Making Things a Bit Easier
Good Hygiene-Cough and Sneeze into Your Elbow!
and wash your hands!
In oboe lessons the subject of hygiene presents itself more often than you might imagine. Two of the issues that surface in these discussions are the mutual handling of instruments and reeds; and the close proximity of student and teacher. Both of these concerns may be largely obviated by the same health message in today's news that hand washing and not coughing and sneezing on others are proven, economical ways to reduce risk of disease transmission. Of course, if you are symptomatic or have been told to avoid contact with others then resting at home is best.
I know that it has seemed silly to some that political officials appear to be stating the obvious. I found that some concerned officials did not remember to underscore the BEST WAY to avoid coughing and sneezing on one another: cough and sneeze into your elbow or shoulder NOT your hands. (Coughing and sneezing into the hands or tissue both require subsequent hand washing. See below for more on techniques and factoids.)
For me there are professional issues to consider: when I am ill I may not be able to make reeds, teach, practice or perform at the necessary degree or level. This may be the case for some of you as well: missed practice, lesson or performance time.
Let's not forget aesthetics. Even when it is just allergies or asthma or if you are not a germaphobe, there is the 'gross-out-quotient'.
To join and buttress the current Public Health effort I will provide liquid hand sanitizer and post a small sign to remind us to use our elbows, not our hands when coughing and sneezing.
Please feel free to ask me to wash my hands (again) and I will do the same.
Technique and Factoids from the University of California, Berkeley Center for Infectious Disease Preparedness
Information courtesy of REDI-US .
Cough into the fabric of your sleeve (into your elbow or on your shoulder), not your hands.
*
When you cough into your hands, you can spread your illness to others by leaving germs on surfaces that you touch (such as doorknobs) that others touch after you.
*
If you prefer to cough into your hands, use a tissue to cover your nose and mouth, discard the tissue, then wash your hands or use alcohol-based hand sanitizer to clean your hands.
*
Look before you cough! Face away from those around you when you cough or sneeze.
---------------------------
Did You Know?
*
Cold and flu viruses can only survive a few minutes on fabrics (such as your shirt sleeve), but can survive for hours on hard surfaces.
*
On average, a working adult touches as many as many as 30 objects every minute. Just think about how many different viruses could be viable on those 30 objects during the time you touch them!
*
If you don't cover your cough, you can spread respiratory droplets (which carry your germs) 3 feet away.
*
When you cough, you send out droplets at a speed of 60 mph.
*Sneezes send out droplets at 100 mph!
---------------------------------------
http://www.flu-u.com
University of California, Berkeley
Center for Infectious Disease Preparedness
1918 University Avenue, 4th floor
Berkeley, CA 94704
E-mail: redi-us @ berkeley.edu
Phone: 510.643.4921
'21st Century Music' reviews Rosandich & Weiss
You Never Know Who Is Listening!
Concert Review of Weiss and Rosandich playing Elliot Carter's " Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello and Harpsichord with Mark Kroll, harpsichord and Joel Cohen, cello.
This is a treacherous piece filled with polyrhythms. One section includes harmonics for the oboe.
Definition of polyrhythm from the Encyclopedia Britannica:
"the simultaneous combination of contrasting rhythms in a musical composition. Rhythmic conflicts, or cross-rhythms, may occur within a single metre (e.g., two eighth notes against triplet eighths) or may be reinforced by simultaneous combinations of conflicting metres."
Harmonics:
"The conventional range of notes on the oboe is derived from a system of fundamental pitches in the lower register, and harmonics (overtones) derived from these for the upper register. These are natural harmonics extending above a fundamental on a series: octave, 12th, 15th, 17th and 19th. All basic fingerings have been derived from these constants, but they do not constitute the only combinations possible." (Goossens and Roxburgh, 1980, p. 170)
Join a Double Reed Forum or Search for Information
You may want to search, read, ask a question or even join.
- Search!
- Woodwind.Org Web pagesArchives
The Doublereed Mailing List Archives - The Oboe BBoard
- Double reed forum
- IDRS forum
- IDRS forum
- MySpace.com Blogs - Oboe MySpace Blog
- Read the Oboe blog on MySpace.com. MySpace Blogs: Search, browse, read & create you own blog.
