Warm up

 One of the concepts of the Oboe Path is creating your own curated warm up, tailored to your current needs. I believe the idea is to change it up pretty regularly. My current warmup is

Peeps - starting each note (using a drone for tuning) 9 times, going from piano - forte- piano, then the last peep is a traditional long tone. I do this on the 12 pitches in the lowest range (A-Bb) going down. Seems best to work from the middle of the range down. Perhaps at some point I'll work on the upper notes, but my trouble area has been the low range so for now this works.

Pitch matching and articulated scales - On each tone (A-Bb) I put on the just tuning and work especially octaves and fifths. I was doing thirds but that seemed too much for general work right now. After I've got my pitch centered in all the octaves (up to ledger line high G) I articulate 16ths (at mm80 for now), 8 of the tonic, 8 up to the octave +1 and back down and 8 more on the tonic, ending with a traditional long tone. Only one octave presently. Have been doing major and then harmonic minor, trying to make sure the articulations are all clear throughout.

I think the idea is to take problem bits from pieces I might be working on and make them into little exercises, but at this point Ive had so many gigs I'm just plowing through. Hoping to work on bits of Secret Garden (a few nasty runs) this general work has been keeping me busy! 

After that I suppose you could practice actual pieces, but mostly Ive been happy if I do the warmup and then I usually have a rehearsal or gig so I'm playing a fair bit every day. About to start a little break in reharsals (2 weeks maybe) but Palmer is coming so I'm not wanting to spend hours practicing then. My goal will be to get through the warmup every day and anything else is bonus!

The Oboe Path

 It's been a while, but rather than write about everything that has happened since I last posted (COVID! and the aftermath) I have recently started a program called the Oboe Path. It is run by the amazing Erin Brophy from Saskatoon Canada, to help oboe players "play with joy and ease". Who doesn't want to play with joy and ease?! Her catchphrase is "be the oboist everyone wants to play with" and I just love that.

So, I've been following the path for about 6 weeks now, and here are some of my take-aways.

* make a curated warmup tailored to your needs. Update it regularly

* get two reeds wet. Play on what you have instead of endlessly fiddling with fixing reeds

* scales are the backbone of technique. play them every day. 

* beginnings of notes don't have to be tongued (!) this has been a huge breakthrough for me and I have no idea why no teacher every pointed this out (or did they, and I didn't hear?). Almost 50 years of playing and I'm just getting the idea of how to make a soft entrance!

I'm treating the program like an extention of grad school, you know, with me actually paying attention and focusing on the oboe this time. There are lots of concepts and a never ending list of things I could improve, but for now I'm really trying to get control of the soft entrance, both with and without tongue. Then articulating repeated notes (on scales!) focusing on the low register. And pitch - SOOOO much shame is surrounding tuning in my mind - I realize I don't really listen when I'm tuning, I just tense up and watch the needle! For the first time ever I'm trying to hear what being in tune sounds like (with the awesome just tuning available on TE Tuner). It is a process, and my gut reaction is to lower pitch ALWAYS (since so many unhelpful people said I was sharp back in the day). Well, I probably WAS sharp, but without HEARING the note come into tune it isn't helpful. I know these poor teachers didn't have time to help individuals, but wow. If anyone reading this (no one) knows of a great ear training app, I'd love to know about it.

It is my goal to start posting more, and put my progress on the path here!