Skip to main content

Oboe Reed Boot Camp: Your Official Invitation

Calling all oboe students, teachers, and parents!


Is anyone else frustrated with reed-making?  It seems as though there is never enough time during oboe lessons to really get a handle on this difficult skill, and during the busy season it's hard to make time to practice it, too.  In some ways, the fact that I make so many reeds every week is a negative, because my students can come to rely on my big case which is always full. I find that I enable students to not make reeds.

Having good reed skills is a tremendous advantage to a student, though.  At college, or out in the world, or even over the summer when lessons are out, it is liberating to know that you can take care of your own needs without having to rely on your teacher's physical presence.  When you arrive at your concert and the weather suddenly changes or a flute player crushes your best reed, it is invaluable to have the skills to pull something else out of your case and adjust it to your comfort level.

This summer I will once again run my Oboe Reed Boot Camp.  I want to assemble a group - beginners as well as competent or nearly competent reedmakers - and really take the time to start off right.  We will do a full fifteen hours of reed drills, games, and competitions, and have everyone turning out playable reeds by the end.

Sometimes you may hesitate to scrape because you dread ruining an expensive piece of cane -  I will supply all of the cane, thread, and staples, to maximize your courage.

I am offering two sessions this summer - Monday through Friday July 22-26 from 10am-1pm,  and ALSO Saturday and Sunday the 27th and 28th, from 10-6.  Both sessions will take place in South Bend.   Further information and open registration are available at jennetingle.com.    I am also offering an early registration discount from now until June 1.

I encourage you to let your colleagues, students, teachers, and friends know of this opportunity, and to contact me with any questions.

Comments

  1. Hahaha, I guess every oboe player has to learn the skill of using the knife in case a nearby player whacks them with their flute...err crushes their fav. reed. LOL. Sounds fascinating. I almost wish flutes needed reeds so that I can come to your class.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Zoe's Musical Beginnings

I've mentioned before that I started out on the piano by figuring out melodies.  Connecting notes and trying to learn how they worked.  I'm fascinated to observe that Zoe's initial approach to the instrument is totally different from mine. She sits at our new piano and plays random notes, and tells us what to feel.  If she is playing slowly then the music is sad, and we should cry. When we are "crying" she either gets up and hugs us so we feel better (so awesome!) or bangs faster, to indicate that the music is now happy and we should dance.  Her other piano game is accompanying herself - she plays "chords" in alternating hands while she "sings" the ABC song or Camptown Races or Sesame Street.  She makes us sing along.  She loves it when we clap at the end.  When I was little I wanted to know how music worked. Although I make my living as a performer now, I learned about the interpersonal aspects of music later.  Her immediate interest is in ...

Cleaning Your Reeds

Updated: I've posted a video of my plaque cleaning technique HERE ! Oboe reeds are made from organic material, and over time it is inevitable that they will age and change. The first few days of change are usually quite welcome, as you break the reed in by playing and the opening gradually settles down to something you can be comfortable with and the response becomes more and more predictable.  You might even hit a plateau where it appears to be perfectly consistent and reliable for several days! But after that, the reed seems to be on a constant gradually accelerating downslope, until it eventually collapses into a sharp, non-responsive, mushy mess. We can rejuvenate the reed during this time by cleaning it, and can often extend its life as well! There are three good ways to do this. First, least invasively, you can just run some fresh water through and over the reed AFTER you play each time.  Go ahead and rinse that reed in the sink, shake it as dry as possible, a...

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

We took a vacation this summer.   This is not news to anyone in my life - anyone who knows me or especially Steve on Facebook followed along with all of our pictures.   We took our travel trailer out to Arizona - via St Louis, Tulsa, Amarillo, Roswell, Santa Fe - and then stayed a week in Clarksdale and Flagstaff and visited some ancient pueblo ruins, Sedona, Jerome, the Lowell Observatory, the Grand Canyon.   We swam in swimming pools, lakes, and icy mountain streams.   We hiked.   Eventually we came home again, via Albuquerque, Amarillo, Tulsa, and St Louis. (our inventiveness had somewhat worn out).   After a week at home we took another trip, and drove to Vermont via western NY and the Adirondack Park (stayed an extra day to hike a mountain), lived four days in East Franklin VT, and came home via Catskill and eastern Ohio.   This vacation felt different from all of our previous ones.   In the 21 years we’ve been married, I can name on...