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!