The holidays are over and the New Year is a good time to reflect on where I am with the oboe. Over the break I have enjoyed reading through this year’s blog posts to remind myself of what I’ve done, what I’ve learned and it has given me some ideas of what to focus on in 2013.
Repertoire Covered
I’ve looked at a number of pieces in my lessons this year: Richardson’s French Suite, a number of Telemann Fantasias, Harty 3 miniatures, Binge The watermill, Reizenstein 3 Concert pieces, Mozart Oboe Quartet, Hindemith Sonata I've also started on Vivaldi Oboe Sonata and Arnold Sonatina. I have a huge amount of music ready to go for 2013. I would love to find a pianist to play with this year so that I can play through some of these pieces with the accompaniament.
Ensemble playing:
3 concerts with my normal orchestra which has included some wonderful music – especially The Unfinished Symphony and the Russian program we did in March. I was also drafted into play Mahler 3 and Rite of Spring with another orchestra which was a fantastic experience. I met up with other orchestra members to do some chamber music and went on a couple of one off play day events – one with the RLPO and another an Woodwind Event organized by ELCC. This year there are 4 orchestra concerts in the diary and I am again joining the other orchestra – this time to play Shostakovich 4 in January. I have already booked to go to the ELCC Woodwind Day in February and am doing a Chamber Music Weekend in June. Hopefully other opportunities will arise throughout the year.
Other events
I also played at an Adult Learner’s event and a Garden Party with mixed success. I went on the Big Double Reed Day in London which was fantastic and the RNCM Woodwind weekend which wasn’t so good. Hopefully this year I’ll go on the Big Double Reed Day again and would like to play at another Adult Learner’s Event but maybe a different one.
Reed making
I took my first steps in reedmaking and even managed to do some practice sessions on my own reeds. I would like to spend more time doing this in 2013 so I can begin to make some good reeds. I have a reed making day already booked for April and I would like to have progressed a little further by the time I go to that.
Fundamental Technique
Of course importantly- has my playing actually improved? I think I have taken a few steps forward.
Vibrato was a big focus for this year and I think I am making progress. It is hard to judge but it feels like my vibrato is emerging more naturally. Sometimes it disappears, sometimes it sounds too mechanical but from time to time it is just there and becomes a natural part of the sound. I need to work on bringing this out more and also controlling it better to allow variation of speed to stop it being so relentless.
Tone and tuning have also improved. I’ve spent a lot of time recently playing alongside my tuner and I think it is getting better – most importantly my ear is is improving so I am less tolerant of playing out of tune. I feel like my embouchure has also developed further to help support my tone. I am much more aware of when I am losing my embouchure and need to adjust. I can feel more clearly how I need to support using the corners of my mouth rather than biting on the reed. I need more work on this though and also would like to be able to be able to colour the tone in different ways to add more interest.
Articulation – I have done a lot of work on speeding up my articulation, making it cleaner and lighter. I can tell this has improved when I play pieces I learned last year. I still need to work on not disturbing my embouchure so much when I tongue notes.
Dynamic range – growing but still needs work!
Finger facility/ scales – I think this has quite markedly improved. This is one of the easier things to measure and I know that I can play my scales significantly faster than I could when I was preparing for my G8. I have also pretty much learned my major scales in 3rds and my extended major scales. They need more repetition to be completely secure but they are pretty much there. So for this year I need to introduce extended harmonic minor scales and minor scales in 3rds.
Breathing/ breath control – I think this has improved quite a bit this year. I seem to have become better at taking quick breaths within the flow of the music. Still work to do but it feels like something that will come more naturally now.
Stamina – this is something I feel I need to work on, the pieces I am working on are more demanding and are longer so that has highlighted the need for work on this. I need to work on playing longer chunks at a time in practice sessions to build this up.
Phrasing/ musicality –this has been a big focus in my lessons, thinking about shaping phrases and how they fit within the overall piece. There are two aspects from this, understanding what I am meant to be doing and then having the skill to actually shape the phrase in that way. I know that I understand more but my skill is lagging behind. I think I have improved here but there is a long way to go.
Cor Anglais
This was also the year I had my first go on a Cor Anglais. I fell in love with it immediately! I am hoping that 2013 is the year that I’m finally able to buy myself one.
So overall I think I can sum that up as progress on all fronts but still a long way to go.
I have no idea who, if anyone, reads this. But Happy New Year, may 2013 be a happy, productive and peaceful year for you all!
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