Oboe news

Well, it’s been over a year now, since the kids gave me an oboe “boost” for my 50th birthday in February 2006. After a month of oboe lessons and oboe rental (thanks kids for your generosity and for knowing me so well!!), I continued with oboe lessons at Reiman Music (sometimes once a month, sometimes twice, depending upon how much we were in town), with Amy (the teacher the kids picked out) until this week. This week though, it was time to ackowledge and honor a dream realized. It feels right, but sad, to bring this fun to a close. I seriously thought about pouring more (money, time) into the oboe, and working towards playing in a symphony someday and/or for various gigs. I thought about this alot, and ultimately decided, for various reasons, to contain/redirect this emotion/ passion.

Learning how to play has been SO satisfying. For the past 25 years or so, the art of oboe has intrigued me/had a strong emotional pull. It started way back in Sioux Center, with little kids, when Lloyd and I saw “THE MISSION” on a “date”. The final moments of this film combined the beautiful haunting sound of the oboe with brutal violence in a south American village. This combination left me speechless for a long time, and only later did I realize why. Later that semester Dordt College sponsored an oboe player from the East Coast. He did a concert at Dordt, that included an afternoon workshop prior to the concert. For some odd reason, no students came to this workshop. The only one (s) who showed up was me, with a snugly, a stroller, a wagon, several tricyles and a string of young children: Kristin, Nicholas, Reuben, Kim and six other children I was taking care of that day. So the oboe player adapted his workshop to little people, and totally impressed me and also the kids with his breathwork. He could play a note indefenitely, by blowing on the reed, while taking air in by his nostrils at the same time!! Over the next few years, there were several students who did senior oboe recitals. I went to these recitals alone, after the kids were in bed, while Lloyd stayed home to “babysit”. These recitals only increased my curiosity and desire to someday play the oboe.

Fast-forward to 50th year, and great kids:) Over the past year of oboe lessons, I”ve mastered the key signatures of C, G, D, F, B flat, E flat and A flat, for 2 octaves each. After lots of sqeaking honking sounds, I figured out how to get a nice sound out of the double reed. It’s pretty tricky. I “graduated” from practicing in the basement, to practicing on the main floor within earshot of Lloyd or the neighbors. I’ve been able to “sight-read” for hours, with music we have in the house. I’ve loved the challenge, and the satisfaction of experiencing progress. And now it’s time to move on. It’s been great to “get into the room”, experience the oboe and feel it’s personality. Curiosity has been satisfied. Listening to the oboe now is richer now than ever before. I can usually recognize it’s sound, now, even before it begins:) Learning how to play the oboe has been symbolic for me, in ways that I don’t yet fully understand.

Now Reiman Music will have an oboe available for the next 50 year old who wants to learn:)

Thanks, kids, for making this dream possible!