"Make your weakness your strength"

An professor of mine during my undergraduate studies said this to me once. I am pretty sure that I was griping about my slow articulation, and it being a problem in a certain passage. This professor was not "myyyy" professor (oboe) but she was a bassoonist and so she understood the ins and outs of "double reed excuses". She simply looked at me and said, you know Caitlin- look at it this way, make a challenge to yourself to CHANGE that. Make your weaknesses your strengths.

It is easy as oboists to focus on the endless imperfections in our playing, reedmaking, and performing. I think that we as oboists lend ourselves to a certain personality type that is unforgiving at times and overcritical, however, one of our strengths is diligence- it HAS to be! To put up with crazy reeds, even crazier fussy instruments, and a host of other problems, we have to be STRONG!

One of my biggest oboe weaknesses is reedmaking- I have no problem saying this! It is HARD for me- and I am not one of those people who races to their reed desk to find what new scrape or tying length or gouge setting will create the perfect reed. Though through the help of that little mantra- I am getting on the right track toward that frame of mind.

As a freelancer, I have a pretty dotted schedule and during the week, especially Mondays, most of Tuesday, and Wednesday I have a ton of free time. During these times I have taken to just making reeds at the same pace I was in during undergrad. Just turning them out and seeing what I get, whereas the ultimate goal is always to make a few EXCELLENT reeds that will last quite awhile.

This has helped SO much, after a few months of actually practicing my reedmaking it has gone from zero to sixty and I feel like I am finally at the point where I am consistently turning out the quality of reed that I look for in order to perform on comfortably. Not that I am EVER going to go into the commercial reed business (my hat goes off to those of you already in business), but for my own purposes, I am extremely pleased with myself :)