Hmm... the way I've always been told is to basically "lock" into a proper embosure, making sure you keep your corners in with no pinching whatsoever. Practice like this for as long as your embosure holds up. As soon as you begin to pinch on the reed, stop for that sitting. It is recommended that you do not do this everyday as muscle tissue takes 24-48 hours to rebuild. The reason you give your embosure out is because you are actually tearing the muscle fibers, which have to take time to rebuild. Another thing to ensure for endurance in general it to work on keeping your stomach muscles tight to force fast air out. A good way to build up upper abdomen muscles is to do a process called the plank. It is basically like the position for a push up, but instead of resting on your hands, you will rest on your elbows. Hold this position for a long as possible. Do this process every other day because the tissue needs to rebuild, just like your lips. Doing this religiously over the course of a summer should have you doing good for next fall. And DO NOT over practice. Only practice as long as your embosure holds out. You do not want to get into the habit of pinching or ruining your emobsure. IDK where you are in your education, but if you plan to study at a university with an applied instructor, they will have a field day rebuilding any flaws in your embosure or other bad techniques. Trust me, I've learned two different methods, from two different oboe teachers in the last two years. Both at Mercer University with Maestro Adrian Gnam and at UNC- Charlotte with Dr. Susan Savage.

The paper is to guard the inner lip from the sharpness of your teeth. Your teeth will eventually cut into your lip even with the most relaxed embouchure over a long period of time. The paper prevents your teeth from cutting your lip.

It makes sure that you will only get exhausted from your lip being worn out vs your lip being SORE.

This is un-gummed cigarette paper:
http://www.rdgwoodwinds.com/product_info.php?products_id=465

Yamaha also sells it as "cleaning paper" if you don't feel comfortable buying cigarette or perm paper:
http://www.flute4u.com/store/cart.php?target=product&product_id=16532&category_id=264

There are GUMMED versions which have a sticky strip which only become sticky when wet. AVOID those.

Hi, A great way to do this, is too Pout the lower lip, So the bottom teeth are not in contact with the mouthpiece, try and hold it in this position for as long as you can, without blowing, after being able to do it after a week or so, with out your lip loosening or getting tired then start to add air, keep doing this daily for 10 minutes, and you will have a much stronger, powerful and more controlled embochure as well as much stronger lips.

Uhm, this is a very old thread but I've found that playing for 5 hours wasn't too bad. It's increase my lip strength quite a lot.

my teacher always said, 'relax more, relax more'

so does my teacher!

this is one of the reasons I'm glad for school to start again. I don't do as great in the summer with oboe, cuz i dont wake early to practice. The strength of my embochure kinda went down this summer.

thats good that 5 hours wasn't too bad. I've never played that long in a row.

I'm lucky because my director does not want us to play on performance days, except for a hourish rehearsal before school.

There was a small break in between, about 15 mins for something to eat, but it did wonders.

I usually practice all day in the summer.. I'll have a short break in between, but playing a lot really helps your embouchure. It becomes stronger, and more developed. Occasionally, mine will start to give out after maybe 7-8 hours of playin, but with a lot of practicing you'll get stronger chops to play for longer periods of time.

My teacher makes me stop and correct my embouchure at different intervals. I try to play in front of a mirror so I can tell when it slips. My lips and mouth usually crash if my embouchure slips. Do you make your own reeds? Sometimes you can scrape a bit or have your teacher scrape it to make it more comfy. Mine were waaay too hard and that was part of the problem.

I play on hand made reeds and I never have had that problem.