Category: EDCI 761

It was at this point I realized I had bitten off a little more than I could chew. This is a great metaphor because my jaw genuinely hurts now after learning this piece.

I won’t lie: my performance here isn’t excellent. It is, however, the best I could do, so I’m still going to try to be proud of it. The patterns I talked about in a previous post make a lot of sense when you’re playing a scale, but they aren’t helpful when you’re playing an actual piece of music (especially one with eighth notes in it).

Despite its challenges, I’m really happy I chose to learn this instrument as part of my inquiry this semester. It is the only instrument that I haven’t immediately been able to figure out after picking it up, and I genuinely enjoyed the challenge. I went from having no knowledge of double reeds to being able to play three scales and everything in the first Standard of Excellence method book. That’s an achievement! I feel confident that I will now be able to help out any beginner oboe students that I may have in my future.

Farewell oboe, it’s been fun. For your final listening pleasure: Minuet.

We’re almost there, folks: my adventure with the oboe is nearly over.

The mistake I made on this day is that I decided it was a good idea to learn the F major scale AND my piece on the same day. It made so much sense in my head – the piece I wanted to play was in the key of F, so I theoretically should have been able to handle both of them at the same time. Boy was I mistaken. By the time I got through learning the scale, I was already exhausted, and then I had an entire piece to learn after. My face is very sore.

Enjoy: F Major.

I am almost at my goal of learning three scales and a piece on this instrument. Something that was nice this time around is that the Eb major scale, for beginner band purposes, is lower than the Bb major scale, which I found to be much easier. The back pressure wasn’t as bad in the lower notes.

Now that I’m learning more of the instrument, I’m beginning to see the patterns of the fingerings. It is reminding me more and more of flute the more I learn on it. I’m beginning to understand why middle school band teachers will move their best flute players to the oboe.

For your listening pleasure: the Eb Major scale.