Care and Feeding of a New Oboe

As you know from my last post, I recently bought a new oboe from Carlos Coelho Woodwinds.  (Sorry, this is a bit of a commercial for him.  I think he's just great!)  I bought my English horn from him about 5 years ago and have been very happy.

Along with my new oboe, came a goody bag.  (Love the goody bag!)  In it was a screw driver, cork grease, an instrument stand, 2 Loree stickers, and a silver polishing cloth.  There was also a beautiful purple, silk swab.  It seems like such a shame that it's only going to be used for a spit rag! 

Each new oboe from Carlos also comes with a 2-year warranty for cracks.  This is great because if an oboe is going to crack, it'll do it in the first year or so.  If it makes it past 2 years,  you're usually home free!  Oboes are notorious for cracking.  I think this is because of the really small diameter of the bore in the top joint.  The air pressure is too great and, along with the sound waves vibrating through the wood, it's just too much for the instrument to take.

In order to prevent cracking, it is very important to break in a new oboe properly.  Here are the instructions from the Loree factory.


How to Break in Your New Instrument (from Loree factory):

• In the beginning, play the instrument for no more than 10-15 minutes at a time.  Swab it, return it to its case, and keep the lid closed.  A few hours later or the next day, you may repeat this procedure.  each week, you may add 5 or 10 minutes playing time.  After about 3 months, you should be able to play it as you wish.

•  On chilly days (or in a cold room) always warm the instrument before playing it.  This may be done by holding it against your body for a few minutes, or cradling at least the top joint in you hands.  If the oboe was left in an unheated area on a cold day, you must not play it until it has had a chance to warm gradually.  (I can vouch for this.  The one time my old oboe cracked, it was in a freezing cold practice room.)

• During the break in period, we recommend you to oil regularly the bore of you new instrument (about one a week).  Be sure first, that the bore is well dried and cleared of moisture.  Then, put some drops of "F. Loree" natural bore oil, preferably on a feather, and apply a light coat of oil gently inside the instrument.  After a few months, you can progressively reduce to oil your instrument.  (Note:  There are oboists who are dead-set against oiling the bore.  My opinion is that you should oil it in the beginning to keep moisture from getting into the wood.  Once broken in, I personally don't keep oiling it.)

 Additionally, Carlos has his own set of instructions for breaking in a new oboe.  Here's what he says:


Suggestions for Breaking in and Care (from Carlos):

• Warm up instrument to body temperature.
• NEVER warm up the instrument by blowing hot air into the bore.
• **Start by playing low notes only.
• SWAB!!!  We recommend a silk swab.  Try swabbing from the top joint to the bell.  It will prevent to pull back all the water through the top joint and your swab will never get stuck!  Swab constantly, especially if the weather is dry.
• Start by playing only 10-15 minutes at a time a couple of times a day during the first week.  Increase playing time 5 to 10 minutes a week.
• Clean and oil the mechanism about every 8 weeks.  Try to keep the wood clean.
• We do recommend oiling the bore.  It may be necessary ti oil the bore on specific occasions.  Let's talk first!
• Keep swabbing........swabbing.....!

My New Baby

So it's not a child from India yet (sorry to disappoint), but it's an oboe from France.  Yes, I unexpectedly bought a new oboe last week!  It was time for a new one since I had had my old oboe for 12 years now and, as all good oboists know, they blow out in about 10-15 years.  The sound (of my old instrument) was starting to spread and the pitch was less reliable than before. 

How does one accidentally buy a new oboe?  Go to an oboe party, of course!  (Like a tupperware party, but with oboes.)  A colleague of mine had 8 Loree oboes shipped from Carlos Coelho Woodwinds to his house.  Several local oboists came and tried them out.  Some brought their old instruments to sell.  Anyway, one of the AK models stood out to me.  I went back and forth between the AKs and the Royales before eventually deciding on this particular AK model.  I know, most oboists prefer the Royales because of their BIG sound and sturdy feel, but I decided not to get one.  Here's why...... 


Why I chose the AK over the Royale:

• When I play with an orchestra, I usually play second oboe so I shouldn't out-boom the principle oboist.  Also, when I play first oboe or solo gigs, it's usually in chamber groups, opera, or church solos which require a sweet sound.  A big, boomy sound is not really what I need.
• I felt that the Royales kind of boxed me in.  I like the flexibility of the AKs and I like that it allows me to bend the pitch easily if I want to.
• My old oboe is an AK and I have loved it for 12 years!  
• The sound of this one was similar to my old one, but better!  (Darker, and more focused)
• The low notes played like warm butter.
• I feel more comfortable on the AK and it shows in my playing.
• The Royales cost $1000 more.  I had to ask myself, "Does this really sound $1000 better than the AK?"  My honest answer was no.

