Author: oboi
Date: 2016-08-03 12:50
It will take you a number of months to handle the back pressure of playing oboe. Initially, I easily got dizzy spells. Adjusting to harder and harder reeds is a gradual process. Can you buy a bunch of reeds and have your teacher adjust them for you before you leave? And hopefully you get to see her again (or send you some "harder" ones) when you think you've outgrown/exhausted them? Mind you, if the climate and elevation are significantly different, the reeds might feel totally different anyway.
While within a few months you could learn how to scrape so that you won't rip out the tip, I'm not sure if that's enough time to really know how to do tip and blend work, nor know about the myriad of other factors that can make a reed feel hard. I don't play short scrape, however, and they seem less "complicated" than North American reeds. I think short scrape is significantly harder than long scrape reeds, though, so I have no idea if that's just the nature of that style. If they're of good quality, though, it is difficult to imagine beginner reeds (that is, mass-produced student reeds) to be that difficult to blow through. Maybe there is another manufacturer with reeds more to your liking.
You can certainly still get better at this stage without a teacher, and you're probably well on your way, having already had lessons. You just have to sort out why the soft reeds are problematic for you. Playing for a minute probably will get you dizzy, but it's rather odd to get that after 1 bar. Does your teacher think it's normal? That is, is it you or your reed setup? Does she think at your level you should be able to play those reeds unadjusted? Does she think all of them need significant adjustment before playing (which is sorta bad if they are sold as finished reeds)? One of the most frustrating parts of oboe playing at the early stage is knowing whether a problem is due to yourself or the reed. But if you teacher has vetted the reeds you are playing on now, then most likely you just have to work on your endurance.
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