Start with a Good Teacher
What is the Best Age to Begin the Oboe?
This is a FAQ. I say that it depends. There are a few limits, but otherwise I have seen students enjoy and excel from 10-70 years of age . On the younger end of the spectrum my concern is that the student needs to be developed enough to hold the instrument comfortably. The student needs to be mature enough to handle a somewhat delicate instrument and a thin, fragile and expensive reed. For older students, unless there is a health problem, there is no good reason that the oboe cannot be tried. In my many years of teaching I have only had one person quit for health reasons: a cleft palate. In fact, many students believe, and there is some evidence, that playing the oboe is good for lung function and for strengthening mental processes and health. Mainly, it is just fun whether you want to play as an amateur or professional.
It's Never Too Late to Go Back to Your Instrument
Practicing: A Musician's Return to Music (Vintage)
Often adults find it especially rewarding to return to an instrument that they played in high school or college.
Amazon Price: $11.16 (as of 07/10/2009) 
oboe method books for the beginner/advanced beginner
A good method book is probably the first thing you will need after getting the equipment: the oboe and the oboe reeds. These are some of the books I like to use in my teaching.
Student Instrumental Course Oboe Student
Recently Amazon has substituted Book II, for the intermediate student. Book 1 is the best book for beginners, read the fine print or purchase elsewhere. Book 1 may be the best book for Beginners of all ages. Blaine Edlefsen presents the material in a logical progression.
Amazon Price: (as of 07/10/2009)
OBOE Student Instrumental Course Level Two (Intermediate)
Edlefsen's Book Two is a good second book and appropriate to the Advanced Beginner.
Amazon Price: (as of 07/10/2009)
Method for Oboe
This is an interesting book for Advanced Beginners and Intermediate students. The exercises and solos appeal more to a more mature student. Contains good duets.
Amazon Price: $24.95 (as of 07/10/2009)
Time for Solos!: Oboe and Piano : Book 1 (First Division Band Course)
Students really begin to enjoy playing when they can start to play a piece that sounds like music. Playing with the piano is fun and educational.
Amazon Price: $7.95 (as of 07/10/2009)
Keep in Mind:
All the books in the world are not a substitute for a great teacher, or even a good teacher.
Oboe Method Books, Music for the Advanced Player
Complete oboe method
By A.M.R. Barret. The Boosey & Hawkes is the truly COMPLETE version. I recommend this version.
Amazon Price: (as of 07/10/2009)
Oboe Method Complete
This is a spiral-bound, less expensive and smaller version of the Boosey & Hawkes edition. Though some of the editing makes the edition a bit cleaner, I prefer the B&H.
Amazon Price: $26.95 (as of 07/10/2009)
Fill in Your Knowledge
Essays for oboists: More "straight talk" about achieving success as an oboist (or any other wind player)
Amazon Price: (as of 07/10/2009)
The oboe reed book: A straight-talking guide to making and understanding oboe reeds
Just as billed: a very straightforward well-written book with drawings and a nice touch of humor. A must-read.
Amazon Price: (as of 07/10/2009)
The Art of Oboe Playing: Including Problems and Techniques of Oboe Reedmaking
Amazon Price: $14.21 (as of 07/10/2009)
Oboe Technique
Amazon Price: $27.95 (as of 07/10/2009)
Oboe (Yehudi Menuhin Music Guides)
Amazon Price: $20.48 (as of 07/10/2009)
Stevens Hewitt, if you really want to know how to play
Juilliard graduate; pupil of Clement Lenom; First Oboe with Martha Graham, American Ballet Theatre, The New Orleans, Baltimore and Philadelphia orchestras; compiler of a Method, Daily Exercises, Studies for Oboe.
- "Method for Oboe" Taffenel-Gaubert, Altes, Marquarre and others all in one. Get smarter just reading the book.
