Oboe and Flute Instruction ~ Audition Preparation ~ Historical Oboe and Performance Practice
At all levels of instruction ― whether the learner is an 8-year-old just starting to read music, a high school student auditioning for a competition, a professional musician learning more about historical oboes, or an adult amateur picking up her flute after a 30-year hiatus, our goal is always:
To develop the technical and musical skills to play with
ease, awareness, and enjoyment.
"We first met Joyce when my son was starting fifth grade. He had started the oboe the previous year, but he was frustrated by the difficulty of the instrument and his lack of progress. Within weeks of working with Joyce, the difference was remarkable. Not only did he start to sound like he was playing the oboe, but he was motivated and enthusiastic about practicing. During the four years that he has studied with Joyce, he has shown enormous growth as a musician. Most importantly, he remains enthusiastic and is entirely self-motivated, practicing on his own each night. He has developed an understanding and a love of music that I know will be with him for life." — Joan B.
This is a 90-minute workshop for band directors who are teaching young oboists in their band or starting oboe players in beginning wind classes.
How do you explain oboe embouchure? What about reeds? How can you get a young oboist to play softly? During the last 30 minutes I’ll be happy to work with one of your students.
Oboe reeds – sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t!
This workshop will teach you how to adjust reeds with a minimum of equipment and little or no experience making reeds.
I provide coaching — preparing scales, sight-reading, and the required audition pieces or etudes — for students who are auditioning for regional, district, and all-state festivals.
The process includes multiple practice auditions, as well as learning techniques for dealing with those pesky nerves.
Do you have an old flute in the closet gathering dust? Do you wish that you had learned to play an instrument when you were young?
Are you trying to help your children with their music studies but have no idea where to start?
It's not too late, even if you can't read a note of music. Yes, you can do it!
As of this writing (Autumn 2022), I am teaching private lessons outdoors when the weather allows it and online during inclement weather and for students at a distance. Yes, we had all hoped that COVID would not be part of our lives by now, but we're not there yet. And wind instruments can be very effective virus delivery systems. When the New England weather doesn't allow outside lessons, I ask students to take rapid COVID tests before their lessons, and I do the same. I keep a supply of home tests ready! What about the "playing masks" that school band programs are using? They really aren't effective for teaching, since students can't see my embouchure (the setting of the lips) and I can't see theirs.
What about adjusting reeds for oboe students? Currently I'm fixing reeds and sending them to students via mail. (Yes, I sterilize them first!) It's not perfect - it's so much easier to adjust a reed for a student when I can hear the student play it - but it's the best that we can do. And I teach reed adjustment workshops for students who want to learn to adjust their own reeds.
I sincerely hope that by the time Spring of 2023 rolls around, COVID will be in the rear view mirror. Fingers crossed! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
