-09-10 03:30
Hey, some of yous out there (like me) have managed to keep playing the oboe despite periods of serious and lasting illness...
I'm wanting to start a POSITIVE thread as to how playing has helped you heal (or cope), and
Also, how you get around to practicing (the instrument) positively on the days when you feel like #%! -- tricks to overcome finger pain, breathing fatigue, you know, pointers from the Experts.
I love playing but when I'm feeling bad I find myself opting to 'just work on reeds' instead. Tsk tsk tsk. (the UP side to that is that my reeds sound very nice)
NO NEED to share your medical story, symptoms, diagnoses or treatment: just Oboe Therapy, if you please. My e-ears are open!!
GoodWinds
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-09-10 13:55
To be honest, the last thing I ever want to do when I'm feeling rough is play oboe. I know it'll only make an already bad headache even worse and while I do have relatively low blood pressure, I know it'll raise it considerably when I get annoyed with the reeds and the fingerings in the altissimo register.
So I'd play sax instead - far more relaxing!
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: KJC
Date: 2012-09-10 19:11
I think that playing the oboe really helps your breathing and lung capacity. Sometimes after playing I just feel really good like I do after I finish a long jog. I think it is also a great emotional release to play especially when you are playing something really expressive and beautiful. It can give you a unique sense of completeness and satisfaction. I recently picked up the oboe again after not playing at all for 15 years. I still have the callus on my inner right thumb, which I thought was kind of funny, so I don't have any pain there holding the instrument. I guess if you start playing when you are 10 years old you just have a permanent callus.
kjc
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Author: Trond.Bjarne
Date: 2012-09-10 19:25
I find that playing oboe is very exciting, gives me a feeling of completeness and satisfaction. The things I have learned about problemsolving on the oboe I have put into use on other fronts in my life. I do not think so much anymore about my illness because the oboe takes up so much of my time.
It certainly helped me alot to start playing oboe.
Playing oboe gives me strength and inspiration to do better in all aspects of life. To give it all.
Trond-Bjarne Klungseth Johnsen
Norway
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2012-09-10 22:25
Definitely agree with KJC here. I can be feeling really dull and unfocused and almost ill, and then I go play for a couple of hours, and I am miraculously (or not!) healed. Probably something to do with the oxygen, and using the abdominal muscles. And losing myself in a pursuit where time simply ceases to exist.
I have one of those permanent calluses, too. Got it starting at age 13, with the clarinet. And the interesting thing is, I took, oh, forty-odd years off between the end of high school and 2002, and the callus never went away. I think it has become bone.
Susan
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Author: Oboelips
Date: 2012-09-11 17:43
The oboe allows me, a severe asthmatic to amaze my pulmonologist. Therapy taken daily for about an hour. When I'm ill with sinus or pneumonia, I miss a day or two, but soon hop back on--the oboe brings me back to the world of the living. (besides, I have oboe playing obligations to maintain!)
Deb G.
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Author: GoodWinds ★2017
Date: 2012-09-12 21:58
Playing oboe is especially good for asthmatics because it trains one to exhale with control. I would advise against playing during an acute attack, however... better just to take your rescue inhaler or drink a couple of strong cups of coffee.
mary, RN
GoodWinds
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Author: WoodwindOz
Date: 2012-09-12 23:15
Mary, it is interesting you mention this. After my post on breathing the other day, and having others comment that playing actually was their breathing therapy, I have started to really think about what playing means to me.
I have realised (and boy, do I feel less than intelligent for not realising this sooner) that my asthma is as mild as it is because I play wind instruments. I always think my asthma is playing up when I have a break and then struggle with phrases afterwards, but in reality, it's the break that has worsened the symptoms, not the asthma itself. It's always worse towards the end of summer, and I don't think it's just allergies!
Mentally, though, oboe is not a cure-all if I am down, more a source of frustration! Flute, on the other hand, is relaxing for me as I am at a much higher level of playing ability, and to chill I play stuff that I like and is not too challenging. I love playing Gershwin and jazz, or some good French romantics if I am out of sorts. Music is definitely good for the soul!
Wine helps, too! :P
Rachel
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Author: GoodWinds ★2017
Date: 2012-09-13 01:42
Rachel, sometimes playing simply HURTS. I still try, though, but not to the point of bashing my head against a wall.
That's why I'm so low on the 'professional' scale.
I was diagnosed with asthma at the age of 40 and I KNOW that playing oboe got me past that because I hardly ever trigger at all anymore (won't tell you how old I am now...)
mary
GoodWinds
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Author: GoodWinds ★2017
Date: 2012-09-13 18:46
yes, Cooper, for grief there's nothing like playing the oboe.
May Pepper rest in peace.
GoodWinds
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Author: johnt
Date: 2012-09-14 17:21
Cooper,
My heartfelt condolences on the loss of your hamster. A part of you has left. Just keep grieving; it is the healthiest thing you can do…both for yourself & Namju. Take solace in the embrace of your family, including Martin, David & Vendla. Then get another hamster & all will be well.
Best always,
john
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Author: GoodWinds ★2017
Date: 2012-09-17 06:40
No hamster can actually Replace Pepper, of course...
GoodWinds
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