Vegas Oboe

Lots of superstars come to Vegas on a regular basis to do gigs of their own, I am so so so excited this week to be part of the orchestra backing this lady...

My first Vegas star moment!

Bernadette Peters!

Like most kids of the 80's my first memory of Bernadette Peters is her role in a little number called ANNIE. The 80's-tastic version with Carol Burnette and Tim Curry... so good.

The Oboe\EH book for the show is very nice, though I tacet quite a bit- there are some juicy solos to make up for it.

Is it totally unprofessional of me to ask her for a picture with her? ;)

Just call me.... Dr. Oboe

I have quite a few different "jobs", as do many freelance musicians.

Private oboe instructor
Oboe and English horn reed maker
Ob\Eh sub for Phantom at The Venetian
AFM 369 gigs
Clincian for Middle and High School honor band and solo and ensemble festivals
Clark County School District Oboe Parapro

In other words, oboe-everything, every day. I am really into what I do, (I mean, you would have to be to be writing a blog about oboe!!!). I love the music, but I love, LOVE, <3, the OBOE...
It is my business, which is why I have very strong feelings about "oboe education".

I want to talk about why private instruction is so important if you are interested in pursuing the oboe whether it is through middle school, high school, college, and beyond.

I encounter many parents and students who are of the mindset that since their child is enrolled in a band or orchestra class in school, shouldn't they be learning all they need to know about oboe playing in class?

The short answer is "no".

The long answer goes something like this; a middle or high school band director is like a
doctor. A general practitioner to be precise. They are trained to be outstanding all around musicians and spend at least one semester of their undergraduate career learning each and every woodwind, brass, percussion, string, and even a bit of vocal pedagogy. I can remember my my husband worrying about his bassoon playing, and taking pride in his percussion technique (not to mention being pretty good at oboe!).

Anyway, while band directors do their best in a short semester to try learn all of the ins and outs of the oboe- it is not the same level of experience as someone who:

Began playing oboe at age 11
Studied oboe with college professors as a high school student
Obtained an undergraduate degree in oboe performance
Obtained a graduate degree in oboe performance

While the music education majors (band directors) were busy learning all of those other instruments (along with taking education courses, and pyschologoy, and science, and all kinds of intense stuff), I was learning how to play the oboe, I was learning how to teach the oboe, and I was learning how to make oboe and english horn reeds.

So- you wouldn't go to your general practicioner if you had a heart murmur would you? You would go to a cardiologist, a specialist.

See where I am going with this?

A private oboe instructor is a specialist, someone who can bring out the potential which lies within each beginning oboist.

There are many reasons to study oboe privately- whether it is to begin training to be a music major in college one day (in this case private instructor is an absolute necessity!!!), or simply having a desire to learn an instrument and learn it well.

A good place to begin searching for a private oboe instructor would be by simply talking with your child's band director. Many times, directors keep a list of private teachers and their contact information.

Good luck finding your own Dr. Oboe!

The care and keeping of... your oboe?

One of my students is fortunate enough to be in the process of buying an oboe (well, his parents are ;)) He is a sixth grader and still VERY new to the oboe.

I know this sounds somewhat strange, because it is coming up on only a month left until the end of the school year and he should at least know how to play a few scales and be practicing simple articulations, etc.

He hasn't had a working oboe the entire school year.

This is one of the biggest issues that I face working with young oboe players here in the Vegas Valley- oboes which will not play and are so far gone that I don't even know WHERE to start.

Last time I checked, Nevada was ranked 50/50 as far as education goes in this country, and each day I wait to see if my parapro job will be around next year (it is a position that really seems like a HUGE luxury to teachers and students, therefore not absolutely necessary).

The school district has several instrument repairmen on staff and it just seems like people aren't using them!

Anyway, this student has been frustrated all year with a band director who is telling him to take the oboe home and "finger practice" ( this is actually a great way to practice, but not for a beginner who hasn't even had a chance to get familiar with oboe embouchure, finger placement, air support, etc.). The frustrated parents found my website and gave me a call hoping that I could help- unfortunately, there is not very much I can do as far as instruments for my students.

The first thing I noticed on this students oboe (that his band director should have noticed as well!!!) was a crack in the topjoint as long as my hand and wide enough to stick a quarter in.

I asked the student if his band director had given him a swab for the instrument, or ever explained about the importance of maintaining a wooden instrument, the answer was NO.

So, here are some ideas for all of you young oboe players unsure about the upkeep of your instrument:

1. When we play the oboe, condensation builds up on the inside of the instrument (the bore). The same kind of condensation accumulated by breathing warm air on a cold window.

