Oboe
Recommended Brands
Your oboe should have a LEFT F key. Check to be sure before obtaining any oboe.
- Loree
- Fox or Fox Renard
- Yamaha
- Bulgheroni
- Marigeaux
- Rigoutat
Daily Required Supplies
- at least two good, working reeds (at all times) from Forrest Double Reeds, your oboe teacher or another professional reed maker; cheaper reeds from music or internet stores that do not specialize in double reeds are not acceptable
- protective container for the two reeds (not the plastic tubule or packing that it comes in)
- silk swab
- cork grease
Oboe Embouchure Instructions and Pictures
These two links are for use by Miller Middle School students and teachers only. Those from other schools who wish to use them should purchase the Embouchure Project from Teachers Pay Teachers.
Forming the Embouchure
- Soak your reed in a small container of water for a minute or two.
- Do all of the steps below while looking at your lips in a small mirror placed on your music stand.
- Place the tip of the reed on your lower lip, right on the line where the inside of your lip meets the outside of your lip.
- Roll your lower lip slightly over your bottom teeth, and bring the upper lip down to meet the reed.
- Shape your lips as if you are saying "oh," and bring corners of lips in, like an old man trying to put his lips together to whistle. As you bring the corners of your lips in, think of trying to hold the reed open with your lips.
- Hold your lips firmly around the reed, keeping the reed open with the strength of the corners of your lips. Pull out, but don't take let the reed leave your mouth. Think of the reed as a drawstring of a bag and your head as the bag.
Producing Correct Pitch with Correct Embouchure
Use the soaked reed only. Do not insert it into the oboe yet.
Take a deep breath and blow through the reed. Using the correct embouchure as described above, you should be able to produce a sound, called a crow, on concert B or C or even a combination of different notes.
If you are not getting the correct pitch or a combination of notes, check the following:
- Make sure the reed is good quality, not too hard, and free from chips or other damage.
- Make sure you have soaked the reed long enough.
- You may be biting the reed closed. The middle of the tip of the reed needs to stay open, so air can go through.
- Use stronger air. Breathe more deeply and blow from your stomach and back. Keep the lips firm around the reed while holding the reed open. Don't be afraid of loud sounds.
- Think of pushing the air through the tiny hole in the tip of the reed, like you're blowing wet cement through a pinhole.
Tuning Instructions for the Oboe
After applying plenty of cork grease, insert the reed all the way into the receptor on the top of the oboe.
Play an A tuning note into the tuner. The goal is to get the needle to stay in the middle. If the needle stays more to the right, the pitch is too high, or sharp. Loosen your lips to lower the pitch. If the needle stays more to the left, the pitch is too low, or flat. Tighten the lips to raise the pitch.
The reed should always be pushed in all the way. Unlike other instrumentalists, who push in and pull out, double reed players use their embouchure to tune their pitches.
See how long you can hold the note in tune. Play "freeze the needle" - hold the note steady and in tune for longer and longer periods of time.
If the note is very flat and you cannot get it to play in tune, your reed is probably too soft or too old. Get a better, harder reed and try again.
Keep in mind that even though you will first use these notes to tune, other notes on your instrument may not be in tune. It is the nature of instruments. The longer you play your instrument, and the better, more characteristic tone you can produce, the easier you will be able to play all notes in tune on your instrument.
More Resources
Basic Training for Oboe from the U. S. Army Master Classes (PDF)