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Re: Beginner reed

Author: Dutchy
Date: 2007-07-14 04:01

Yeah, that's kind of what I was talking about, with band directors. A kid who has had only 3 weeks of clarinet will be up to speed to play seven little band pieces, but band directors don't always "get" that a kid who has had only 3 weeks of oboe won't.

Tell your son the same thing all community band directors tell their adult amateurs: "Just play the notes you can."

ETA: The oboe part in those little band pieces is rarely of any importance--the composers of those are well aware that they're writing for children, so there's lots of doubling of parts. So your son shouldn't worry that if he refrains from playing, he'll ruin the artistic performance by not coming in when he's supposed to. He won't. Actually, he can just sit there and not play, period, without affecting the performance. Find a tactful way to tell him he's not necessary, won't you? [grin]

And if this particular band director has chosen a piece that includes an oboe solo, your son needs you to go to bat for him and tell the director, in words of one syllable, that he just cannot physically play that solo yet; he shouldn't have to experience the humiliation of providing either "dead air" or, worse, an assortment of unmusical squawks, during the few bars of his solo. The director can perfectly well assign the solo to someone else, like a saxophone.

Post Edited (2007-07-14 04:07)

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carrielj

2007-07-10 10:08