Author: oboi
Date: 2013-04-27 10:33
I learned oboe at age 25 by just renting a student-level oboe, getting a beginner's method book and just hammering it out in my room. I did it for a few months, then bought my own intermediate-level oboe. Immediately after, I joined an amateur orchestra. The first few months of that was tough, but it became easier and easier. Before the end of the concert year, I had my first lesson, where I was told I was already past the beginner stage. I never looked back and a few years later, I am very advanced. The reason why I think I advanced that quickly was my background in playing flute in school, my lifelong piano studies and extreme interest.
I did have the "why do I sound so bad" phase and that probably only dissipated after about 3 years because I always compared my level to what I could do on the piano. I never found it hard to play... the playing of the actual properly-ready instrument. The main problem I have are reeds. As soon as I started making them, they were my main source of frustration. That I still struggle with, as that often prevents me from playing like I know how to play. I suspect it will take me a little while to be totally comfortable making a reed and not running to me teacher all the time asking, "why doesn't this work?!?!"
I have a good friend who took up oboe in her 40s. She started in group lessons and has been playing for decades and still has semi-consistent lessons with the principal oboist of the local symphony. She is mostly dependent on reeds being given to her, although she knows how to adjust and make them.
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The Oboe BBoard
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