by Ice Cream Jonsey » Tue May 16, 2006 9:38 pm
AArdvark wrote:How does one get to play the oboe? It sounds like all the 'good' band instruments were taken.
Yeah. I was deaf in one ear when they were handing our instruments so I didn't get to join the band, initially. Me! Not allowed to do music! Me! Who has given the world "Claim to Fame" and "A-K-Q."
Anyway, a year later (in fifth grade!) a girl named Jennifer Allen wanted to switch from the flute to the oboe. But they weren't going to let her unless someone else switched. She asked what would happen if someone NEW picked up the instrument. They said they would get a couple oboes if that were the case. I was in "Olympics of the Mind" with her and I got wind of this story. On TROLL ME THEATRE y'all can say that I picked up a queer instrument
for a girl but seriously, I was only in the fifth grade. I wasn't wired like that.
So the two of us played oboe in the band the rest of the year. Entering the sixth grade, her dad got a new job elsewhere so she moved, leaving me alone playing the goddamn thing. I did not have a partner to oboe up with, ooohhhhhhhh, EVER. Ever. But it was actually a good thing because I got the music instructor's full attention during lessons. For people who went to a different junior high school -- the "lesson" was the time, once a week, where you got out of your regularly scheduled class and got instructed on how not to suck so badly at your instrument, even one with a double reed. So I got the complete attention of the musical teacher, which now that I think about it, was pretty cool. I definitely learned a lot.
In the 7th grade they had the jazz band. We were asked to sign up if we hand interest. My friends played saxophone and trumpet and they signed up. I did, too. I remember that the jazz band instructor popped his head into the regular concert band class and said, "OH! HEY! SORRY ROBB BUT THEY DON'T HAVE OBOES IN JAZZ BAND! SNRKT!" I remember that being horrifying at the time. Because he told everyone, I am guessing. Who knows.
In, say, 8th grade the jazz band needed someone else to play tenor sax, and I signed up. I played both instruments until the 10th grade when the Symphonic Band instructor realized that I practiced the sax much more than the oboe. He asked if I wanted to go to the tenor sax full-time. I said, "Yes!" I mean, I liked the oboe and everything, I just liked the saxophone more.
A friend of mine ditched a couple concerts in the high school jazz band, so to cover for him I learned how to play the baritone saxophone. A popular instrument, I believe they later used the case for the baritone sax to ship Xboxes in.
So, I guess it's been a while since I last played the oboe, but I regret nothing. I'd love to one day buy another one.
[quote="AArdvark"]How does one get to play the oboe? It sounds like all the 'good' band instruments were taken.[/quote]
Yeah. I was deaf in one ear when they were handing our instruments so I didn't get to join the band, initially. Me! Not allowed to do music! Me! Who has given the world "Claim to Fame" and "A-K-Q."
Anyway, a year later (in fifth grade!) a girl named Jennifer Allen wanted to switch from the flute to the oboe. But they weren't going to let her unless someone else switched. She asked what would happen if someone NEW picked up the instrument. They said they would get a couple oboes if that were the case. I was in "Olympics of the Mind" with her and I got wind of this story. On TROLL ME THEATRE y'all can say that I picked up a queer instrument [i]for a girl[/i] but seriously, I was only in the fifth grade. I wasn't wired like that.
So the two of us played oboe in the band the rest of the year. Entering the sixth grade, her dad got a new job elsewhere so she moved, leaving me alone playing the goddamn thing. I did not have a partner to oboe up with, ooohhhhhhhh, EVER. Ever. But it was actually a good thing because I got the music instructor's full attention during lessons. For people who went to a different junior high school -- the "lesson" was the time, once a week, where you got out of your regularly scheduled class and got instructed on how not to suck so badly at your instrument, even one with a double reed. So I got the complete attention of the musical teacher, which now that I think about it, was pretty cool. I definitely learned a lot.
In the 7th grade they had the jazz band. We were asked to sign up if we hand interest. My friends played saxophone and trumpet and they signed up. I did, too. I remember that the jazz band instructor popped his head into the regular concert band class and said, "OH! HEY! SORRY ROBB BUT THEY DON'T HAVE OBOES IN JAZZ BAND! SNRKT!" I remember that being horrifying at the time. Because he told everyone, I am guessing. Who knows.
In, say, 8th grade the jazz band needed someone else to play tenor sax, and I signed up. I played both instruments until the 10th grade when the Symphonic Band instructor realized that I practiced the sax much more than the oboe. He asked if I wanted to go to the tenor sax full-time. I said, "Yes!" I mean, I liked the oboe and everything, I just liked the saxophone more.
A friend of mine ditched a couple concerts in the high school jazz band, so to cover for him I learned how to play the baritone saxophone. A popular instrument, I believe they later used the case for the baritone sax to ship Xboxes in.
So, I guess it's been a while since I last played the oboe, but I regret nothing. I'd love to one day buy another one.