We need a SWAB to clear that moisture out every so often while playing, and always, ALWAYS, always after we are done playing and putting our instrument away.

I recommend cotton swabs, because they don't pull through the instrument and are less likely to get STUCK- yes this does happen and can be very detrimental to the oboe and your sanity!

2. Another important tool for maintaining your oboe is CORK GREASE, just a little, tiny, amount for the cork on your reed, top joint TENON and bottom joint TENON, or "corks" on your oboe. It doesn't have to be much, just enough to keep these parts moistened so that they easily go together when taking your oboe out and putting it away.

3. Most oboes have silver plated keys, and in order to avoid tarnish, a polishing CLOTH is a good idea.

4. Some oboe maintenence kits will come with a small brush for removing dust and dirt from the keywork. I prefer a very soft bristle paintbrush for this, found at any craft or hobby store.

5. Key OIL can help keep your key work clean, and in great condition, careful not to use too much! A little dab'll do ya.

These 5 are the bare minimum for students on plastic oboes. If you are a young player on a wooden oboe, you are very lucky! Though, you have some extra responsibilities that come along with this privilege :)

6. A humidifying device. Some people use a simple HUMISTAT that will fit easily into a case. Others prefer a DAMPIT. I am a little scared about anything that involves too much moisture that close to my oboe... but I have had HUGE problems with cracking oboes, every oboe I have owned has cracked. A more gentle, (cheap, and readily available for some of you!) option is using orange peels. YUP, you read correctly. They contain just enough moisture to do the trick and leave your instrument and case smelling lovely.

7. Something that has made a BIG difference for my instruments is oiling the BORE, or the inside of the oboe. This is a complicated process, and best left done by an ADULT!!!

Here are my personal, step-by-step instructions for this:

• We need to protect all of the pads underneath the key work, it would be bad, bad, BAD if they were to absorb any oil!! I do this by using some kitchen tin foil and slipping it under any and all keywork that might be in the way of the oil
• I work on one piece of the instrument at a time, even the little bell gets some alone time!
• You will need turkey FEATHERS and some bore OIL
• Put only a few DROPS of oil onto a feather and gently insert it into the joint you are working with, rotate a few times in a twisting motion GENTLY, repeat on the other two joints
• Afterward, leave the oboe alone still with the FOIL protecting the pads. I usually do this on an evening and let my oboe sit overnight on its stand in one piece, covered by a
• When you are ready to use your oboe, gently remove the foil, being mindful of the pads and springs!!! You're done, congrats!

This does not need to be done often, though I do it every few months on my oboe and English horn now and haven't had a single crack in over two years, even going between soggy San Francisco and the Las Vegas Desert!!! :)

As always, please let me know if you have any questions, or if you want to learn more about any of the products or care procedures I talked about today! :)

Easy as 1...2...3...

Another thing that has been popping up quite a bit this week in lessons, yesterday and today, (maybe I am just focused in on the same issues in all of my lessons, or maybe these REALLY are common problems for this age-middle school beginners) has been HOW and WHERE to begin practicing something.

I tell my kiddos this: Don't look at the big picture... yet. When looking at something for the first time (or even the first few times!) it can seem a daunting task. Especially for beginners!

Notes, Rythms, Dynamics, Breath marks, Articulations, Key Signatures, Time Signatures.... AH! There is a lot of information to be digested even in only a few bars of an Essential Elements tune.

The best way to get at this stuff is to break it down.

1. Notes- take a look at the key signature, and then go through the tune (if it is a short "band book" tune) note by note playing each note as if you were practicing a scale. Rhythm is not important right now, we are just doing this to prepare our fingers and air support for what is to come.
If you are a more advanced student working on a longer piece of music, I would say "chunk" it out, phrase by phrase and practice this way.

2. Rhythm- now it is time to either clap, tap, or count using a number system through your excerpt. This time, we aren't paying any attention to notes, you don't even need your oboe for this part.

3. Articulation- go through the excerpt and mark where you need to tongue with a "T". This can be especially helpful if you are working on slurs for the first time; for example- slur two tongue two. Make sure to keep your air going strong for this!


An optional #4 for more advanced players working on complex music can include adding in dynamics and other expressive nuances.

I like my students to know that once these basic areas are isolated and worked on individually, they are easily "quilted" together one at a time, creating the bigger picture.

Interval Practice

In my private lessons this week, several students are having similar challenges with large intervals, involving intonation and air support.

