Hello,

My daughter is 10 andt started to learn the oboe. She's very fascinated by the instrument and quite determined to keep trying. However, my heart aches seeing her trying to get the sound, blowing so hard.

I pray it's a technique problem. I hope if she finally get the right embouchure and blowing technique, perhaps it's not so energy consuming. I'm so worried she'll damage her diagphram.

Can someone confirm for me that you actually have to blow so hard to get the sound? Also, when she blows into the oboe, We can hear the air filling the inside before the sound
comes. By then, that's half a breath gone.

I would have thought that her teacher would be able to give much better advice than anyone in this forum can. She does have a teacher? Most people struggle when they start any instrument. If it was easy then we would all be doing it. Regarding damaging her diaphram, again confirm with the expert but I would have thought she would have thrown the oboe out of the window long before that became an issue.

lol you can't damage your diaphragm by blowing too hard on the oboe. If anything she may get really light headed from forcing so hard.

Her reeds may be an issue, are they store bought? her oboe can be an issue as well.

does she have a private teacher? a child really needs one of these to progress to their fullest potential and her issue of blowing can probably be solved.

She's not alone; it, at first, does take a lot of time to get the embouchure correct. As mentioned above,

The oboe takes A LOT.... let me repeat.... A LOT of air to make a sound on, and A LOT more air to control. You're basically stuffing one full breath of air into an opening of about... 7/10 of a centimeter by 1/10th of centimeter. Yeah, that's a walk in the park.

My friends who play Tenor Sax, Trumpet, Baritone, and Flute tease me because they think there's nothing to it. That's because they're playing an on-staff C, and it's waaaaaaay out of tune (oboe players, you'll understand what I mean).

A new reed, or a reed strength too strong will be hard to play on. I recommend she soak her reed. (Only the wood part, for about a minute-ish). It'll soften it up, and it'll shape to her mouth a bit better. Let her play some on that reed, and then she candevelop her embouchure from there.

By the time she get the embouchure right, she'll have lungs of steel, I tell you. It gets better over time. Trust me, my mom was just as afraid as you are right now...

Thanks for the encouraging note. She just had her 3rd lesson with her oboe teacher. Her teacher has changed the reed to a softer one and voilà! She can do a scale now. The sound is still not very good but at least, there's sound.

She's making slow but good progress. I'm very proud of her for being so determine to learn the oboe although I don't understand why she chooses such a difficult instrument. It's the first tine she's doing a wind instrument. She plays the piano and the also the percussion in the school concert band.

I must have sounded too anxious. I'm not a musical person so perhaps my questions sound
a little too basic.

Anyway, THANKS!

You're welcome.

I also play percussion and piano with my school, and sometimes for my own personal time, and going from percussion to oboe was no easy fix for me.

Good luck to your daughter.

The oboe takes A LOT.... let me repeat.... A LOT of air to make a sound on, and A LOT more air to control. You're basically stuffing one full breath of air into an opening of about... 7/10 of a centimeter by 1/10th of centimeter. Yeah, that's a walk in the park.

I'd just like to clear up this misconception because it's actually the opposite. The oboe actually takes an extremely small amount of air to play due to it's small opening. Since this is the case, it becomes very easy to over-blow on the oboe.
Composers have also frequently taken advantage of this by writing many long unbroken phrases. Strauss and Schumann are two such composers.

I'd also just like to add that there are difficulties to EVERY instrument. Not just the oboe. Personally, I find the flute to be a MUCH more difficult instrument to play than the Oboe. But I guess I just have a better affinity for it. Really if your daughter keeps going with the drive she apparently has, she's going to get real good, real fast.

Anyways just my 2 cents but I'm truly glad that you're daughter has a teacher. The Oboe is a beautiful instrument and again, if she works hard she's going to be a pretty awesome! xD

^ Yes, they do do that, don't they?

Two times in a song I had to hold a low D for four measures in 3/4. And that was after a hoard of eighth notes. And I was on an American Reed. Ouch...

One problem is that her lungs and diaphragm might not be developed enough to play the oboe as it requires a lot of air to function

One problem is that her lungs and diaphragm might not be developed enough to play the oboe as it requires a lot of air to function

Again, the oboe takes very little amount of air to vibrate the reed.

And a simple search on youtube will show a very successful child flautist. I think her name is Emma? She's around 9 I think and playing extremely well. Again, I doubt her daughter will have any problems.

Hi OboeLoverForLife

Thanks for the feedback. My daughter is doing well so far. She's starting to play scale and short pieces. Her teacher is a professional oboeist and also teaches teens in the school band. We're quite happy with him. He charges about USD45 per hourly home session and USD23 for reed that he makes himself. Wonder if that's a reasonable rate. It's hard to find an oboe teacher here in Singapore.

Sounds like a pretty good price for the lesson but a little steep for reeds considering your child is a beginner...
Then again maybe your teacher sees potential and wants her to start on the best.

Lol it's all good. As a beginner in oboe, we probably faced A LOT of tough love. Anywhere from bad technique, horrible store made reeds, chapped lips and a bad oboe. She just has to keep working on it because the tough love will make her stronger,besides, all beginners face it.