Hear Live Music Locally
- Ann Rosandich & Alan Weiss in concert
- Eugene Bozza, Trois Pieces pour flute et hautbois
- Boston Classical Orchestra
- The Boston Classical Orchestra presents outstanding performances of the chamber repertoire concentrating on music of the Classical period, and presents concerts in the intimate setting of Faneuil Hall.
Lesson Day Check List
These are the things that you must have each week to do a good job. Print this list and check it each week if you need to! It is easy to forget the obvious: the reeds, part of the oboe....
- * Oboe - all three pieces
- * Reeds-the ones that play
- * reedcase
- * Music - everything that you need for the lesson
- * a small container to wet your reeds
- * a swab
- * a pencil
- * cork grease
- * notepad for assignments
- * Don't forget to brush your teeth before you play. Clean teeth and a clean mouth mean that reeds will last longer and the oboe will need fewer repairs.
MMEA Northeastern District and All-State Auditions
- MMEA Northeastern District - Junior Festival
- Home | Executive Board
Acrobat Reader is a free program you may need to download in order to
read the below information. You can download it by clicking on the Get Acrobat Reader icon.
Please be sure to check back here for regular updates! If you - MMEA Northeastern District - Home Page
- Welcome to the MMEA Northeastern District Web Site. Here you will find information about our organization, our festivals and what is going on in the world of music education. Please check back frequently for more music news!
- MMEA - Massachusetts Music Educators Association | www.mmeaonline.org
- MMEA - Massachusetts Music Educators Association
Links; Auditions; Information
Blaine Edlefsen
Good for getting started.
Student Instrumental Course Tunes for Oboe Technic
Amazon Price: $6.95 (as of 07/10/2009) 
Student Instrumental Course Tunes for Oboe Technic
Amazon Price: $6.95 (as of 07/10/2009)
Student Instrumental Course Oboe Student
Amazon Price: (as of 07/10/2009)
Specialty Music Stores
- Music Espresso, Boston, MA tel: 617-424-0322
- Spectrum Music, Lexington, MA 781-862-0088
- Yesterday Service (Cambridge, MA) tel: 617-547-8263
Odds and Ends
- David Schast Reed Service & Supply, LLC: Cigarette paper - ON SALE!
- ungummed, the kind you need to dry up your water.
Robert Sprenkle
Robert Sprenkle was an important player and teacher.
- Remembering Robert Sprenkle
- Remembering Robert Sprenkle
by Daniel Stolper
A Tribute to the life and career of Robert Sprenkle, honorary member of the I.D.R.S., and long-time professor of oboe at the Eastman School of Music. - JNL 4: OBOE INTONATION: Pitch Constancy
a fine article by one of Sprenkle's students, Orlan Thomas.
OBOE INTONATION: Pitch Constancy
Editor's Note: Orlan E. Thomas teaches the oboe at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. He holds the DMA degree from the Eastman School of Music where he was a student of Robert Sprenkle.
Sometimes You Can Find Your Music on Amazon
The Art of Oboe Playing: Including Problems and Techniques of Oboe Reedmaking
This is a timeless book. For roughly the first half of his book Robert Sprenkle explains: articulation, vibrato, embouchure, purchasing an instrument, tuning, fingering and more. The second half of the book is devoted to reedmaking.
Amazon Price: $14.21 (as of 07/10/2009)
Vade-mecum of the oboist: 230 selected technical and orchestral studies for oboe and English horn (Wind instrument music library)
Amazon Price: (as of 07/10/2009)
A Complete Method for the Oboe - Original Edition
Amazon Price: (as of 07/10/2009)
Music Minus One
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 Intermediate Player (Sheet Music & CD)
Amazon Price: $29.98 (as of 07/10/2009)
Music Minus One Oboe: Albinoni Oboe Concerti B-flat, op. 7 no. 3; D major, op. 7, no. 6; D minor, op. 9, no. 2 (Book & CD)
Amazon Price: $34.98 (as of 07/10/2009)
Music Minus One Oboe: Oboe Concerti: Telemann F minor; Handel No. 8 in B-flat major; Vivaldi D minor, RV454(236) (Sheet Music & CD)
Amazon Price: $34.98 (as of 07/10/2009)
Oboe Rental and Repair
- Rayburn Musical Instruments - Boston
- Boston
238 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115
617-266-4727Ask for Jonathan Knox. I prefer the Yamaha for the beginner.
