This site was down again, and it looks like it was for something like four hours. Sorry, folks! I only work play here.
Me? I wear your basic black. Always. (And if the groups I work in ever say, “dress in colors!” I’m a dead duck.)
But anyway, just in case you need advice.
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Telemann!
If you don’t already own Telemann’s G Minor Sonata you might want to pick it up if you are a California high school oboist. The edition I’ve linked to is the one they are requiring. You will need to play the Presto from the beginning to the Fine before the key change, all of the Andante, and the Allegro, measure 27 to the end (take the second ending). As far as I know, this is the first time they’ve asked for this work.
If you are thinking of English horn, you need to work up Etude #39 from the Ferling 48 Famous Studies. (You should have that book anyway, right?!)
Just so you know.
This past year they used Saint-Saëns Oboe Sonata.
To me the difference between Telemann and Saint-Saëns is pretty darn large; most Telemann seems to sit well for oboe, and the Saint-Saëns has a killer passage, as my students will tell you. Don’t get me wrong, though, I absolutely love the Saint-Saëns. I jsut don’t think it’s appropriate for most high school students.
Other works that they’ve required: Cimarosa Oboe Concerto and the Marcello C Minor Concerto.
Now doesn’t it seem that the Saint-Saëns is vastly different than all the others?
Oh … but I forgot one more … they have also asked for the Mozart Oboe Quartet. This is one of my all time favorite works! It was also something I learned when I was in high school … lots of memories with that work. Great stuff.
Scales too.
Yes, they also require scales. I’ve had some students who think scales are entirely unnecessary. Heh, play the first run in the Mozart Oboe Concerto and get back to me about scales, okay? How can a C major scale become so difficult?! 😉
Scales required for this year:
2/4 time, quarter note=96
rhythm for major and minor scales: first note 8th, 16ths to next octave 8th, sixteenths to top 8th note, back down the same way, with the final note a half note; slur the 2nd beat of each measure
D major, 2 octaves B melodic minor, 2 octaves Gb major, 1 octave Eb melodic minor, two octaves, slurred Chromatic in triplets, 6/8 time, from low B to high F, final note dotted half note
I hope my students look at this and say, “Piece ‘o cake!” since you’ve all been working on scales since you started up with me, and we work on majors, melodic minors and chromatic, not to mention my faves, the whole tone scales!
Now wouldn’t summer be the perfect time to work on all of this and get that Telemann in your blood?
