Name: Laura Griffiths

Current position or what role the oboe currently plays in your life (i.e. principal oboe, freelancer, etc.): Principal Oboe, San Francisco Ballet Orchestra

The kind of oboe you play: Loree Royal

Website or Blog (if you have one): N/A

1. Tell us your story about how you found the oboe… or how it found you.

Joe Robinson, then Principal Oboe of the NY Phil, came to my hometown in Michigan and played a concerto with the local orchestra. He was the one to recommend my first teacher, Roger Rehm.

2. What’s your “secret recipe” for making a great oboe reed?

Well, really it comes down to your setup: a gouge that works really well, a shape that is good for you, and good cane. Many years of practice and experience help, but really, even one’s “secret recipe” does not guarantee a great oboe reed.

3. How do you motivate yourself when you run into challenges, or problems with reeds, or other oboe frustrations?

Put on the TV, sit down with all my reed stuff and a recording device and work my butt off until I am more satisfied with the way I sound.

4. What one oboe “secret,” if someone had told it to you back when you were getting started, would have made your oboe journey even better than it’s been?

There isn’t one for me. However, if I could go back, I would say that playing with people you enjoy working with is more important than playing in one of the “best” orchestras. Really, performing is most fulfilling when it is a group of friends playing chamber music together.

5. What’s your favorite oboe piece EVER?

Le Tombeau de Couperin

6. What ELSE do you enjoy doing outside of playing the oboe?

Yoga, jogging, taking care of my infant daughter!

Playing the oboe isn’t easy.

Reedmaking isn’t always easy either. So how do you stay focused and know if you are really making progress, or just spinning your wheels?

It’s funny, because this is something I always notice in hindsight. Usually at the time in question, I either feel incredibly overworked or just plain discouraged. I feel like I am trying hard, but not getting anywhere.

It happened a lot more when I was a student, and now that I am in the “real world,” I actually look forward to it happening every so often, because then I know that my hard work is paying off.

So, what in the world am I talking about?

I am sure you have been there, but maybe you just didn’t recognize it at the time.

It’s that oboe audition you just don’t win, or that recital that just doesn’t go as well as you thought it would or should. It’s hard to get over those times when you feel like you are moving in “oboe reverse,” but those are the times you just have to pick yourself up and get going again. In fact, those are the times that give you the largest opportunity for growth and advancement.

The times that are toughest are actually pure gold. It is during those times that you are learning the most and making more progress than ever.

Now you can view those instances as depressing events, or you can see them as the ultimate springboard for moving your oboe playing to the next level.

I agree that the feeling of rejection or disappointment is not pleasant, and I definitely wouldn’t say I look forward to it, but I DO look forward to what comes after… getting grounded again, finding new things that are fun and exciting to work on and figuring out a way to solve the new challenges I have just faced.

It’s all a matter of perception, like so many things in life. When being an oboe player is all lemons, find a way to make lemonade.

One of the most common mistakes made by young oboists (and maybe old oboists too) is playing on oboe reeds that are just too heavy for that particular player.

I’ve been there, and I have certainly done that. And I saw many of my colleagues struggle with the same issue, especially when we were in school. It’s really easy to do when all you listen to is other oboists, day in and day out.

Somehow, you get in this mindset that the way to get that rich, luscious sound you covet is to play on oboe reeds that are too heavy for you! I don’t know the exact psychology behind that but it is something about thinking you need to go in the opposite direction of a really light-sounding oboe reed.

By steering clear of a light-sounding reed, you also give up light FEELING reeds and you end up with a 2 X 4, as my teacher would say. The worst part is that you think you sound great on it, because it is so “dark,” but the reality is that you most likely sound like you are working REALLY hard. Plus, no one can hear what you are trying to do musically.

If this sounds like you, read on!

You’ll never get that rich oboe sound that “so and so has” unless you are truly comfortable and at ease on your oboe reed. It’s just the way it works.

In fact, the reed might even feel “light” to you, but because you are so suited to it, you will have a range of colors not available to you before. Other oboists will be coveting YOUR amazing tone.