If money was no object, I would've bought one of each.  But---until I win the lottery, the AK is my instrument.

I kept my old oboe.  It makes me feel safe to have a spare.  If I have to send one off to be repaired I can still play on the other one.  Also, if I have an outdoor gig or something I can play the old oboe with no worries!

BTW - I'm a Loree girl.  I've played other oboes but I really prefer the sound of the Lorees.

Copland's 3 Planes of Listening

This week I am doing listening exercises with my students and I came across something I think is worth sharing.  The American composer Aaron Copland wrote a book in 1957 entitled, "What to Listen for in Music".  In this book, he describes what he calls the "Three Planes of Listening".  While there is no new information here, I have found it useful because it's so clear.  It helps my students focus and really hear more deeply than before.

The Three Planes of Listening:
1.  The Sensual Plane - It's not what it sounds like.  The sensual plane is the level where you're aware of the music, but you don't listen enough to really make a judgement about it.  It can even be background music.  When you notice instrumentation or the quality of the sound, that's the sensual plane.  Most people never listen to music outside of this plane.

2.  The Expressive Plane - In the expressive plane, you notice how the music makes you feel.  For example, you might notice that a minor key may make you feel down and a major key might make you feel up.  Also, fast music might make you feel nervous.  In this plane, you can visualize what the music might represent.  (Like a storm or a beautiful sunny day.)  Sometimes, I have my students draw or paint a visual representation of a piece of music that I play for them.  I wasn't aware of it at the time, but I was helping them to hear music in the expressive plane.

3.  The Sheerly Musical Plane - This is the plane at which most musicians, conductors, critics, music teachers, and judges listen to music.  In the purely musical plane, you can separate the music into elements such as tempo, pitch, dynamics, key signature, time signature, form, chord analysis, etc.  It contains all the jargon as well.

It helps me to be aware of these 3 planes.  When I listen to a student play, I usually am listening on the Sheerly Musical Plane while most parents listen on the Sensual Plane.  This explains some of the discrepancies in judgement that sometimes occur.  Also, sometimes it's helpful for me to just sit back and listen on the sensual plane just for the enjoyment of it. 

Next time you listen to any kind of music, try listening on the three levels and see if it changes the experience for you.  I'd love to hear what you think.

Why Take Music?

As a musician and a music teacher, I get really annoyed when other people devalue my subject.  It upsets me when school administrators see music as a "stress reliever" class to provide students with a break between the "real" classes.  I was very happy to find this article which sums up my feelings on why music has intrinsic value.  Next time I have to justify my subject to an administrator, I'll use this.  Thanks, Dr. Tim!

"Why Take Music? (By:  Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser)

Music is a science
It is exact, specific, and it demands exact acoustics.  A conductor's full score is a chart, a graph which indicates frequencies, intensities, volume changes, melody, and harmony all at once and with the most exact control of time.

Music is Mathematical
It is rhythmically based on the subdivisions of time into fractions which must be done instantaneously, not worked out on paper.

Music is a foreign language
Most of the terms are in Italian, German, or French; and the notation is certainly not English - but a highly developed kind of shorthand that uses symbols to represent ideas.  The semantics of music is the most complete and universal language.

Music is history
Music usually reflects the environment and times of its creation, often even the country and/or racial feeling.

Music is physical education
It requires fantastic coordination of fingers, hands, arms, lips, cheeks, and facial muscles; in addition to extraordinary control of the diaphragmatic, back, stomach, and chest muscles, which responds instantly to the sound the ear hears and the mind interprets.

Music is all these things, but most of all, Music is art
It allows a human being to take all these dry, technically boring (but difficult) techniques and use them to create emotion.  That is one thing science cannot duplicate:  humanism, feeling, emotion, call it what you will.

MUSIC IS TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS:
Not because you are expected to major in music
Not because you are expected to play or sing all your life
Not so you can relax
Not so you can have fun

BUT - so you will be human
           so you will recognize beauty
           so you will be sensitive
           so you will be closer to an infinite beyond this world
           so you will have something to cling to
           so you will have more love, more compassion, more gentleness, more good - in short, more life.

Of what value will it be to make a prosperous living unless you know how to live?

THAT IS WHY MUSIC IS TAUGHT"



If you have ever studied music or played an instrument, you have done all of the above things.  It kills me when school systems want to cut the arts.  Kids need this!  Did you know studies show that students who are involved in their school music program have higher test scores than the students who aren't?  I don't think this is a coincidence. 

