The Big Double Reed Day 2012

I have had a great weekend in London which, on Sunday, included "The Big Double Reed Day" at the London Guildhall.

The "double reedness" actually began on Saturday with a trip to Howarth's to buy some new music and a few other bits.  It always feels like a visit to Aladdin's Cave, with so many treasures to look at and browse through.  In the circumstances I was quite restrained but I picked up some music recommended by my teacher and a book called "techniques in Oboe playing".  I knew that there would be more temptation the following day.

Sunday was quite an early start due to planned engineering work on the Tube.  I was very grateful for the clock's changing as leaving the house at 7:30 still only got me at the venue for 9:15am and I was straight into the reed making class.

The classes were run with small groups as tutorials and the 90 minutes allocated whizzed by so quickly that we didn't even get round to doing any actual scraping.  We did have a very good discussion about common problems of reedmaking, where to get supplies, how to sharpen knives, using a micrometer to select cane, first things to check on a problematic reed, tips on scraping technique, how to manage reeds and when to give up on a reed.  I suppose the key thing that I came away with is that there isn't one correct way to make reeds and everybody's reeds will be slightly different.  The only way to learn is to actually make them, play on them and find out what works best for you.  The other tip was to try and be as consistent as possible and, if you want to change something, change just one thing at a time.  It has given me a push to start doing more reedmaking and to make a determined effort to use my reeds more rather than relying on my teacher.

The next class was an opportunity to try out a Cor Anglais.  I have wanted a Cor for ages but have managed to put it off so far.  I was worried that as soon as I tried one that I would fall in love with it and want one straight away.  I was correct!  The session was lead by a professional oboist/ Cor player and, again, it was a very small group so was run as an informal tutorial.  We all had the option to have a go and the tutor had bought some music for us to try if we wanted (the New World Symphony of course!).  In between she talked about the differences between the oboe and Cor, reeds, the repertoire of the Cor and her experiences of playing both.  One thing that took me by surprise when I played was that someone else in the class immediately complimented me on my vibrato.  I have struggled hugely with vibrato on the oboe and, only last week, I began drafting a blog about it so I was quite taken by surprise that it just turned up quite naturally on the Cor. I  think it is probably due to higher airflow required.  So it seems like the way to fix that problem I just need to buy a Cor, work on that and then hope it transfers to the oboe.  Well,  that seems a reasonable enough justification to me  for buying one. ;-)

Lunch was an opportunity to have a look around the trade stalls and spend some more money - I bought a new reed case for all the reeds that I will be making, a reed making DVD that I have had my eye on for a while, a CD of Malcolm Arnold Chamber music (which included the Sonatina and Fantasy that my teacher had asked me to pick up) and another bobbin of reed thread which I don't really need but was a lovely colour!

After lunch was an hour long oboe concert which seemed to have a huge variety of repertoire, styles and instrumnets - with oboe, baroque oboe, Cor anglais and oboe d'amore all included.

The afternoon session was a 2 hour long performance workshop.  Again the group was quite small with only about 12 of us.  Everybody that wanted to was given the opportunity to play a piece and have some feedback.  There was a variety of standards from someone who had only started playing in January right through to someone doing a Masters in Oboe performance.  But everybody was very supportive and encouraging.  I played Chansonette by Harty and don't think I embarrassed myself too much, there were lots of things to think about through this so they will probably come out in other blog posts.  I thought the tutor had a good balance of comments which were directly about the piece and which were more general to help us all benefit rather than it being focussed on the person playing.  We finished off the session by having a go at a two oboe Concerto by Albinoni with about 4 people per part with the piano.  It just about worked and was great fun.

There was a massed ensemeble rehearsal and concert at the end but I decided to miss that.  I was completely exhausted by this point and as the rehearsal started it did look as if there were plenty of people there and it seemd to be aimed more at the children and parents.

So overall a very enjoyable, if tiring, day.  I loved the informality and the small group feel to all the sessions.  The tutors were all incredibly encouraging, helpful, down to earth and incredibly knowledgeable.  I feel inspired to make more reeds and develop my playing.  Hopefully I'll be back for more next year...

Remembering lessons

I had a really good lesson on Monday which has prompted some thoughts about how to make sure that progress made in the lesson is retained when I get home.  It is easy when lessons are about more concrete things such as the fingering for A, but no easy when it is on more abstract things.
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 Monday's lesson was mostly spent on phrasing (again), shaping both individual notes and phrases.  I felt like I made a step forward in being able to do what my teacher was demonstrating and it did actually feel slightly different.  But the difficulty is always being able to replicate that when I get home.  This time I got my oboe out as soon as I got home but already some of the subtlety was lost and I couldn't quite recapture what I'd managed to do.  I'm hoping that trying to maintain a clearer idea in my mind of how I want a phrase to sound will eventually allow me to stumble on it again this week. But it is so easy for that idea to morph into what I actually play and I lose sight of what I am aiming for.  I guess all I can hope for is to make 2 steps forward in a lesson but only take 1 step back when I have to practice on my own...

