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!