Breathing and support:
- Breathe in so that your belly button goes out.
- The shoulders should not noticeably move when breathing.
- And push the belly button OUT and a bit down when you support.
- You can feel what this is like by breathing and then hissing loudly with your hand on the belly button.
- Oboe is the instrument of air pressure and speed.
- Oboe can be played with less volume of air than any instrument, but requires more pressure.
- The air must always be under pressure and fast.
- Refinement of the air stream will not come before power, or without it.
- Expect good beginners to be loud.
- Listen for fullness and roundness of tone, and refine GRADUALLY as they build the muscle to bring in more control. Avoid pressuring and scaring young students. Refinement is hard; biting and using less power is easy. Most young oboists are very eager to please - if you insist, they'll take to biting and less support to get to the volume you want. You may both regret this down the line.
- Expect good beginners to be loud.
- You can also get a feel for supporting better by breathing OUT, and only out, before playing some oboe.
- This is especially useful for getting a feel for playing quietly, which requires less air pushed hard and fast.
- Of course, the goal is to be able to achieve the same control after breathing in, but practicing some after out breaths can help you find better support.
- This is especially useful for getting a feel for playing quietly, which requires less air pushed hard and fast.
- A few posture tricks can help make you engage the core muscles more when practicing:
- practice while standing with your knees very bent (kind of a half squat, like earth bending stance in Avatar the Last Airbender, if you've seen that)
- practice in a wall sit.
- practice while standing on a balance board.