I am also beginning to realise how important it is to have a clear idea of the sound you are aiming for in your head.  This is important in terms of the phrasing and shaping but I'm also finding it with  tone quality, intonation and vibrato.  I find my tone improves immensely as soon as my oboe teacher has demonstrated something to me, and I find myself trying to match the sound that she makes.  The trick is to have the sound in my head and try to match that.

Most of my practice this week is focussed on Chansonette by Harty which I may, or may not, have the opportunity to play in a masterclass at the Double Reed Day on Sunday.  I will find out on the day.

Preparing for a masterclass

A good lesson yesterday.  I bought a new reed which usually makes my tone go all over the place - but it wasn't as bad as it sometimes is.  We spent most of the lesson working on Chansonette by Harty.  I am going to a Double Reed day in London in 10 days or so and I've, foolishly maybe, applied to play in one of the masterclasses.  It will be good for me, I'm sure.  I haven't had confirmation so don't know whether I will be able to play or who will take it.  If I play I will play Chansonette.  As the name suggests it is very lyrical and melodic.  The notes are reasonably straight forward - a couple of little twiddles over the break that still sound a bit stilted, a couple of rapid runs up the scale.  There is a lot to work on with phrasing, subtle rubato and use of vibrato.   I think for the next couple of week's practice I'd like to take a couple of technical difficulties from the piece to use as exercises as well as working on the overall phrasing and interpretation of the piece.

The first is around tone in my top A and B - these are quite awkward notes on the oboe.  They use the side octave key and have a tendency to sound quite thin compared to notes in the lower register.  It would be good to make these ring out a bit more with a fuller tone, I'd also like to be a bit more secure in the intonation.  So I think long notes on the A, going down the chromatic scale going back to the A each time  (A, G#, A, G, A, F# etc) very slowly with my tuner focusing on tone and tuning.

Secondly I need to work on vibrato.  There are a couple of phrases that really need vibrato to come out on the long notes so I'd like to pull these out as specific vibrato exercises, trying different numbers of pulses, keeping vibrato going as notes change etc.

The other thing I would like to do is see if I can have a session with a pianist.  I've never played this with an accompanist and I don't know if I want the first time to be in front of people.  I'll try and sort that out tonight.

I am hoping that performance nerves won't affect me too much this time, it isn't really a performance anyway more a work in progress.  I feel quite confident on the notes and I have two good reeds.  I don't know how many people will be there but they will all be players of similar standard so should be supportive.  I'm hoping it will be very useful!

Term finally begins

The new term is now underway.  I was more than a little excited about starting orchestra again, and finding out what we would be playing for the next concert.  Everyone is usually a little rusty at the first rehearsal of the year, and also a little over excited.  There is a lot of catching up to do.  I have kept playing over the summer so thought I'd find it easy to get back into it.  In some respects that was true, but I particularly noticed that my playing had become much quieter over the summer. I  think it is the practice room effect - what sounds loud when I am playing at home suddenly seems very quiet indeed when I am in a large rehearsal room playing along with a full orchestra.  Hopefully that will remedy itself over the next few weeks.

The music for this session will be enjoyable:
Debussy - Petite Suite (which I think has some nice oboe bits in)
Mozart - Magic Flute Overture
Smetana - Vltava (a simpler arrangement of the original)

We are also going to be doing a Symphony but we will get the music for that next week.

I also had my first lesson of the term.  We spent time on Luft Study 23, Telemann 4 and Orientale - all of which I was working on over summer. 

for next time I will start working on  Telemann Fantasia number 7, Luft Study 24, Ferling Study 41.
Also continue Orientale focussing on phrasing, rubato, expression and we will look at the Hindemith.

Next lesson will be in 2 weeks time.

Looking forward and looking back

Summer is nearly over and in less than a week the new term will be begin.  Despite having no real connection with schools anymore - the academic year still exerts its influence.  Everything seems to stop over July and August.  Life steps down a gear - though work still continues at usual it just becomes harder to get anything done.  August is my least favourite month.

But September is something else.  I love September.  A chill comes into the air, Autumn clothes are dug out, life begins to pick up again.  After the lethargy of the "summer" I feel a new energy to embark on new projects and get back to all my usual activities.  Orchestra begins next  Tuesday with my first oboe lesson the day after.  A new term, a new academic year, a new start.  I already have my new practice book, am wondering what music we will be playing in our first Orchestra concert and have started browsing June Emerson wondering what music my teacher may suggest we work on this term.

This week I've booked myself on two courses for next year.  One is a day's reed making course, the other a weekend wind ensemble playing course.  They are both months off but I am already excited.  Later this year there is a double reed day that I am hoping to go to, and in February an annual wind play day which is always lots of fun.

