Author: Dutchy
Date: 2007-07-12 02:19
Quote:
He's sounding better but definately not the quality he was on the clarinet. I have faith in this kid, he just needs time.
Um, yeah, he needs a lot more time than I think you realize. 
The oboe is legendary for being the most difficult woodwind instrument to learn, and deservedly so. The embouchure is fiendish for any but the most obsessed. Don't expect him to sound anywhere near "decent" for at least 6 months.
And--don't expect him to sound as good on the oboe as he does on the clarinet for at least two years. Yes, that's two (2) years.
Every September, millions of fifth graders take up the clarinet, and by the following May, they are competent enough to be playing snappy little Beginning Band arrangements of the Star Wars Theme with the other fifth graders.
Every September, a few (a very few) fifth graders take up the oboe, and by the following May, they are still trying to get something besides a miserable squawk out of it. And their oboe part for the Star Wars Theme sounds like nothing on this earth. Sometimes the band director puts them in the back row with the tubas, they sound so bad.
So every May, the clarinets have a good time at the end-of-the-year concert, and every May the oboes sit there in humiliation and silently promise themselves that next year, it'll be better.
So be very, very patient with your son. He's going to sound not-very-good for a long, long time, and he himself is inevitably going to be comparing his prowess on the clarinet with his blatant lack of prowess on the oboe; he doesn't need you reinforcing that.
Also, be in touch with what the band director may be telling him, about how to play the oboe. Most band directors, as mentioned above, have little to no experience with the oboe, and sometimes tell their budding oboists the most amazingly gonzo things about tone and technique and whatnot. So be alert for sudden changes and oddities that can be traced back to the band teacher, and don't assume, "Well, he's got a music degree, he must know what he's talking about, I guess we'll do it like he says." Because historically speaking, chances are good that he doesn't know what he's talking about, and he's telling your son the wrong thing. Come in here and run it past us.
One of the things that band teachers seem to have trouble with is the fact that an oboe reed needs 2 to 3 minutes of soaking time before it's playable; we have stories to tell about kids whose band teachers expected them to walk into class and sit right down and start playing, on what amounted to a dry reed. The oboe isn't like a clarinet, where you can just wet it in your mouth and then play. It needs serious soaking time, or else it won't even sound.
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