Beginning Oboe Students, Step 5 – What to Practice?

Step Five- What to practice?

Be sure you purchase a good Beginning Band Book I for the oboe.  Most beginning oboists begin playing the oboe in a school band program.  most of these beginning books start with the keys of  Bb, Eb, F, and Ab.  There is a fingering chart in the back of the book that groups  the note names, the look of the note on the staff of the treble clef, and the fingerings of each note.  This is a good place to start.  Check these notes on your fingering chart with your pencil: Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G, A, and Bb starting with the third line Bb and ending with the Bb on top of the first ledger line above the staff.

Be sure to observe that the D on the fourth line of the staff is a half-hole note.  As you depress three keys in your left hand with your first three fingers and three keys in your right hand with your first three fingers, you will need to roll the first finger of your left hand down to completely open the small hole in the middle of your first key.  Practice rolling your first finger back and forth. Do not pick your first finger up off the oboe.  When you cover the entire first key you will sound a low D.  When you roll your finger you will sound an octave higher and hear the D on the fourth line of the staff.  Practice play low D and half-hole D.

Observe that you will use a “forked F” fingering for the Bb major scale and open the first octave key with your thumb on your left hand.  For high A and Bb your will open the second octave key with the side of your first finger.  Check the examples of these fingerings so that you are comfortable with both the first and second octave keys on the oboe.

There is a scale page to practice all the scales in sequence in the back of the book just before the fingering char.  Practice one new scale per week and review them all as your progress.  Your band director will expect you to learn these scales as well as the tunes and exercises in the book.

In the front of the book look at the beginning pages.  You will see exercises for long tones.  There will be an introduction of new notes with fingering examples at the top of each page.  Review these beginning pages in sequence

There will be a number of tunes for you to practice that demonstrate each new fingering or oboe technique.  Your goal is to select and perform  10 tunes of your choice in the beginning of the book. Most of these tunes will be in the key of Bb, or Eb.  Your goal is to perform each of the 10 tunes without stopping or repeating any notes.  Good luck!
____________________________________________________________

For information on becoming a distributor call 219-464-3390 or email info@stradellareeds.com.

Students and oboists, our reeds are available at several locations and online. See our website for purchasing information: http://stradellareeds.com/find_us

Leave a Reply

Visit Us On TwitterVisit Us On FacebookVisit Us On LinkedinCheck Our FeedVisit Us On Youtube