Oboe Tips & Tricks

Oboe is a very difficult instrument to master, so there was a lot for me to learn.

Embouchure

Embouchure, as suggested
by Standard of Excellence

Oboe utilizes a "double embouchure".  Both lips are curled over the teeth to create a cushion for the reed.  This allows the reed to vibrate since it's a flattened tube that doesn't use a mouthpiece.  I read you should your lips under to the point where you can't see them anymore, but I've learned that isn't necessary.  It wears out your embouchure, and the reed plays just fine without doing it.  Plus, my Standard of Excellence lesson book says you should close your lips in a "drawstring fashion", but I think that's misleading.

Musicians who play other instruments need to build embouchure endurance.  When I first started playing, my lips got tired of staying in the same unnatural position for so long.  They would try to unfurl and revert to clarinet embouchure, with one lip partially curled under.  But I got used to it with practice.

Posture
The oboe needs to be held farther away from the body than the clarinet.  The angle between the instrument and your body is greater.  This allows the reed to go straight into the mouth, which helps it vibrate.  If it's at angle, it will affect the pitch.  Other than this, posture is the same as clarinet.  Sit up straight with your feet flat on the floor and your back away from the chair.  Your hands are comfortable at your sides.

Reeds
Oboe reeds are REALLY fussy.  Many serious oboists carve their own reeds so they can personalize them and guarantee they'll play correctly, but I didn't have time to learn that.  I ordered my reeds online, so I was constantly at the risk of buying a bad reed.  All woodwind reeds have their imperfections, but there are more possible double reed imperfections, and they have a greater impact on the reed's performance.  If a reed's opening is too big, the pitch will be flat.  If the opening is too small, it will be sharp.  Either way, it's hard to play.  You can try squeezing the reed to try to get it to open or close more, but it's tedious and not guaranteed to work.  I've bought four reeds this year, and two didn't work right off the bat.  (Another I dropped and chipped two minutes after arriving home.)

Intonation

Blue = fully covered hole
Green = half-hole

The reed can present its own intonation problems as stated above, but, like other instruments, embouchure plays a big role in keeping the instrument in tune.  One way to adjust the pitch is changing how much reed you have in your mouth.  More reed will make the pitch go down, and less reed will make it go up.  I've noticed the angle of the instrument changes the intonation, too.  It takes a lot of practice to completely play the oboe in tune, and I'm surprised I've gotten as far as I have.

Fingerings
One difference between the oboe and other woodwind instruments is the "half-hole".  I don't know why the oboe requires it - it's similar to lifting your pointer finger for some notes on the flute.  In fact, it's the same notes.  Younger students tend to pick their finger up and put it down again when moving from a half-hole to a full fingering.  This isn't good, since they might have to do it quickly.  The key is rolling your finger.

There is a seemingly infinite number of alternate fingerings for the oboe!  For example, Bb in the staff has 9 possible fingerings (including trill fingerings that shouldn't be used for anything other than trills)!  It makes me wonder why the oboe, of all instruments, needs this many alternate fingerings and other instruments don't.

Finally, there are some extreme similarities and differences between the oboe's fingerings and the clarinet's (half-hole aside.)  There are just a few weird differences, such as F and F#.  The fingerings for clarinet are almost switched on oboe!  I posted a diagram of the differences earlier, but here it is again.