hi everyone, i`m new to this board...any way, i began playing oboe 7 months ago, and i want to practice over the summer. does anyone have any tips or excerises for better tone quality or intonation? i`ve also been looking around for any web sites that gives some lessons...any info would be much appreciated, so feel free to mail me!

thanks!
~c

Hey Carly!7months!Wow !Tats quite a long periof of time...i`ve been playing mine for 6 months...can i add u 2 my contacts?hope so...well...about breathing exercises...my senior told mi tat u hav to let out all e air in u...then take a deep breath...then u blow...its got sumthing to do wif blowing easily n having fresh air...

brandBDoboe is my AIM so if you want to talk, just go ahead and IM me (labdr18 is my yahoo, and brandon@neb.rr.com, is my msn)

First thing, seriously look into a private teacher, it will help you out in the long run.

Ok most serious troubles on the oboe begin, not with a bad reed, but with a faulty sound production technique. Every link in the oboe playing chain will weaken or even break if breathing and support are not firmly established and smoothly executed.

Posture is very important, make sure you are always sitting upright on your chair, but standing will be the best way to learn. By sitting you can "cheat" with your breathing.

To make this shorter i am getting all of this information from this website www.public.asu.edu/~schuring/Oboe/air.html

if it doesn`t work just email me....

i began playing about a year ago and one thing that you can do is pick a note and play that note over and over until it is always the same pich do this with all of the notes this helps a lot

Hey.. I started god knows how ling ago..about 3-4 years ago I think and I have kinda moved on to the Bassoon...and that instrument is about 10 times more hard to controll the intonation with. I find that keeping your stomach really firm with lots of pressure from the diafragm (?spelling?) not only helps the tome greatly, but also keeps your tummy flat which is always good.
Also a good exercise is to stalr on low c and hold it for like 3-5 seconds (it`s longer than it seems) them move to g and then go to the top c.. then back down... (this is holding each note ) then repeat but with d,a,d,a,d then e,b,e,b,e and so on and try to keep every note as stable as possible when you hold it.

wow.. I wrote a small book

I dont` know about keeping your "tummy" flat, because the idea of breathing is to expand your ribs and the rest of your body.
So in theory your stomach should come out also to make room for more air...

brandon

hey......well....... the site http://test.woodwind.org/oboe/BBoard/list.html?f=10
has a whole lot of different topics and you can ask a lot of things... www.wfg.woodwind.org/BBoard/index.html works too!!!
hope you get what you need!

corinne

also....i like talkin to people about the oboe.....kinda strange maybe....i dunno....
AIM: myoboerules
YAHOO!: oboechick2000
MSN: boovp1@hotmail.com

hope to hear from you

>corinne<

First of all: CONGRATULATIONS! You have joined the club of oboists, and there is no such thing as a better instrument than the oboe.. I`m from Norway, and there aren`t that many of us here.. My advice is to just practice every day, and your reward will come to you when you can hear how much you have improved since last month! That`s where all the fun is!
Good luck and keep up the good work!

hello to all Oboe players out there, ive been playing for 8 yrs now, i absolutly have fallen in love with it!....it can be rough sometimes but keep playing youll eventually realize what a great instrument it is. If your looking for tips on playing oboe, Im sure i could help, just drop me an email MuseqPhreq252@yahoo.com or if youve got AIM my sn is ToxicAngel4039 so either of thoes, id be more than happy to try and help, just let me know what you want help with.!!!! OBOE ROCKS!

~Chrystie~

I started playing the oboe 5-6 years ago. I started out with getting a oboe teacher. Then after that I started reeds. I would work on technique at these beginning stages. THE BARRET METHOD BOOK by Boosey and Hawkes is THE book ALL oboists swear too, to learn technicality and musicality. The exercises might also improve your tone. When you breath you want to push out with your stomach while keeping a constant flow of air(takes practice) feel like you are fat! I hope this helps. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me at shoko2@hotmail.com. Peace

CHRIS

It helps if you practise playing a C on just the reed before
you pick up your oboe. The idea is that playing on just
your reed exaggerates whatever problems you might have on the
oboe. If you can play the reed semi-nicely, and in tune, you
will sound much better on your oboe.

hey everyone,

its Chrystie again...i put up a message a few weeks ago and thought i would update my AIM SN so people can still talk to me, which i really enjoy by the way...so i have a new sn its Chrystie4067 thts for AIM and my email has changed too its not Chrystie4067@yahoo.com so you can always email or talk ot me on IM, id be more than happy to help with anything oboe related or if u just wanna chat, im up for that too...peace!

Chrystie

You should always soak your reed, from three to even five minutes, depending on how hard or soft it is. If you have a little film canister lying around, put it in your case to soak your reed in, but don`t keep water in it all the time, because this isn`t very good for your oboe if it`s a wooden one. Also, if you`re afraid of the reed smashing against the bottom of the canister, get a bobby pin and put it on the slide. This holds it in place.
I agree with you, blowing the reed before you start to play to get a C is a good idea. If you can get a C you are more likely to be in tune.
I play standing up, except for when I`m at band. My teacher says that if you get dizzy whilst standing it`s because you aren`t exhaling enough. As you progress you should try and exhale, keep playing, then inhale. This is a bit difficult so I would only do this if you were really confidant with your breathing. And when you exhale, you should practise doing it so it`s soft and not just like !phlew! a big yucky sound. I know there might not be much time to in your music but as you go on it really helps.
I hope all of this info helps you! And good luck! You chose a great instrument to learn!

i`ve been playing foir about a month and wow! it is so hard n e 1 have any tips on playing it so i can get better be for concert season???