A few thoughts...

Student #1 was working on an etude which involved slurring octave C's and octave D-flats. The student was having some difficulty directing her air toward the low C, so we tried a few things. The first thing we tried was simply taking the slur out of the picture and articulating both notes, then we isolated the low C on its on and just practiced some simple attacks with prepared air support behind them.
The final thing we tried (also the most effective) was to turn the octave slur into an arpeggio so that she could really FEEL the space of the octave- it is a pretty big space to cover. We simply added in a G and E-natural and practiced arpeggiating downward several time, after this, blowing across the octave slur became much easier.

Student #2 was working on an etude which involved punching out some high C's, D's and even E-naturals (she is an 8th grader- go girl!). The problem was that she was overblowing quite a bit to ensure that the notes would speak and the result was some very sharp oboe playing. My suggestion to her was to practice playing octaves (wow, this seems like the word of the day huh?) coming at the high notes from beneath and really playing to the bottom of her sound with steady air as she "reached" for the higher notes. All of this is done best with a TUNER, I keep the tuner either right in my lap or directly on the music stand for all of my oboe students. While I don't want them to become so absolutely obsessed with it that they turn off their ears, it is still an important tool to begin training their ear to hear what is what.

Happy practicing your intervals and octaves!

Selecting oboe reeds

Choosing oboe reeds can be quite a tricky task! Nowadays, there are many options for young players both locally in your hometown music store and now... ta da! Reed shopping online.

When I was a middle and high school oboist, there just weren't too many choices:

1. Buy whatever looked good at the local music store

2. Beg a teacher to make you a handmade reed

I have some helpful tips on what to look for when you are embarking on the search to find the most suitable reed possible whether it be for the beginning 6th grade oboist or the adult amateur musician.

If it is possible, HANDMADE reeds are the first choice.

Handmade reeds (not just hand-finished- yes there is a difference) are going to entail many important things. Firstly, the person that is making and selling them has probably been to college, and perhaps also grad school for OBOE. Sounds unbelievable, I know.

Collegiate level oboe courses teach the skills necessary to make oboe reeds completely from scratch starting with the main ingredient:

Arundo Donax= TUBE CANE!

Believe it or not, these pieces of "Bamboo" are the source of your oboe reeds, one way or another. Professional reed makers go through a number of steps in processing cane in this raw form, separating "good" cane from "bad".

The cane then goes through a number of processes (If you want a step-by-step analysis, feel free to email me or check out my website: www.caitlinpawl.com for info on private oboe and reedmaking lessons if you are in the greater Las Vegas area!)

It finally comes out looking like this:

At which point we can wrap it onto a staple:

My favorites are the Chudnow Sierra (2nd and 3rd from the Left).

And we end up with something like this:

An oboe reed "blank". Notice, that it is still essentially "bark" on the surface, it has not been scraped with a knife yet.

Another type of reed making is what most of you are probably accustomed to is the machine made, mass produced oboe reed. These reeds are composed of profiled cane that which is prepared by a machine rather than mostly by hand, and machine wrapped, often with little to NO hand finishing whatsoever.

These reeds have become popular due to the fact that they are quickly made, get an easy response for most young players- that is; they do not have much resistance at all. Lastly, they are CHEAP, many costing $10 or less.

Doesn't sound all bad, huh? TRUST ME though.... it is.

Oboe cane spent the better part of its life as a living, growing, plant. It is sensitive to temperature, moisture, and weather.

When it is basically "shucked" through a profiling machine, taking off a great amount of cane at one time, it is a huge shock to the reed.

Handmade reeds are made over the course of many processes and scraped, dried, and re-scraped over a period of usually 3-5 days allowing the cane to "settle" into the idea of being an oboe reed.

It may not seems like it, but this makes a BIG difference in the outcome of the reed's response, tone quality, and longevity.

You have all heard the phrase "You gotta spend money to make money" Right?

Well.....

Its true.

Look for something like this:

If you can find a reed in a store that has the SPINE (thicker line of continuous cane down the middle of the reed) intact, with a strong, defined tip, that is a great starting point for a reed.

Some possibilities are:

Marlin Lesher Reeds (Machine made but hand finished) often neon pink\purple or neon green\blue

Stuart Dunkel Artist Reeds (Machine made but hand finished) orange in color

If you are in the market for professionally made, handmade oboe reeds, go to:

www.reedreviews.net

For a list of various reedmakers and their websites with selling information as well as helpful reviews.

As always, if you have questions about the information posted here, or want to learn more, drop me a line! :)