Practicing While the Oboe Teacher is Downstairs

Many people know that with the exception of the five months that I played the oboe in 2000 or 2001 while I was writing my dissertation, I took 19 years off from playing the oboe. Many people have been supportive of my return to the oboe, but no one has been more supportive than my husband, Neil, who is a professional oboist. You might think that it would be intimidating to have to practice while he is at home, but actually it is quite helpful and I ask him many questions. There have been times, too, when he has practiced my community band music with me, playing the first part, while I struggled along playing second. It was hugely reassuring for me, especially since I have never been very good about intonation. But, Neil assured me that I was playing well and I shouldn't worry about playing in public with others. I confessed to a young oboist in my community band that my husband is a professional oboist, to which he replied, "Wow. I guess that you can have a lesson any time you want then, right?"

 Truer words were never said. In fact, there is a certain amount of humor involved in practicing while "the oboe teacher" is hanging out downstairs...writing on the computer, watching TV, reading, etc. My squawking is never far from his mind or ears. It's not unusual for me to be practicing and to hear from downstairs...

  • You have too much reed in your mouth!
  • You're going too fast, slow it down to 72 on the metronome!
  • Honey...? Is that supposed to be a B-flat or a B-natural?
  • Your vibrato sounds like a billy goat!
  • That reed needs to soak longer!
  • You're rushing the triplets!
In truth, I find these comments very helpful. As my readers know from my previous posts, Neil is hardly ever wrong -- (a sad truth for me), so his suggestions really do help to improve my playing. And, even better, as any current or former student of Neil Boyer knows, he has yet to call me a turkey.

Me and my oboe, looking bizarre as always, practicing in Neil's studio on the second floor of our home. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Who Would Scam an Oboe Teacher?

Image
Apparently someone named William Clark, or someone who uses the name William Clark and whose email address is: wclark200@yahoo.com . Last week Neil mentioned to me that he had received an unusual request from "William Clark," for oboe lessons for his 13 year old daughter, Mary. He stated that they were out of the country, but would soon be coming to the United States. Mr. Clark failed to answer any of Neil's usual questions for new students, such as how long Mary had been playing, inquires about her instrument, and whether they would be taking lessons at USM or Dartmouth - the locations of his two teaching studios. Neil usually asks if the child has, in addition to playing oboe, any other tendencies toward self-injurious behavior. Silent on all of these matters.  Then Mr. Clark wanted to pay for several weeks of lessons upfront. Neil had never encountered this before, but why would a free-lance musician say no to a parent wanting to pay for lessons in advance? Then N...
Read more

What Happens When a Stress Fracture Won't Heal?

Image
That's right. I have at least two stress fractures that won't heal. I've had one for about 15 weeks and a second for at least 18 months. When a fractured bone won't heal, it's called a non-union fracture . I get quite a kick out of this. Makes me think of my bones slaving away in a sweatshop or something! What do we do to try to get non-union bones to heal? First, health providers put you in a surgical boot. Say good-bye to the surgical shoe. It's all about the boot now. My boot looks just like this one. I don't really want to know how long I have to wear it. Despite it being clunky and a miserable fashion statement, it is much better than the surgical shoe -- in terms of walking. It also seems nearly impossible to re-injure oneself in this contraption! Driving a standard is definitely a no-no. Photo from Ortho Tape Second, we get a bone stimulator. I know, who knew there was such a thing?  Apparently before the days of bone stimulation, there was su...
Read more

Limping All the Way to Five

Our first black Labrador Retriever, Blackberry, had health problems. He started having seizures between 6-9 months of age. We discovered that he had epilepsy and successfully treated his condition with  phenobarbital  for 9 years. The bad news is that it slowly destroyed his liver. We made that trade-off because alternative medications were much more expensive. So, we lost Blackberry when he was 9. I still think it was the right decision. Blackberry lived a happy life. He was the center of our family and even part of the community. Everyone seemed to know him. Neil was once exercising Blackberry in the Saco River in Biddeford and a school-aged girl with a fishing rod passed by them and commented to her father, "That dog's name is Blackberry." Neil had never seen that child in his life or since. When the UPS man would arrive at our house, he would hand us a package and look in through the door, saying, "Hi, Blackberry!"  Despite this condition, he had a pretty ...
Read more