I still remember one amazing oboe reed I had a while back. I even remember that it was neon yellow and blue, and just amazing.

Without a thought, I was able to play the first movement of Bach’s solo flute partita, which, if you know it well, is just an entire page of non-stop articulated sixteenth notes.

I played it for a bunch of people and I was very surprised at their reaction. It’s a really hard piece in a lot of ways, and it was by no means perfect. But the reaction I got from other oboists (!!) was that it was seamlessly articulated, with a beautiful full tone in every register.

I was really stunned because I remember thinking my reed felt a little light… it HAD to be for me to be able to articulate every note.

So, the music REQUIRED me to have a reed I could really play, and the effect was more than I even intended or was aware of. That experience taught me this lesson:

Have an oboe reed you can play easily and confidently and your music-making (and the perception of your music-making) will go beyond what you even think is possible.

So what do you do if your reeds are too heavy?

Well, first identify the problem. Sure, if you are playing Mahler in an orchestra it isn’t going to be as obvious. But if you are prepping solo stuff, make sure your reed can indeed play easily in every register.

Don’t worry about how it sounds. If it isn’t easy enough for you to play without popping a blood vessel, you need to lighten it.

Making a reed lighter is not bad.

It’s largely just a stereotype. Anyway, start by thinning the tip, then maybe just go over the entire reed (without pressing!) and just get rid of some bulk. This will give you a good place to start.

Once you get used to playing on reeds you can actually play, you won’t settle for anything less.

Name: Erin Hannigan

Current position or what role the oboe currently plays in your life (i.e. principal oboe, freelancer, etc.): I’m the Principal Oboist of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and I am the Professor of Oboe at Southern Methodist University.

The kind of oboe you play: Loree Royal, 125 Model

Website or Blog (if you have one): www.erinhannigan.com and www.dsokids.com

1. Tell us your story about how you found the oboe… or how it found you.

My Dad had always liked the oboe, so he suggested that I try it when I was 7 years old. I looked it up in the dictionary since I had never heard of it. I was still pretty small when I started, and one of my earliest oboe memories is of dropping my first plastic oboe on the hardwood floor. It broke in half!

2. What’s your “secret recipe” for making a great oboe reed?

Patience, especially while working on the tip. The tip is the most important part of the reed, so go slow, and keep your knife very sharp! If I actually have the time, I definitely prefer working on reeds gradually over a couple days rather than all at once.

3. How do you motivate yourself when you run into challenges, or problems with reeds, or other oboe frustrations?

It’s like a puzzle to me, so I know that I just may need to approach the problem from a few different angles to find the solution. There never has been a problem that hard work, focus, and sometimes some guidance from a friend or teacher, has not overcome.

4. What one oboe “secret,” if someone had told it to you back when you were getting started, would have made your oboe journey even better than it’s been?

I think it would’ve been helpful to have someone tell me that there never was going to be a day when everything was suddenly easy, perfect, and no longer challenging. It’s very freeing when you finally realize that every oboist out there, even your most admired role model, is on a lifelong journey of learning this instrument. We are ALL learning every single day…there is no “point of arrival.”

5. What’s your favorite oboe piece EVER?

Any piece by J.S. Bach.

6. What ELSE do you enjoy doing outside of playing the oboe?

Enjoy working out at the gym, running long distances, reading, and being involved with dogs and dog rescue.

Scraping an oboe reed blank is a little like creating a shell for the reed to live in. It isn’t really an oboe reed yet, but it has to be a good enough shell so that the reed can eventually take shape within it. It seems like a rather abstract idea now, so just remember… Your initial goal is to just get some cane off the reed.

All that hard shiny cane must go for the reed to vibrate. Although this part of oboe reed making is not very detailed, you will have to learn basic knife control to get the shiny cane off. Of course, practice makes perfect.

As your reed making skill improves, however, don’t let yourself get bogged down with this step. I have seen may experienced reed making students take such care and time with this part – the “getting the cane off” part. It is not necessary!

Eventually you want to get the rough cane off as quick and as easily as possible. Someone that knows nothing about oboe reed making could learn to do this efficiently and consistently with just a little practice.

