ProneOboe

I'm getting close to the end of this project.  It's been really fun, and I will keep making these videos as ideas occur to me or as people ask questions or send me reeds to analyze - but the end of this year is the end of my weekly publishing schedule.  Thanks for all the support and feedback along the way! In this episode:   What is the heart? How thick is it really?   What happens when it’s too thin?   What happens when it’s too thick?   How can you tell if your problem is in the heart or elsewhere?   Here's the YouTube playlist with all of my other Five Minute Reedmaker videos.   You could subscribe right there if you wanted to - I'm dropping a video each week until the end of the year. Here's my website, where you can order reeds or cane or ask me questions.   Questions will keep these videos flowing!  Here's how you can send me your own reeds to analyze and improve on video for your learning pleasure!

I’m responding today to a note from Jonathan about stability. Stability in an oboe reed is a big concept, and varies greatly from person to person and style to style.  I have some ideas, though, and share them cheerfully. In this episode: What is stability? Where does it come from? How much of it do you want? What do you do when your reed is TOO stable? Too flexible? Click HERE for the video, if you don't see it below. Here's the YouTube playlist with all of my other Five Minute Reedmaker videos.   You could subscribe right there if you wanted to - I'm dropping a video each week until I run out of things to talk about.  Here's my website, where you can order reeds or cane or ask me questions.   Questions will keep these videos flowing!  Here's how you can send me your own reeds to analyze and improve on video for your learning pleasure!

Thursday night I gave the second performance of my Fall Recital.  I loved my music, I was happy with my choices.  I owned the stage.  I played to the full extent of my ability, my audience was on board and enthusiastic.  I felt that I was in complete control of the room, the material, and the oboe the entire time.  I got great feedback, and I also just knew that I had done well.  I could feel it. The previous Sunday I gave the first performance of my Fall Recital.  It felt to me like an unmitigated disaster throughout.  Right from the beginning I was missing some low attacks, but by half way through my second piece I thought I might die.  My arms hurt from tension.  My mouth ached. I could barely hold my face around the reed.  And there were three more pieces to limp through before I finally managed to escape.  I was embarrassed, sad, and disappointed in myself - what kind of musician am I if I can't even play through an hour of hard music without getting tired and missing notes

In this episode: How to use your oboe mandrel to wind an English horn reed Measurements and structures of an English horn reed How and why to put wire on How and why to put the little tube on the end Here's the YouTube playlist with all of my other Five Minute Reedmaker videos.   You could subscribe right there if you wanted to - I'm dropping a video each week until I run out of things to talk about.  Here's my website, where you can order reeds or cane or ask me questions.   Questions will keep these videos flowing!  Here's how you can send me your own reeds to analyze and improve on video for your learning pleasure!

Once your rough-scraped reed crows, WHAT THEN? How do you take a reed from beeping to playable?  How do you balance it?  The Five Minute Reedmaker helps, with this basic framework: opening and response structure symmetry balance Here's the YouTube playlist with all of my other Five Minute Reedmaker videos.   You could subscribe right there if you wanted to - I'm dropping a video each week until I run out of things to talk about.  Here's my website, where you can order reeds or cane or ask me questions.   Questions will keep these videos flowing!  Here's how you can send me your own reeds to analyze and improve on video for your learning pleasure!