Summer practice has been reasonably productive though.  At the start of the summer I wrote a list of old repertoire that I wanted to play through.  I have come to the end of that list now - some pieces I lingered over for a few days (Marcello and Cimerosa concertos, Britten Metamorphoses, Poulenc Sonata), for others one play through was sufficient (Meyer Rustical Miniatures,  Schumann Romances).  I also played through the Ferling Studies that I studied in my first year of lessons.  I've played through some of the Luft studies too.

I've managed a little bit of reed making - not as much as I maybe should have done but I have managed to do 3 or so practice sessions on reeds that I have made myself.  A small step in the right direction.

I think I've improved on the pieces that my teacher asked me to look at:

Telemann Fantasia No 4 - I think I am just beginning now to really get to grips with the second movement.  It has been a struggle - but finally it is paying off.  A few more days will hopefully make this even more secure.
Harty - Orientale.  There are some timing bits here that I can't fathom but the rest of it is coming together reasonably.  Though need to work on the cadenza runs a little this week.
Hindemith Sonata Mvt 2 - this has really grown on me.  I have been playing this along to a recording in the last couple of weeks.  It isn't something I often do but in this case it has really helped in understanding the music.  Playing with the piano accompaniment has made a number of things click into place.

Luft Study 23 - notes are fairly secure and have been working on playing through, breathing, phrasing.
Luft 24 - well, I wasn't asked to look at this, but I have done and it is sounding OK now.

Scales are becoming more engrained, I've worked on playing extended major scales (tonic to highest note on instrument, down to lowest and back to tonic) and playing major scales in 3rds.  They are beginning to be more fluent now.

I think my tuning and vibrato has also improved over the last few weeks when I've been able to put in very consistent practice.

What will this year bring?  No exams to focus on this time, but I am looking forward to improving all aspects of my playing by exploring lots of new repertoire. I would like to focus on learning to make reeds so that I can more self reliant in that departmnet.  I would also love to buy a Cor Anglais at some point.  Let's see what the year brings.

Summer plans

Oboe lessons are finished for the Summer.  It will be 6 weeks before they restart.  I avoid going away in school holidays as much as possible - so practice will continue as (nearly) normal.  My teacher hasn't particuarly set me additional work over the summer so there is a chance to add in a few extras and focus on some more fun things.

Practice this week has been good so far.  I feel recovered from my illness, which was sapping my energy, and my general playing is much improved now that I am not preparing to play in front of people!

So this is what I am doing:

1. Technical work - I've put together a tick box for this to help make sure I'm covering all aspects regularly.  It is based on an articulation one that my teacher did for me.  I find it helpful as I can record which exercises I've done, metronome speeds, scale of the day etc.  I spent some time yesterday doing slow broken arpeggios, trying to make them as legato and smooth as possible with no bumps at the change of note or register.  It is very difficult but I think I made a small amount of progress!

2. Studies - my teacher told me to look at Luft 23.  This one is harder than it looks.  There are 6 sharps in the key signature and I was very confused as it why it didn't seem to be in F# major.  It only clicked last night that a number of the B's are also sharpened and it is actually in C#major with 7 sharps. No wonder it makes my brain ache.  I think I can just about cope with 6 sharps in the key signature but adding additional accidentals just tips it over the edge.  It shouldn't take 6 weeks to sort it out though so I may have a look at number 24 too.  For a little light relief I'm playing through the studies I've already covered - both Luft and Ferling - to remind myself of how they go and also so I can make note of which studies are particularly useful for certain techincal difficulties.

3. Pieces - only 3 to look at for my lessons. Orinetale - the final miniature, Telemann Fantasia no 4, Hindemith Sonata 2nd movement.  All progressing at the moment.

4. Revision - I'm going through my music and pulling out pieces that I've covered in my lessons over the last 3 years.   It shows me how far I've progressed - bits I found hard I can sometimes now do easily. It's also just nice to have time to play pieces for fun!

This week i have been playing:
Britten - Metamophoses (4 out of the 6).  I love these so much - I should play them everyday!
Albinoni - Concerto in D, opus 7 no 6.  I played the first 2 movements for my Grade 7 exam.
Cimerosa - Concerto.  This is tricky, I may do some more work on this.
Fiocco - Ariosa.  I played this at the Adult learner's event last summer, lovely piece of music!

Hoepfully over the summer I will have chance to do more reed making too!

I am sure that it will be September before I know it!

Reed trouble (again)

Reeds are the bane of every oboists life.  My practice sounded terrible today - I don't know if it is me, the reed, the weather or my oboe.  I think it maybe a combination of all of them - though hopefully not too much to do with the oboe itself.  I have a relatively new reed and at the moment I don't really like it.  I've only had it a week though so it may not be properly blown in. There are certain notes that just sound really terrible.  But then I've also just had 2 days off practice so my lip is probably not great either. I need some serious work on long notes to try and get my tone back - feel like I am going backwards at the moment.

On the up side, I am starting a new piece - Chansonette by Harty, it's one of his 3 miniatures.  From first practice, it seems rather nice.