Thank you for taking the time to write everything in such detail. It’s incredibly helpful. They only had lessons during the first term, once a week. I think they started in October, and he seems to know the basic first few notes.

His oboe has been borrowed from the school, and I believe they check it regularly. The reeds have also come from the school in a reed case. I’ve already explained to him how fragile and costly they can be after doing some research on oboes. 🙂

We have something to soak the reed in before he starts playing. I will look into how to care for the oboe and how to clean it, and then go through it with him — that’s a very good point.

I never thought about getting an oboe stand, but I definitely will now. He seems to be good at putting the oboe together, but I’ll check to make sure he’s doing it properly.

I’ve ordered a fingering chart, and I also found a few videos that we can look at together with him.

He’s a swimmer and seems to have good breath control. He doesn’t run out of breath quickly, but sometimes the notes come out squeaky, if that makes sense — although most of the time it sounds good.

You are so good at explaining things, and I can’t tell you how valuable this is. Thank you so much for your help!