Another thing that ticks me off in the trash

Uh oh....it's time for another installment of my ongoing photo series entitled, "Things that tick me off in the trash"!

Mozart and Roses and Snow! Oh My!

    Life is good.  I heard someone say once, "sometimes, life serves you up a slice of awesome!"  A great concert last night and a snow day today make me feel like Christmas has come again!
     Recently, I have been feeling a little blah.  I didn't really know what was wrong, but now I think it had to do with the fact that I took a break from my instrument over Christmas.  I've discovered that I'm happiest when I'm  preparing for a performance of some kind.  (Either me or my students.)  Anyway, I've decided I must pursue more playing opportunities.  (There's no reason why I haven't been other than my own laziness.) 
     Last night, I played in an all Mozart concert.  What fun!  It was tiring and required complete focus for the entire time, but it was thoroughly enjoyable.  At the dress rehearsal, our personnel manager gave single red roses to all the ladies.  This tiny little thing made me happy.  I was surprised at myself because I normally do not like to receive flowers.  (I once had a boyfriend who gave me flowers every time he did something wrong.  Now, I usually get suspicious when someone gives me flowers.)  I guess it makes a difference when you know the motivation is pure.
     Our guest soloist was Spencer Myer  and he was amazing!  He was the Gold Medalist of the 2008 New Orleans International Piano Competition.  You know, sometimes people don't deserve the awards they win and sometimes they absolutely do and you can't say enough good things about them.  Myer falls into the second category.  His Mozart Piano Concert No. 25 in C was effortless and fluid.  Much attention was paid to detail and every nuance was there.  It was fun to watch him because he was completely in the moment.  I had a teacher once say, "It's not enough to play the music, you must BE the music!"  This guy WAS the music.
     After the concert, I didn't have to try and force myself to go to sleep at a decent hour because our employer had given us Friday off due to possible snow!  Now, this doesn't sound like a big deal but it is very unusual to get snow where I live.  I didn't think it was actually going to snow, but I was thrilled to have a day off.  When I got up this morning, it was snowing!!  It really did feel like begin given a gift! 
           
     

Mo' Show!

    The orchestra in which I perform is preparing for the upcoming all-Mozart (Mo) concert.  We are playing Symphony no.  31, Symphony no.  41 (The Jupiter), and Piano Concerto in C (KV 503).  It's going to be a great concert! 

     We musicians are going to really earn our paychecks on this one!  It takes a lot of focus to play Mozart.  He is one of those composers who writes deceptively difficult music.  At first glance, it looks pretty simple and straight forward.  It's only when you start to play it that you realize it doesn't always lie well on the instrument, or the tempo is at that awkward stage where it's too fast to single tongue but too slow to double tongue.  (Darn you, Mo!  I know you did that on purpose.)  Also, Mozart's music is very transparently orchestrated.  You feel very exposed (naked even) when playing his music.  Your technique has to be very clean.  Almost every musician I know is uncomfortable playing a Mozart piece.  ...and we have 3 of them to do on this concert!  I am super lucky to be playing with musicians who can handle it.  (No pun intended. ;-))  Even though (or maybe because) it's uncomfortable music to play, it's also very fun music to play.  The last movement of the Jupiter is exhilarating!  (...and will leave the audience asking for Mo'!)

    Don't get me wrong.  Mozart is an amazing composer, no doubt about it!  I just happen to have a bit of an irreverent view of good 'ol Mo.  Back in the day, he was touted as the child prodigy genius.  Certainly, he had a huge amount of talent.  However, I always wonder how much his daddy helped him out.  Leopold Mozart was a musician himself, and he knew a thing or two about show biz.  He promoted his son and made a pretty penny for himself in the process.  When they say little Wolfi wrote his first symphony at age 5, I wonder how much he came up with himself.  Surely, Daddy Leo had some suggestions for his son, don't you think?  Also, Leopold was an okay composer.  He knew that his pieces wouldn't be impressive if he said he wrote them.  Now, what if he said his 5-year-old son wrote them?  Suddenly, a decent piece would become crazy impressive!  (I'm not saying that's what he did, but come on.  It sure is possible, isn't it?) 

     Mozart also knew how to please an audience himself.  Today, our conductor read an excerpt of a letter which Mo wrote to his father about Symphony 31.  He says that he put in a section in the exposition which he KNEW would please the audience.  In fact, he knew they'd like it so much that he brought it back a second time later in the piece.  We don't think about Mozart (the worshipped diety of Classical music) as being an audience-pleaser, but there you are.  Mo knew how to put on a show too!

