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Nov 22, 20224 min read
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, 20223 min read
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, 20223 min read
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, 20221 min read
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, 20224 min read
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, 20222 min read
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, 20222 min read
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, 20223 min read
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, 20221 min read
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, 20222 min read
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, 20225 min read
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, 20222 min read
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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Aug 26, 20221 min read
2 quick tips for oboe students
Happy Friday! I’ve been swamped this week with the first week of teaching all my students again. So, I’ve got two quick tip videos to...
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Aug 16, 20223 min read
How do you convince students to play oboe if reeds cost so much?
I’ve been thinking about a question I recently answered for a band director: “How do you convince students to play oboe if the reeds cost...
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Aug 3, 20222 min read
How to teach oboe embouchure...
Today I taught a beginner how to play for the first time. I’m still getting caught up from my trip, so I’m feeling a bit scattered, and...
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Jul 19, 20222 min read
What's an "American" oboe reed?
Did you know that the “American” scrape oboe reeds are different from the oboe reeds most of the rest of the world plays on? Did you know...
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Jul 7, 20222 min read
Do you have a breath plan?
Last week was my first week back at teaching from my June vacation. At the end of the week, I had a lesson with a student who told me...
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Jun 29, 20223 min read
Do you know which fingering of F to use?
Just yesterday I finalized and posted Lesson 3 of my online course Switching to Oboe - a course for band students who are switching to...
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Jun 22, 20223 min read
When students want to work on music that's challenging...
I just got back from a trip to Michigan with some college friends. At the end of my trip, I stayed with a friend who just recently...
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Jun 9, 20222 min read
Yearly Review!
Now that the last day of teaching is done for the school year (for me at least - hope yours is coming really soon if it’s not already...
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