 The Fingering Forum
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Author: andrew
Date: 2001-06-15 06:54
i have only just taken up the oboe after 6 years of the flute, i really dont know much so any good playing tips would be appreciated or good oboe web sites. also i would appreciate help with the reed, what i need to do with it (how do i moisten it) and how hard is it to play?
thank you for any help you can give.
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Author: D. Pegel
Date: 2001-06-18 02:57
I don't play oboe myself but after a few years of experementing with playing flute, all clarinets, AND saxophone I can throw in one peice of advice: Be prepared to get fingerings slightly confused, and embrochure problems to occasionaly rise. Want more advice? Be patient, esp. with the oboe.
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Author: Aaron
Date: 2001-06-19 23:46
Hey Andrew. Best of luck in learning to master the oboe. I myself love the instrument and find it most rewarding. Let me see if I can answer some of your requests.
First, is the oboe hard to play? Yes. Is it worth the trouble? Very much. The questions that come to my mind are 1) what kind of oboe will you be playing on? and 2) what kind of reeds are you using? Of the two, the question of reeds is the more pressing. A "good" store-bought reed might be sufficient to at least get some notes out on, but I think you will quickly discover that they have serious limitations. I would therefore recommend you find an oboist who makes his/her own and arrange to buy them from him/her, and then later trying to make some for yourself.
Ok that's the bad news. Everything else is good. I find a convenient way to wet my reeds is to get a used little 35mm film canister and just fill it halfway with water to soak the reeds in. It's small and watertight. A new reed or one that hasn't been played in a while should be soaked longer (like 3-5 minutes or so) than one which you used say yesterday. Just so long as the cane is moist so to allow free vibration and prevent cracking.
Another piece of good news is that there is a ton of good literature out there for oboe and good books on how to play it. Probably the best method book is called "Practical and Progressive Oboe Method" by a guy named Andraud. There are also books by oboist Jay Light such as "Essays for Oboists" which are both amusing and informative to read. One very good website is: www.public.asu.edu/~schuring/Oboe/oboeinfo.html. I highly recommend reading all the way through that one.
I don't think I could put down any specific playing tips that wouldn't be covered (and better explained) in the books/sites I mentioned above, but one thing I would also stress would be actively listening to other oboists to get a sense of what this instrument is capable of. If you've been playing flute for 6 years, I would assume you have recordings of major symphony orchestras. So pull them out and listen. Here in the States we have the so-called "Philadelphia School of Oboe Playing" --basically the style of playing brought over from France by Marcel Tabuteau and passed down to his pupils. Excellent examples can be found in recordings by the Philadelphia Orchestra (with either Marcel Tabuteau himself or John de Lancie on oboe), the New York Philharmonic (with oboist Joe Robinson), and the Cleveland Orchestra (with oboist John Mack). Other good ones would be the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and others.
Anyway good luck!
Aaron
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Author: Saxy Boy 2
Date: 2001-06-26 03:28
I mostly play bassoon but recently switched to oboe. it does have a warm nasal tone, when you can play it right. i suggest you dont buy a store bought reed, but find a private reed maker, or learn to make your own to suite your needs. yes, oboe is a hard instrument but practice makes perfect. I dont know any oboe web sites for you. sorry!:(: soak a new reed 3-5 min before you play and a used one 2-3. keep a firm tight embochure. try to keep equal pressure on all sides of the reed to keep it vibrating. almost whistle. keep your throat open, sit up straight and breath using your diaphram.
oboes tend to be out of tune so invest in a good chromatic tuner. tune high and low notes. dont practice to long only 15-20 so your cheeks dont hurt and your lip doesnt start to feel like the reed itself! mark your reed where it was when it was in tune. you can keep your reed in a 35mm photo case or a used pill case. fill it half way and make sure you get rid of the used water when done soaking. NEVER leave the reed in the water over night. when it dries it may start closing up on you. the fingerings are similar to the flute except the oboe only gets up to around high G3. thats as far as my fingering chart says. on the WFG it has alternate. dont worry about high notes at first because they hurt your bottom lip if you dont have the right embochure and... when your ears start ringing and the dogs are barking non-stop, quite playing!;)
Good Luck!
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Author: Aaron
Date: 2001-06-26 14:24
Hello again. Saxy Boy brought up something important that I forgot to mention. About tuning of the instrument... yeah for vitually all players the oboe tends to be out of tune in the beginning. So an electronic tuner might be a good investment. However if the oboe is wildly out of tune, and one is playing on a decently scraped reed in a decently made oboe, then lack of breath support or perhaps embourcure problems are the likely cause. Also, I would caution you about pulling the reed in or out to tune the instrument. That might be a reasonable solution at first, but I was always taught that one should veer away from that practice as soon as possible. Supposedly, putting the reed in the horn in any position other than fully inserted causes other problems with intonation, response, etc. that are more trouble in themselves than being a little sharp or flat in the first place. Anyway good luck.
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Author: nikki
Date: 2005-02-10 20:42
to moisten the reed you stick it in your mouth when you are putting the rest of the instrument together, you could also run it over a light stream of water
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