Reed Fury

Maybe my knives aren't the problem.  Maybe I just spontaneously forgot how to make reeds!  Can that happen?  Seriously, the reeds I make lately are all terrible and I end up playing on an old reed that's so worn out, I feel like it's going to dissolve in my mouth.

Recently, a very good friend of mine sent me a fibercane reed to try.  I've never tried one so I was curious.  She told me it was terrible, but I didn't really believe it could be all that bad.  Plus, I really wanted it to work because fibercane reeds never wear out and you can play them forever.  (An oboist's dream!)  But alas, it sounded more like a bagpipe than an oboe when I tried it.  I would never play this reed for anything, even to practice.  Although, I may play it if I ever need to strip wallpaper.  Actually, we need to repaint the outside of our house this summer and I might be able to to save us some money if I just stand outside and play this reed instead of renting a sand-blaster!

I'm so mad because I spent all afternoon trying to get a good reed for rehearsal tomorrow.  I ended up destroying 2 of them.  One was just really flat no matter how much I clipped it, and the other one sounded just like the fibercane reed!  I started two more, but they are not playable yet.  Maybe they'll turn into something tomorrow, but I'm SO done with scraping reeds today.

I was thinking that maybe the color of the reed thread is the problem.  I've mainly been using greens and blues lately.  So, I tied on two blanks using hot pink thread.  Valentine's Day is coming up so maybe these little sweeties will make me fall in love with reeds again.  Fingers crossed!  (...or reeds crossed!)

Knife Fight

     It's not what you're thinking.  By "knife fight", I'm referring to the ongoing battle I've been having with my reed-making knife lately.  As an oboist, I must make my own reeds.  In order to do this, I must have a good, sharp knife.  This is the secret to good reeds. (...and also to good cooking, apparently.) 
     We oboists are known for being obsessive about our reeds.  Our reputation is probably deserved, however no one but another oboist can understand the angst one goes through over this.  It's like having your entire reputation depend on the whims of mother nature.  We can't control what the cane is going to do on any given day.  (It's a natural substance, after all.)  You might be flat, sound like a duck, have some notes crack, not be able to get low notes out, or the reed might shrivel up, giving you a really wimpy sound.  If you have a bad reed day, and you have a really important performance, there's little you can do to prevent certain embarrassment.  For this reason, we are constantly adjusting our reeds and making new ones with the sharpest of sharp knives.  If your knife is not sharp, you will shred the tip of the reed, rendering it useless. 
     Now that you know a bit about the importance of good reeds (and sharp knives), you can imagine my state of mind when I haven't been able to get a good edge on my knife, and therefore have not been able to improve my reed situation.  Every now and then, it is necessary to re-grind the knife.  This is because the metal gets slightly worn away to the thicker part of the knife.  Anyway, I decided to regrind the knife in order to get a new, sharper, edge on it.  This takes hours because you have to wear away a layer of metal.  A diamond stone must be used for this.  By the way, did I mention that I HATE doing this?  It's tedious, hurts your hands, and get metal shavings all over the place.  If you cut yourself, which I did, the metal shavings get in the cut.  I always worry that  this might cause health problems in the long run.  Is it bad to have steel in your blood stream?
     I have been fighting with my knife all week.  After re-grinding it, the knife is less sharp than before!  I feel the burr of the knife with my finger, but when I try to scrape a reed, it's like a butter knife.  I tried to re-grind it 3 times.  I do have a new Landwell knife (expensive but good), but it takes even longer to put an edge on a brand new knife.  Plus, the way things have been going, I feel like I might destroy it and it costs too much to do that.  Recently, a colleague of mine (who makes reeds professionally) said, "Why are you doing this to yourself?  Just get a cheap knife that's been pre-sharpened".  (A Weber Vitry-style, for instance)  This is what she does.  Genius!  If a professional reed-maker can take this shortcut, then so can I!  I ordered one last night and cannot wait for it to come in.  Hopefully, it will allow me to make reeds in the meantime, while I continue to fight with my knife.

Fellow oboists:  Can I hear some love?
Non-oboist friends:  Sorry for geeking out on you here, but it had to be done.

UPDATE:
     I received the Weber knife in the mail three days after I ordered it.  (...and I hadn't even paid for fast shipping!)  It did indeed come with an edge, so all I had to do was "refresh" the burr and it was good to go.  I won't say that I'll forgo my Landwells, but it's nice to have something to fall back on while you grind your knife down.  It cuts out some of the pressure.  (No pun intended!)  I have to say, once you get a good edge on a Landwell, it's hard to beat it.  However, this Weber knife got me back on the right track and allowed me to get some reeds going.  Another oboe buddy of mine says she uses Chudnow knives.  I may try one of those next!