Oboe Secrets: 75 Performance Strategies for the Advanced Oboist and English Horn Player(Music Secrets for the Advanced Musician)

Modeled on the brilliant approach first formulated by distinguished professor of music and master clarinetist Michele Gingras in Clarinet Secrets and More Clarinet Secrets (both available from Scarecrow Press), Music Secrets for the Advanced Musician: A Scarecrow Press Music Series is designed for instrumentalists, singers, conductors, composers, and other instructors and professionals seeking a quick set of pointers to improve their work as performers and producers of music. Easy to use and intended for the advanced musician, contributions to the Music Secrets series fill a niche for those who have moved beyond what beginners and intermediate practitioners need. In Oboe Secrets: 75 Performance Strategies for the Advanced Oboist and English Horn Player, Jacqueline Leclair tackles the oboe’s reputation as an especially difficult instrument and illustrates how oboists and English horn players can overcome common challenges. Leclair draws on her experience as a performer and instructor, offering practical tips and sometimes revolutionary ideas for rethinking oboe pedagogy. Leclair also looks at performance strategies in the areas of equipment maintenance and management, physical health, and performance technique. Her secrets focus on such matters as how to optimize practice sessions, build endurance, improve use of the body when playing, work with reeds, and apply extended techniques. Oboe Secrets provides oboists and English horn players a quick and efficient path to significant improvement—both technically and musically—in their playing.It is the perfect resource for advanced high school oboists, professional performers, music instructors, and avid amateur musicians.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments 1 Practice Strategies Secret 1: Accomplish a Challenging Task in Small, Gradual, and Successful Steps Secret 2: Practice for Good Intonation Secret 3: Drones Are Your Friends Secret 4: What Do You Want? Secret 5: Intervals! Secret 6: Rhythm First Secret 7: If You Are Not Enjoying Yourself, Something Needs to Change Secret 8: Beginning / Middle / End Secret 9: Fingers? Secret 10: Rhythm for Response Secret 11: It’s Always about the Air Secret 12: What Do You Mean by “Slow”? Secret 13: An Entirely Different Kind of Slow Secret 14: In the End Is the Beginning Secret 15: Metronome on Second, Third, and Fourth Sixteenth Notes Secret 16: Know How It Goes Secret 17: Slurring: The Short Route to Mastery Secret 18: Contemporary Music with Big Leaps Secret 19: (??? ) 2 Tone and Rhythm Strategies Secret 20: Clap and Chat Secret 21: Reed Alone Secret 22: Find the Pre-tone Secret 23: Use the Pre-tone Secret 24: First Finger, Left Hand Agility Secret 25: Rhythmic Virtuosity Is a Habit Secret 26: Patterns Secret 27: Vibrato Flexibility 3 Reed Strategies Secret 28: There Is Only One Question Secret 29: What Is Your Angle? Secret 30: The Most Neglected Spot Secret 31: Clip! Secret 32: Crows, Not Squawks Secret 33: It Is Not Mood Lighting Secret 34: Don’t Try It; Play It Secret 35: 100 Percent Consistent Secret 36: Quality Control Secret 37: Make the Back as the Final Step 4 Health and Strength Strategies Secret 38: Are You Shouldering the Oboe? Secret 39: Are You Forcing? Secret 40: Oboe Yoga Secret 41: To Play High, Go Low Secret 42: Step Away from the Oboe! Secret 43: Alexander Technique and Body Mapping Secret 44: Scheduling Practice for Good Endurance Secret 45: Think Your Way to Good Endurance Secret 46: Embouchure Endurance Exercise Secret 47: Pre-performance Breathing Exercise 5 Simplifying Strategies Secret 48: Just Say No to Reed Drama Secret 49: To Gouge or Not to Gouge Secret 50: Wood Plaques Secret 51: Leaving Blanks Unclipped Secret 52: To Fake or Not to Fake? Secret 53: The Mrs. Jones Test Secret 54: Airtight? 6 Equipment Strategies Secret 55: Adjustment Skills You Need to Know and Use Secret 56: Clean Your Reeds Secret 57: Clean Your Oboe Secret 58: Clean Your Bocals Secret 59: Crack Prevention 7 Sundry Strategies Secret 60: Your Foot Does Not Know Best Secret 61: No Reed Making Secret 62: Is the Pulse a Plus? Secret 63: Good Manners Secret 64: Phrase as a Question Secret 65: High Note Fingerings Secret 66: Giving the Tuning A 8 English Horn Strategies Secret 67: A Little Flat = In Tune Secret 68: Avoiding Injury Secret 69: Where Does the Embouchure Hold the Reed? Secret 70: The English Horn Needs More 9 Expanded Techniques Secret 71: Double Tonguing Secret 72: Circular Breathing Secret 73: Flutter Tonguing Secret 74: Glissando Secret 75: Whistle Tone Further Resources Index About the Author

About the Author :
Jacqueline Leclair is a professor of oboe at McGill University and regularly performs as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the world. The New York Times has hailed her performances as “astonishing” and the New Yorker has called her work “lively” and “wonderful.”

Review :
This series sets forth a quick set of pointers to improve musicians' work as performers. Easy to use and intended for the advanced musician so the book states, these books 'fill a niche for those who have moved beyond what beginners and intermediate practitioners need'. This excellent book does it exactly what it says on the back cover. ... Oboe Secrets would be of use to oboists of almost any level. . . . For the student or amateur it points the way to future development of playing, and better technique; it would be a most useful resource for teachers. For a professional such as myself I found it thought-provoking and very rewarding to read, encouraging us to re-evaluate what we do, how we do it and why. ... Oboe Secrets clearly represents a great deal of work in assembling the ideas, describing things clearly and setting them out in a logical and highly readable way, with sensible use of illustrations. May of the 'secrets' would be of use to players of other instruments too. Jacqueline Leclair has done a very fine piece of work for us all, and I highly commend it. Leclair's descriptions and ideas of conquering them should be refreshing and often liberating. Being reminded of a 'lost technique' is quite helpful, and likewise reading solutions similar to your own can be reassuring. The resource list at the end of the book is extremely helpful in that Leclair has included a brief synopsis for each book listed. The variety of texts and suggested recordings lends insight into Leclair's reading tastes and habits. It is clear that she is committed to working towards healthy playing habits, enhancing and encouraging creativity, and opening her mind and body to discovery and invention. Oboe Secrets is written in clear, easy to comprehend language, should be a staple in the oboists' and English hornists' libraries, and I recommend it for students, teachers, amateurs and professionals alike.