Getting started

• Moisten your reed before playing, either in your mouth or in a small pot of water (you just want the water to cover the scraped, thinner part of the reed, don't let the water go past the wire). Blow out through the bottom end of the reed sharply to get rid of any excess water otherwise this will bubble down into your keys.

• Make sure your reed is not too far in - you should be able to feel just the tip of the reed when tonguing. Avoid having lips right down to the wire as this makes the reed far less responsive and much harder to control.

• Your reed should be held against your bottom lip, with your top lip rolling on top.

• When playing, your jaw will naturally move. Take care that the reed doesn't move further into your mouth.

• Focus the corners of your lips inward. If you say the word "home" this should create a good mouth shape (embouchure).

• Take care not to puff cheeks or to have pockets of air between your teeth and lips. You can practice in front of a mirror to help you see what your embouchure looks like.

• Our embouchure must work well to control our pitch, intonation, dynamics and sound. Think about what you do with your embouchure to produce a loud sound? How about a quiet sound? Can you make a note as sharp as possible? How about as flat as possible?

• To help with lower notes, think of an "orrrrr" embouchure shape.

• Try and keep your oboe at a 45 degree angle to your body. Stand up straight, with your feet shoulder width apart.

• When breathing, remember to take a big deep breath (like you are going to blow up a balloon!) Say "ha! ha!" as hard as you can - you should be able to feel your diaphragm muscles.

• To produce a good sound we need a steady constant air stream - so our diaphragm support is essential.

• Take a big breath, then quickly force your air out in a "ssssssh" sound. This will demonstrate how we need proper breath support.

• Always remember to breathe fully out before you breathe back in - on the oboe, we don't use up all the air that is in our lungs before we feel the need to take another breath. We therefore need to breathe out the stale air (carbon dioxide) so that we can top up with fresh oxygen.

• Practice blowing long notes - really try and keep the pitch of your note as still as you can. A tuner is a very worthwhile investment to help with this.

• Have a listen to some of the pieces from different oboe grades on the Zone to see how beautiful the oboe is. We definitely squawk and honk to start with (EVERY oboist started off the same!) but over time and with practice we can turn that into a lovely sound.

Tonguing and slurring

• To practice tonguing, blow a long note firmly then divide it into four by saying "tuh" four times. The tip of your tongue should just make contact with the tip of the reed (the note actually starts as your tongue leaves the reed). Try and keep the tone smooth and avoid sudden little puffs of air. Remember to keep the note going after you have made your "tuh" - we want the tongue to merely interrupt the air flow, not stop it.

• When slurring and playing legato, it's important to be able to play any interval smoothly. Make sure you breathe well. Start by slurring notes close together, and when you're confident you can begin slurring bigger gaps, leading up to an octave - think about your embouchure & diaphragm support: what happens when you slur from the bottom note to the top?