1.

Discuss hand position of oboe; what concepts are different and similar across the
woodwind
1. The left hand is still above the right hand when holding the oboe. The fingering
systems are usually quite the same. Your left three fingers sit on top of very
obvious keep along with your right three fingers and your right pinky sitting on a
paddle. You should keep the instrument roughly 45 degrees from your body
which is different from both saxophone and the clarinet.
2. Discuss breathing and support of the oboe; similarities and differences across the
woodwind family. What are some strategies for teaching good breathing habits to your
students?
1. Breathing and support for the oboe is very similar in many aspects to other
woodwind instruments. You still have to take a strong, full, and supported breath
every time you play the instrument. Due to the small size of the receiving end of
the instrument, the back pressure that is built up doesn't always allow for all of
the air to enter the instrument like it would for a saxophone or tuba So to
accommodate for this, sometimes you may have to vent your air out. a good
habit to get into when starting to play the oboe is to breathe in with a full
breath, move the air in to pressurize on the way out and release.
3. Discuss tonguing and the oboe and across the woodwind instruments; differences and
What are some strategies to teach articulation to beginning students?
1. Articulation strategies on the oboe is to touch the tip of the oboe Reed with the
tip of your tongue. This is different to both with the saxophone and the clarinet
because both of those instruments require use closer to the center of the tongue
rather than just the tip. Strategies to help students with articulation is to have
them lightly feel where their tongue should be coming in contact with the Reed
while also doing single note articulation exercises.
4. How would you instruct a beginning oboist to put an instrument together?
1. Grab the lower joint by its back
2. Line up the badge on the bell with the keys on the front of the lower joint and
push together. DO NOT PUSH ON KEYS WHILE DOING THIS. ONLY ON THE BODY
OF THE INSTRUMENT.
3. Get the top joint, place the bell/lower joint on your stomach, and press the top
joint onto the top of the longer piece. Be sure not to bend the two paddles that
extend and overlap onto each joint.
4. Wet your reed, crow on it, then place it in the receiver
5. Discuss issues associated with reeds and the young oboe
1. Cracked Reeds - students will often try to play on these reeds for too long and
create bad sounds. These reeds need to be replaced.
2. Closed Reeds - Lightly try to push on the edges of the reed after soaking it to try
and open up to reed to create an ellipse shape. If students try to play on reeds
that are too closed, their sound will be crunched down and they will be fighting
the reed
 3. Open Reeds - lightly push the opposite way you would for a closed reed to close
down the opening into more of an ellipse shape. If students play on an overly
opened reed, playing in tone production will often be inconsistent and hard.
4. Moldy Reeds - usually caused by not drying the reed or not allowing the reed to
dry in its case. Throw these out
6. Discuss common embouchure problems associated with the oboe.
1. The biggest issue with embouchure is endurance. The only way to get better at
endurance while playing the elbow is just to play it as much as you can and
extending how long you can play in a single session. Other problems include
sticking the reed too far in your mouth, angling the instrument too far or too
little or not rolling in your lips.
7. What are the most difficult issues faced by beginning oboe students in a band class.
What are some strategies for managing these issues.
1. One of the largest issues plaguing middle school oboe students is not only
endurance, but pitch management. Beginning oboists should have a strong ear
from the get go or they will not be able to play in tune at all. Strategies to help
pitch management is to match pitch with your voice to get accommodated with
tuning idiosyncrasies as well as strategies to hear tuning issues. Another strategy
is to crow on the reed at the correct pitch.
8. Why is oboe repair different than the other woodwinds?
1. oh beaurepaire is different from other instrument repair techniques due to the
uniqueness of each model of oboe. Every single model has slight differences in
where keys lie, how keys are bent, and how the instrument fits in the students
hands. With other instruments, these are very standard and there are only slight
adjustments made from model to model. With the obo, these can be seen as
more major adjustments and when sent to your run-of-the-mill repair shop, the
repair technicians may not be knowledgeable about the differences in each
model.
10. What advanced techniques are available to the oboe? Discuss each one
1. With some advanced techniques that are available to the oboe are growling, and
multiphonics. To growl, you create more resistance in your throat and gargle
while playing your instrument. To create multi phonics with the oboe, you will
need to play the read in such a way that creates 2 pitches at the same time
period the largest extended technique that is available to an oboe player is to
simply extend the top range. Not only will this increase the availability of
repertoire that you can play with your available skill set, but it will also improve
your core range sound quality.
 11. Personal reflection: a one-page essay which discusses your skills in relation to the oboe
and other woodwind instruments. Include areas of comfort as well as areas needing
attention.

I believe that my skills as a woodwind player need a lot of attention overall. Knowledge of

fingerings as well as creating a characteristic sound on each of the instruments is not my strong

suit as an educator. I feel that my overall musicianship helps how I approach each instrument

and how I can be marginally successful when attempting to demonstrate these instruments

however, I do not feel that I am doing the instrument justice when I do decide to model for

students. For the oboe and the clarinet, I am the most comfortable simply due to the fact that I

can create a more consistent and more characteristic sound on those instruments however, I

do feel that I am still lacking skills to adequately educate and demonstrate the proper skill sets

needed to adequately prepare students to play these instruments in context in the context of a

full ensemble. For oboe specifically, I feel quite comfortable with my knowledge of fingerings as

well as how to articulate and hold a quality sound but I do feel that there is much needed room

for improvement. While exploring all of the skills that I have now accomplished on the obo, I

did find myself enjoying the journey to reach the level I have at this current moment however, I

do still feel the need to have guidance from professionals that do to play the instrument at a

professional level. Just like any of the other instruments, I will always inquire about a private

lessons teacher when having students play these instruments simply due to the unique nature

that these instruments hold in comparison to their single Reed counterparts on the other side

of the band.