Supplement Hewitt's Important Section on Groups
Note Grouping
Amazon Price: $23.07 (as of 07/10/2009)
Hewitts' Teaching Postion and Biography
- Boyer College of Music and Dance, Temple University
- TEMPLE UNIVERSITY
- TWO V1.3: Oboes in the Philadelphia Orchestra
- Oboes in the Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra was founded in 1900. Since its inception, the orchestra has had four conductors, Fritz Scheel, Carl Pohlig, Leopold Stokowski,and Eugene Ormandy.
Conferences, Workshops and Master Classes
- BYU Conferences and Workshops - International Double Reed Society 2008
- B R I G H A M Y O U N G U N I V E R S I T Y
International Double Reed Society International Conferences and Workshops 2008 - Lucarelli Oboe Master Class
- Bert Lucarelli is being presented in two weeks of Master Classes this summer focusing on solo performance including the fundamentals of oboe-playing and reed-making skills. Participants will have intensive oboe instruction for four days, resulting in a performance on the last day. There will also be
- Double Reed Festival - Department of Music - Lipscomb University
- Lipscomb University hosts a Double Reed Festival for oboists and bassoonists throughout Middle Tennessee and surrounding regions April 24-25, 2009. Festival events will begin on Friday evening, April 24, 2009 with a recital featuring Guest Artists Jeffrey Rathbun (associate principal oboe, Cleveland Orchestra) and Steven Wilson (bassoon, National Symphony Orchestra, Washington D.C.).
Music Minus One
Music Minus One Oboe: Oboe Classics for the Intermediate Player (Sheet Music & CD)
a great way to learn repertoire, test reeds and stay in shape
Amazon Price: $29.98 (as of 07/10/2009)
Music Minus One Oboe: Oboe Classics For Beginner (Sheet Music & CD)
Amazon Price: $29.98 (as of 07/10/2009)
Music Minus One Oboe: Oboe Classics for the Advanced Player (Sheet Music & CD)
Amazon Price: $29.98 (as of 07/10/2009)
Educational CDs
Orchestral Excerpts for Oboe
John Mack teaches some of the excerpts commonly required at auditions
Amazon Price: $18.98 (as of 07/10/2009)
Marcel Tabuteau Excerpts
Amazon Price: $17.98 (as of 07/10/2009)
Oboe Adjustment/Repair Manuals
an essential component
Oboe adjustment guide
Amazon Price: (as of 07/10/2009)
The oboe revealed
Amazon Price: (as of 07/10/2009)
New IDRS Podcast
International Double Reed Society
Listen to professional oboists from around the globe discuss their studies, careers and more.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byNPR interviews
- NPR : Preparing the Reeds for Oboe Practice
- Listener Karen Birch of Miami offers us a peek into the world of oboe players. To prepare to play the instrument, the double-reed mouthpiece must be prepped. It's critical to a good sound. Birch walks us through the process, which is part of her daily life.
- NPR : Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! for Dec. 23-29, 2006
- Not my job, Branford Marsalis
New IDRS Video Podcast
Florent Charreyre, the 2005 first prize winner of the Fernand Gillet-Hugo Fox Oboe Competition.
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byDouble-Tonguing
- Chiff & Fipple: The Tinwhistle Internet Experience
- Some people think that it is easier to learn to double tonguing on this instrument.
Chiff & Fipple, the tinwhistle - FEADÓG "ORIGINAL IRISH WHISTLES".
- try using this first, before double-tonguing on the oboe?
- burkewhistles
- another option for double-tonguing
- Jacqueline Leclair - Flutter Tonguing
- All this we hear about flutter-tonguing requiring a "knack", or being a genetically endowed skill seems inaccurate to me. The tongue is by far the most agile, sophisticated and impressive muscle (4 groups of muscles) in the human body. Its flexible f
Go here for more information
- Oboe
- The Upper Register of the OboeSince the oboe has the form of a conical air column, it will produce the same fundamental frequency as an open cylinder of the same length and will also produce all harmonics. The first upper register is then an octave above the fundamental (the second harmonic) for a g
- IDSnews.com
- Music Plus One
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