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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- Dec 7, 2022
- 2 min
The perks of playing oboe
We have just a few weeks left to teach in this calendar year! 🎉 And I know you have concerts galore, and maybe you have to turn in...
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- Nov 29, 2022
- 2 min
What oboe reeds do I recommend to students?
As it’s the second day back to school for most schools, it’s also prime winter concert prep season, and thus it’s super important to...
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- Nov 22, 2022
- 4 min
Do you need an oboe-specific repair person? An Interview with Angela Wells
You already know that oboes are super touchy instruments. It seems like looking at an oboe funny can make it go wildly out of adjustment...
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- Nov 17, 2022
- 3 min
Do your students know the 6 steps to winterize an oboe?
I originally wrote these steps for my students and their parents, so feel free to forward this post directly to your students so they can...
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- Nov 2, 2022
- 3 min
Do you know how to get water out of an oboe tone hole?
Here in San Jose we got a rain shower yesterday, which caught me by surprise, but reminded me that the weather is changing across the...
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- Oct 25, 2022
- 1 min
Do your oboe students play with good tone?
Now that we’re really into the semester, you’re probably working on tone with your students. Good news! I have a ✨FREE ✨resource for your...
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- Oct 19, 2022
- 4 min
Do you know how to travel with an oboe?
We know that oboes seem to be so delicate that they’ll break if you look at them funny. So as we gear up for fall Festival season and...
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- Oct 12, 2022
- 2 min
Do NOT waste your money on this brand of oboe
Over the last 9 months 4 of my students have been handed brand new Nobel brand oboes by their school or youth orchestra organization. The...
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- Oct 4, 2022
- 2 min
Do you know the secret behind oboe articulation?
It took me - no joke - 8 years of private lessons to learn this secret and understand how to execute proper articulation on the oboe! I...
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- Sep 28, 2022
- 3 min
Do your wind players warm up at home?
I’ve been doing in-school sectionals with middle and high school students over the last couple of weeks, and I’ve been noticing a...
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- Sep 21, 2022
- 1 min
No more "I think my reed is stuck..."
This is the time of year that we hear the phrase “I think my oboe reed is stuck” or “I…can’t…get…my reed out!” (said as the student grits...
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- Sep 13, 2022
- 2 min
How to practice dynamics successfully at home
Practicing dynamic changes in their warm-up is the most effective way that your students can practice the concepts I laid out in the...
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- Sep 6, 2022
- 5 min
Step 2 to teaching dynamics
As promised, I’m here with Step 2 in teaching dynamics to oboe students. Last week we learned about how dynamics on the oboe work. Let me...
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- Aug 31, 2022
- 2 min
The first step to teaching dynamics to your oboe students
Last week was my first week of teaching my whole private lesson load of the semester, and as expected there were students who were quite...
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