Reeds and Reedmaking Tools
- Oboe Cane & Reeds
- OC&R by Dunkel and Severson. A distinguished supplier of cane, reeds, and accessories for musical instruments. Highest quality, competitive prices. Located in Watertown, MA,
- THE RAZ-R STEEL - Razor Edge Systems
- The Raz-R Steel opens to give you a perfect angle for steeling and maintaining your edges between sharpening. This pocket size steel fits perfectly in your kitchen drawer, tackle or tool box.
- Forrests: Double Reed Specialist: Oboe Reeds,Double Reed Supplies
- An excellent place to shop for double reed supplies, English horn reeds and oboe reeds. Most tools needed for double reeds.
- JENDE: Double Reed Makers
- Jende knives and sharpening equipment
Video about Squeezing an Open Reed to Reduce the Opening
Humor!!
Didn't know exactly where this ties into oboe, but it must...
- petersonproject films
- thepetersonproject.com
Support Group
Quicktime required.
Good Forum Advice
Author: hautbois (---.hlrn.qwest.net - ISP in Denver, CO United States)
Date: 2006-11-14 19:38
You might try two things. First, in practice, (and assuming that your fingers are operating smoothley) imagine that you are making a small cresc. at the end of each note (without actually making one) and continuing into the next note -- it is more like an increase in intensity than an actual dynamic effect, and it will keep you from making unintended reductions in breath support at the end of each note. Then modify that effect enough to keep the line from having irregular swells, but maintain the intensity. Feel lugubrious! Second, take a look at your reed. The sustaining of a note (as opposed to the initial attack) requires a certain amount of cane to be taken off of the back of the heart of the reed, blending with the heart and with the deeper windows behind the heart (on an American scrape). Of course if the reed is out of balance in other respects the problem could be in other places as well.
Recordings of Your Pieces
It's always a good idea to listen to a recording, or better two recordings when you learn a new piece. I often wait until after I've formed my own impressions and worked things out in my own mind before I listen to other interpretations. Listening to the recording also puts the oboe part into context with the other intruments that it will be playing with.
Bach's Circle
Includes J.S. Bach's "Sonata for oboe & keyboard in G minor, BWV 1030R " one of the greatest pieces in the oboe literature.
Amazon Price: $16.98 (as of 07/10/2009)
Bach Edition: Complete Works (155 CD Box Set)
Amazon Price: (as of 07/10/2009)
Your Pieces
- Handel, G.F.- Concerto Grosso No.8 in B-flat for Oboe and Piano
revised by Albert J. Andraud
publisher: Southern Music Company - Grieg/Erickson-Folk Songs from Grieg, Classic Festival Solos Vol. 1, Warner Brothers (Northeast District 2007 Junior Festival Audition Piece)
- Handel- Concerto in g, 1st & 2nd movements; Rubank (Northeast District 2007 Senior Festival Audition Piece)
- Albinoni- Concerto, Opus 9 for Oboe and Piano
publisher- International - Bach, J. S.: Sonata for oboe & keyboard in G minor, BWV 1030R
- Telemann- Sonata in a minor
- Telemann- Andante and Presto
arranged for Oboe and Piano by L.W. Chidester
pub. Southern Music - Frank - Piece V for Oboe and Piano, pub. Alphonse Leduc
New IDRS Videocast
Florent Charreyre, 2005 first prize winner of the Fernand Gillet-Hugo Fox Oboe Competition
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byReedknife Sharpening
For a boatload of information please consult Oboe Reedknife Sharpening.
Mozart Complete Works
If you like Mozart or need to study his works, here is an affordable way to own a collection of all his works, excluding fragments.
