Do your students practice before school starts?
As we start to count down the number of days left in the school year (9 days of instruction left for me!), I’ve started to bring up...
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- May 18
- 1 min
Have you celebrated your student’s wins?
This week I have been reviewing goals and celebrating student wins! I’m so proud of the hard work my students have put in all year, so I...
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- May 11
- 1 min
Do you know the top 4 reasons that oboists play flat?
It's another short one this week! Here are your Top 4 reasons that oboists play flat: Air is too slow/warm/pointing downwards - Speed the...
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- May 4
- 2 min
Combating perfectionism
It’s recital week here in the Gessner Oboe Studio. About half of my students are going to perform solo pieces this Sunday at our studio...
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- Apr 27
- 1 min
Top 5 causes of sharpness on the oboe
Too much mouth pressure - Move the teeth a little bit further apart to release pressure on the reed. Too much reed in the mouth - Play...
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- Apr 20
- 5 min
A new perspective on teaching oboists to play softly
After taking last week off (I miraculously managed to check my email only once a day!), I'm feeling rejuvenated and ready to face the...
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- Apr 6
- 3 min
Laugh vibrato in action!
When I ended last week’s blog with “I’m not sure how I’m going to use this new information to teach vibrato”, I didn’t expect to have a...
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- Mar 30
- 4 min
Do you know how vibrato is actually produced?
I got some really interesting feedback on my vibrato newsletter/blog two weeks ago! In the process of fielding comments on Instagram and...
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- Mar 24
- 2 min
How I’ve gotten my students to play more in tune (for non-oboists too!)
I’ve started working on intonation with my more advanced students in a really interesting way the last few weeks: incorporating the tonic...
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- Mar 16
- 3 min
Do you know about the oboe vibrato controversy?
Hey I’ve been having such a cool semester - so many of my students were beginners last year and are finally ready to start using vibrato...
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- Mar 9
- 3 min
Do your students know how to play effective phrases?
I’ve done sectionals with a bunch of students over the last two weeks on their CMEA music, and I keep noticing a pattern of students...
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- Mar 2
- 2 min
Do you know the 3 elements of fast articulation?
Here in CA, we’re about a month (maybe a bit less) away from CMEA festival, and I imagine that in other states you’ll be on a similar...
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- Feb 16
- 3 min
A medium-soft reed is good for high altitude playing!
Last week after I sent the newsletter version of last week's post “Medium Soft Reeds Aren’t the Answer”, I got an email from Khara Wolf,...
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- Feb 9
- 4 min
Why medium soft reeds aren’t the answer.
It’s the second week of the month, and I’m hearing a lot of new reeds in lessons this week! That is great news for some students (who had...
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- Feb 2
- 3 min
Do you know how much oboe reed should go in your mouth?
Happy February! You may be thinking that it’s time to bring a clinician in to “sell” the oboe to your class, so you can fill out your...
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- Jan 26
- 2 min
Do your oboe students rotate their reeds?
I’ve been checking in with my beginner students this week about their newly broken in reeds (they were assigned to break in 1 or 2 new...
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- Jan 19
- 2 min
Do your students know the difference between rod screws and adjustment screws?
In December, as part of my holiday gift to my students, I gave each of them a little eyeglass repair kit. The screwdriver was the...
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- Jan 12
- 2 min
Return to playing after a break
This is my first week of teaching lessons after the winter holiday break, and so far I’ve had only one or two students who practiced the...
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- Dec 15, 2022
- 3 min
How to retain your new oboe students
Last week I gave you my short-list of the perks of playing the oboe (if you missed it, you can check it out here), and this week I...
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- Dec 12, 2022
- 2 min
Are you a paper and pencil teacher?
Do you prefer to write things down on paper like I do? I tried to migrate to all digital, but my iPad is too big and heavy (I got the big...
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