Skip to main content

Learn to Make Reeds this Summer!

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. You can read and analyze as much as you want, but there’s really no substitute for practical experience making dozens of reeds under the watchful eye of a teacher.

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

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

This year I’m excited to add another layer of value to the Boot Camp experience - a session with a Guest Master Reedmaker! Gabriel Renteria is the principal oboist with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, and teaches oboe at Western Michigan University. He creates OUTSTANDING reeds, open and projecting, which are balanced quite differently from mine. Like me, he has a comfortable, no-nonsense, non-magical way of talking about them. Those participants ready to look at a different perspective will enjoy working one on one with Gabe during his workshop, while anyone still struggling with basic construction and finishing steps can have me all to themselves at that time.

Finally, I’ve found that one of the peak learning experiences at Oboe Reed Boot Camp has been the opportunity to work with other colleagues.  When you try to diagnose or finish someone else’s reed, it can give you marvelous insight about your own. And, of course, as our pioneer ancestors knew, work is more fun with a group. Think quilting bees and barn raisings! This Spring I have been inspired to hold a series of monthly reed get-togethers, henceforward to be called Reeding Circles. Boot Camp participants will be entitled to free admission to these evening events for a full year!

I am offering two sessions this summer - Friday through Sunday, June 12-14 and July 24-26 from 1-5 each day. The first session will be in South Bend and the second at Valparaiso University.   Further information and open registration are available at my website: http://jennetingle.com/oboe-reed-boot-camp/. I am also offering an early registration discount until 30 days before each session begins.

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

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Blog has MOVED

 Have you been waiting ... and waiting ... and WAITING for a new Prone Oboe post?  Don't wait here anymore!  The blog has moved to https://jennetingle.com/prone-oboe/  and will not be updated here on Blogger anymore.  Please come and check me out there!  I love you all - stay safe out there!  Jennet

How Do You WISH You Could Describe Your Reeds?

In Reed Club last Monday, we took a moment before we started scraping to set some intentions.  We each said one word - an adjective to describe what we WANTED our reeds to be.  An aspirational adjective. Efficient was a word that came up, and Consistent . Dark and Mysterious . Mellow . Predictable .  Trustworthy .  Honest .  BIGGER . Reed affirmations actually felt helpful - both in the moment and in the results we found as we worked.  I don't know why that surprises me - I set intentions at the beginning of the year, at the beginning of the month, at the beginning of a run, in the morning before I work.  I love a good affirmation.  I love WORDS.  But I'd sort of forgotten about the possibility of applying one to the mundane work of reed-making.   You don't have to know exactly how to GET to that result.  But having clarity in your mind about what that result is?  Helps you to stop going down unhelpful rabbit holes...

On the generosity of Instagram practice accounts

Classical musicians are trained to make it perfect. To make all the notes correct, to make it sound like the CD, to do it the way everyone else has done it. The only way to shine is to be BETTER - which means cleaner, more in tune, more perfect. We DO NOT SHIP until it’s perfect, which is why so many people struggle with performance anxiety and stage fright. Live is scary because you can’t control how perfect it is. But here’s what the kids are doing, over on Instagram. They are making “practice accounts” and sharing their work in progress. They are sharing snippets of pieces, little technical etudes, minute-long snatches of what is happening. They are sharing the messy middle. The first magic in this is that the process of recording yourself, listening to what you’re doing, making judgements for yourself about what is good ENOUGH to share, trying again to make the snippet REPRESENT where you are in the journey - that PROCESS is making you better. The second magic is that seeing your ...