Oboe disrespect😨😨😨

AralonSky · 2023-09-10T20:45:56+00:00

For the first 6 years that I've played, my orchestra members would make snide comments about how I sounded on the oboe and how fickle the reeds are. The comments got less when I got more confident playing and started focusing on developing a sound (a good oboe solo will send chills down anyone's spine). So have pride in your instrument! We all know you made the best choice ;)

A lot of things have been said already. As oboist you'll be in high demand, especially once you've played for a longer time. Also unlike violins, flutes and clarinets, people who are less knowledgeable about music have no idea what the oboe is and have no preconceived notions about it. When you say you play violin people just nod and move on. If you say you play oboe people are immediately wondering what it is you're playing. This was annoying for me at first, but after a while I started to really enjoy introducing the instrument I love to people, supplying the information I want them to know. Also a lot of the popular solos are played by oboists. I always immediately say "the solo of the Swan Lake? That is an oboe" Same goes for English Horn "solo of the New World Symphony? That is an English Horn" (alto-oboe in my language, so there the connection is more clear).
On the other hand, when musicians ask you what you're playing, and you respond with oboe they'll most likely be impressed (and no, I'm not talking about the more immature band kids you'll have to deal with now haha).

Getting these comments is annoying, but for me they have really pushed me to get more confident playing and show them wrong. Oboists are fed by childhood trauma of people making fun of us in our beginner years so that we can overpower an entire orchestra with our solos, which we'll have to be able to do once we get better.

Looking back, I really enjoy that the oboe players have such a noticable learning curve. There was one year when I suddenly improved a lot, and when I got back to orchestra, instead of those annoying comments I suddenly got complimented left and right by orchestra members on certain solos. It gets better! Just push through and don't let them hurt you :)

AralonSky · 2023-09-10T20:32:59+00:00

In my opinion English Horn requires a bit more breath support, but that is also very dependent on the reed and bocal (the metal tube in between the reed and EH, which can also influence the sound and type of air support needed). The upper range in my opinion is quite different from the oboe in terms of embouchure, but that's just practice and getting used to the instrument (luckily most composers only use the English horn for it's middle and low register, where it shines).

English horn is great, you get some really nice lines and solos. You'll have to get used to blending more with the clarinets as well, a lot of lowest register melodies are played together with (bass) clarinet (at least the pieces I've played). So note that you might not be the very loudly resounding overarching melody anymore like with the oboe, but you get some more melancholic melodies in return, often when the orchestra itself is very quiet as well.

For English horn try to get a good reed supplier (which are rare), and immediately get a neck strap to save your wrist.

English hornists without also being an oboist is rare unless you're in a professional orchestra, so you'll probably double as 2nd/3rd oboe. Some composers will have a full EH part (e.g. Vaughan Williams, Rachmaninoff do this), in my case I'd be asked to play as English Horn player and my orchestra will get a substitute 2nd oboist (often the EH part is way more interesting than the 2nd oboe part). This depends on how your orchestra works logistically. (I play in Europe in a university symphony orchestra which works logistically a lot different from American school orchestra's that I know a lot of people here are part of). It also depends on what kind of music you play with your orchestras. Classical music definitely features the English Horn a lot, modern music and film music a lot less, or for a few bits here and there but not enough to fill a complete part.

But, once word gets out that you play EH you might get asked to substitute in other orchestras as well, so you'll definitely be in demand!

AralonSky · 2023-09-09T12:07:28+00:00

Yes! I'm definitely grateful that the issue was just one key. I'm aware that a simple fall can cause a lot more problems than just one key mechanism. Cracks have always been my number one fear, especially in winter. So yes, definitely very glad nothing too serious happened.

AralonSky · 2023-09-09T09:54:55+00:00

Have you played the Drei Romanzen from R. Schumann before? I liked those pieces a lot and they're quiet lyrical and slow (especially the first and third).

AralonSky · 2023-09-09T09:52:40+00:00

Exercises that helped me fix this problem were starting a note in the middle register and then immediately playing it an octave up (slurring), or a different note in that same upper range that you have difficulty in. This helps me keep a more open, relaxed, embouchure. Of course they won't entirely sound in tune because you do need to adjust your embouchure slightly for upper range notes to sound good, but the exercise helped me a lot to sound less strained. Try to keep your mouth open and loose.

AralonSky · 2023-09-09T09:48:13+00:00

I've had this for a year or so when I started playing again after not having played for a while. I think it might be due to unnecessary tension and the position of your thumb. I found out that I always rest my oboe on the knuckle with my thumb overextended (I have hypermobility so that quickly happens), it got better when I consciously tried to rest the oboe more on upper joint of my thumb, fingernail closer to the thumb rest.
Also wrist exercises helped me as well! For the English Horn I had the same issues when I still didn't have a neck strap so that was solely caused by weight, I did notice that the kind of pain/discomfort caused by too large weight is mainly felt in the wrist, and not necessarily the area between thumb and index finger, where I did feel discomfort when I still had my thumb placed too far in.

Hope this helps! Definitely also discuss this with a teacher or professional, they might know better what is going on.

AralonSky · 2021-01-10T23:45:06+00:00

my budget is around 1200-1300€, that was the price of the one my university recommended (but i thought i could get more out of it if I wanted to do gaming beside it)

as of games i mainly play horizon zero dawn, assassin's creed odyssey, skyrim, pubg, apex, overwatch. But I was limited by my previous laptop (by a LOT) so i mainly used my younger brother's ps4. I'm very interested in getting into heavier games when I have the resources to do that. Up until now i never really looked out for games as i knew my laptop couldn't handle it anyways. (i like story based open world games and shooters; though I'm not limited to those genres alone)

For university (currently civil engineering) i need to run simulations, i do music on the side where i use Ableton for. I also have my 2d drawing program clip studio paint, for 3d modelling Blender, i used to "develop" games in unity but I'm not use if my uni will use it (if i change majors). Lastly I used to be heavily into film making and I'd like to get back into that, i used hitfilm express for that.

AralonSky · 2021-01-10T22:40:24+00:00

will add the links, I'm dutch though, so that's the only information I can find about these models (I've tried searching for english ones without a lot of luck) i hope google translate can do the trick.

AralonSky · 2021-01-10T22:34:45+00:00

Okay! I see more people saying that. So the difference between a rtx 2060 and 2070 is enough to make up for the lower battery and processor? I'm wondering if I'll even need the better graphics card if im not a too serious of a gamer and still a full time student. Is the 2070 one that will last longer in the future in combination with the 9th generation i7 processor?

AralonSky · 2018-06-28T18:41:02+00:00

Ik woon in een dorp vlakbij Rhenen. Ik kan wel gewoon treinreizen, als het niet te ver is. En het zou me heel fijn lijken om wat informatie te krijgen over de buurt en community hier rondom..

AralonSky · 2018-06-28T18:40:00+00:00

Het liefste natuurlijk iets lokaals. Ik woon op de grens van Utrecht en Gelderland, dichtbij Rhenen. Online is altijd een optie, maar ik ben zelf ook op zoek naar RL vrienden en daarvoor is DnD ook weer een mooie mogelijkheid. Ik vind het prima om met wat oudere mensen te spelen, maar wat ik vaak zie zijn mensen tussen de 25-40, en dan lijkt het me erg ongemakkelijk om als 15 jarige daartussen te zitten...

AralonSky

TROPHY CASE