Although you will probably end of finishing your reeds while they are wet, I like to scrape blanks (up until the point where I clip the tip) when they are pretty dry. That is just my preference because I don’t feel that the actual blank scraping is the detailed part.

Again, you are just making a reed shell right now. You will have to experiment with how hard you press when you are scraping. It isn’t something I can explain in words except to say you always want to use the least amount of pressure possible so that you don’t crack the cane.

Your right hand is just going to move the knife, it is your left hand that will anchor and apply pressure when you need it. You will figure many of these things out for yourself. Even a private reed making teacher wouldn’t be able to actually feel how much pressure you are using. And it is a totally individual thing anyway.

So take your blank and mark 68 mm. A finished reed will be about 69-70 mm, so I like to start scraping my tip at about 68. Don’t forget to keep that picture of each side of the oboe reed separated by the important spine.

With your knife, you are going to do at least 15 scrapes of the tip on each side of the spine. Start at the line you drew and let’s do the left side first. Draw your knife up and all the way to the very end of tip so that it goes off the end.

This is a very important habit to create.

You always want to scrape the tip and get used to going off the very end. Once you do about 15 scrapes on the left side of the tip, do the right side. Then turn the reed over and do the same exact thing on the flipside.

When you are done you will have rough scraped the tip of the oboe reed!

Now onto rough scraping the body of the reed.

We’re going to apply the same concept you used on the tip and scrape all the way from a few millimeters above the string up until the heart starts, probably about 65 mm. Again you are going to honor the spine, and when you are done with this part there will be a visible spine that you have made down the entire reed. Do about 10-12 of these scrapes on all 4 sides of the reed. You should have taken off a good deal of cane by now.

If you barely see any cane on your table, you are probably not pressing hard enough. These rough scrapes need to remove cane, not just caress it. There is no way a reed is going to vibrate if it has tons and tons of heavy cane on it.

Sometimes I am ready to clip at this point. But most of the time I go back to the tip and kind of repeat what I already did – 15 scrapes on each side of the spine and then again on the flipside.

Special Note

This article is a short excerpt from “The Beginner’s Guide to Making Your First Playing Oboe Reed… in 9 Days or Less”, a step-by-step guide to help you start your oboe reed making journey.

Running an oboe reed business and all, I often get requests or inquiries about reeds and the desired tone they’ll produce. And while I agree that reeds play an important part in determining your sound on a given day, I am old-fashioned and in favor of hard work to get the tone you want!!

I’ll always think of my teacher, Richard Killmer, who could take your most crude, unfinished reed and make it sound amazing.

So, what’s the secret?

The secret is that your tone is your voice, and it can be developed and matured like any other voice.

As oboists, we are always so quick to blame the reed, or let the reed become our personality.

But your tone is your personality, and it will come through in your playing pretty much no matter what you do. But there certainly are steps you can take to refine your voice and make it sound more like the ideal sound you hear in your head.

The hard work you have to do is long tones!!

Not just any long tones, but mindful long tones. That means that for 15-30 minutes a day you concentrate and listen and notice all the subtleties of your sound.

You’ll spend hours (although they’ll fly by) trying to stop and start a note just the way you want it, and hours more slurring up and down between notes to get that seamless buttery-ness that comes from you, and not your reed.

Plugging in a great reed will never do you justice if you haven’t spent time on identifying your voice and refining it. The best part about working in this way is the rewards you will see slowly, but consistently over time.

You’ll probably struggle daily with long tones for a while, have bouts of frustration…..and then finally it will happen!!

You might get to perform a Bach cantata, and you still feel like you are struggling. Someone gives you a recording, and although there is always stuff you’d like to do over, you notice a transformation of your sound!

It sounds effortless and liquid, just what you have been hearing in your ear for the last few months. Those moments make it all worth it because you have somehow transferred the voice you’ve had in your head to your oboe playing!

Just remember the rewards that you will reap from working hard to “find yourself” the next time you are in a reed slump. The reed is just the vehicle for a sound – your voice is what you make it.