Mozart Edition: Complete Works (170 CD Box Set)
Amazon Price: $132.99 (as of 07/10/2009)
Bionaire W7 Humidifier
If you have a wooden oboe, or even a plastic oboe can benefit, you could use one of these to prevent cracks and keep the pads at a stable humidity level. When pads are stable they do not go out of adjustment as readily or stick.
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
Reedmakers without Websites
- Robert & Bailey Sorton
The Sorton Reed Works,
5849 Lafayette Rd.,
Granville, OH 43023-9480,
phone# (740) 587-1603,
fax # (740) 587-0752.
He requests call during business hours only, M-F, 9-5. - Zia Double Reeds
Darrel Randall, maker
email: RrErDr@aol.com
Repairmen without Websites
- John Symer, 856-858-0605
Oboe on eBay
- eBay - oboe, Woodwind, Sheet Music, Song Books items on eBay.com
- Buy oboe, Woodwind items on eBay. Find a huge selection of Sheet Music, Song Books, CDs items and get what you want now!
Competitions and Awards
- Ralph Gomberg
- Ralph Gomgerg merit award.
- LYONS INTERNATIONAL CHAMBER MUSIC COMPETITION
Additional Resources
- BDRP Double Reed Suppliers - A-Z - A Service of Brian's Double Reed Page
- Great encyclopedia of most oboe-related topics, vendors, instrument makers and more.
Talented People
Plaques
- Doublereed - 2007 02 000061
- Plauques: Fender guitar picks
David Weiss wrote:
> Metal placques are awful.
>
> I've been using "Fender" thin guitar picks for years. Cost: about 25
> cents each (look for the larger triangular shaped ones, about 1 3/4
> inch on a side). Simply take a scissors to them and cut them in the
> shape of a placque, and then fine sand the edges. This is softer
> material than ebony or rosewood, but still plenty tough. The edge of
> your knife will last SO much longer. Granted that guitar picks won't
> last as long as wood or metal, but your knife will last indefinitely,
> and you'll be sharpening a LOT less often.
> - Doublereed - 2007 02 000076
- Holding the reed with the guitar pick plaque
I should have mentioned that when I hold the reed while scraping, it
> does not hang over the side of my index finger. Rather, the tip is
> supported fully by center of the finger about 1/4 inch down from the
> finger tip. If a "thin" guitar pick flexes too much for you, and you
> don't want to alter the way you hold the reed, you could try a
> "medium." I wouldn't suggest a "heavy" though, since those might
> separate the blades too much due to the extra thickness. Bottom line:
> I urge all my students to try to get used to using a plastic placque.
> Might take a little practice, but, as the saying goes, "try it,
> you'll like it!" - Doublereed - 2007 02 000055
- eboninte, guitar pick
I use an ebonite tapered plaque for reed work up to the final tip
thinning; then I switch to a guitar pick (thinnest sold) as this allows
for better (even) thinning when the tip is flat as opposed to trying to
scrape on a curve, where one can risk thinning it too much in any one
area. For cheapskates, one can make these from the flat breadbag sealers.
Keith Sklower wrote:
> I'ld like to mention an alternative to wooden plaques, as demonstrated
> to me by Roger Wiemeyer, now English Hornist with the Nashville syphony.
>
> He used to get $.50 plastic guitar picks, which he cut up into a couple or 3
> oboe-plaque-size pieces with a pair of garden shears, and then sanded down
> the edges.
> - Doublereed - 2007 02 000117
- For making bassoon reeds, I have used contoured met
Educational Opportunities, Master Classes
- Kammermusik - Adult Amateur Chamber Music Workshop
- Welcome
to Kammermusik Workshops 2008
Kammermusik Workshops, Inc., is a non-profit, volunteer organization dedicated to providing
musical growth for adult musicians through provision of chamber music workshops.
The workshops typically take 20 - 40 players from all over the USA and abroad - 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.).
- 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
Musical Notation
- Music Notation and Terminology by Karl Wilson Gehrkens - Project Gutenberg
- Download the free eBook: Music Notation and Terminology by Karl Wilson Gehrkens
Reader Feedback
Like this lens? Want to share your feedback, or just give a thumbs up? Be the first to submit a blurb!
