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...

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...

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...

I got some really interesting feedback on my vibrato newsletter/blog two weeks ago! In the process of fielding comments on Instagram and...

I’ve started working on intonation with my more advanced students in a really interesting way the last few weeks: incorporating the tonic...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...