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  When we play an instrument, whether it is professionally or not, we need to have goals in order to know what we are working and practicing towards. But sometimes it can be difficult to figure out what the goal is and how to get there. So here I give my ideas how to determine a long-term goal and how to determine the short-term goals that can help you get to your long-term goal. Long-term goal In order to determine what your long-term goal is, you need to think about the future and imagine yourself in different situations. Do you want to be orchestra musician? Or do you want to teach? Or something completely different? No matter where you want to see yourself in the future, it is important that it is something you feel exited about. If you don’t feel exited when you thing about yourself as a soloist as an example, then that will not motivate you and will not be your goal. Maybe in time you will change your goal, but it is important you feel excitement about imagining yourself in t...

This spring many oboe students will play their graduation recitals. Therefore, I would like to share some suggestions for the recital programs. I have included several solo oboe pieces, since many might not be able to play with a pianist this year. Hopefully this list of pieces can be an inspiration for your recital program. Solo oboe pieces G. Ph. Telemann – 12 fantasias (1732-33) J. S. Bach – Partita in g minor (ca. 1723) B. Britten – Six Metamorphoses after Ovid (1951) H. Holliger – Sonata for solo oboe (1956/57) L. Berio – Sequenza VIIa for solo oboe (1969) A. Dorati – five pieces for solo oboe (1981)   Oboe and piano A. Vivaldi – Sonata in c minor (b.1678-d.1741) C. Ph. E. Bach – Sonata in g minor (1731) J. S. Bach – Sonata in g minor (ca. 1736) George Philip Telemann – Sonata in a minor (1728/29) R. Schumann – 3 Romanzas (1849) C. Nielsen – Two Fantasy Pieces (1889) C. Saint-Saens – Sonata (1921) P. Hindemith – Sonata (1938) H. Dutillieux – Sonata (1947) F. Poulenc – Sonata (...

Sometimes it can be very difficult to find motivation to pick up your instrument and practice. But it is necessary to find the motivation and push through the feeling in order to reach your goals. Especially in this difficult time with Covid-19, many are not able to have lessons, play concerts, or even have a decent practice space. Therefore, it is easy to lose motivation. Here I give my advice to what you can do when you want to find more motivation. Have a goal When you don’t have concerts or lessons coming up and you lose motivation, a great thing you can do is to determine a goal for yourself. It is good to have a long-term goal of where you want to be in 5 or 10 years, but you also need short-term goals. These goals can be a goal for half a year, one month, one week, or even just one practice session. It is good to have a goal and within that goal have smaller goals. An example of this could be if you want to learn circular breathing, then the long-term goal is to be able to do ci...

  It is not easy to play a concert or competition. When you go to stage and perform, you give a lot of yourself, and this can be scary or overwhelming. We all get nervous when performing, but this is not a bad thing, unless it keeps us from playing our best. Being a bit nervous can help us to focuse better and it makes us more likely to give more of ourselves on stage. But if you get very nervous it can be restricting. If you start to shake, get sweaty hands or other things that keep you from playing your best, then read here for tips how to get more confidence on stage. Practice Before going to stage it is important to practice the pieces, but we need to practice it more than we think. There is a very big difference in playing in the practice room and on the stage. You might feel like you play great and you have practiced the piece enough, but when you come to stage, suddenly you feel like you almost didn’t practice at all. If you feel like you are well prepared, but get this unpr...

W e are often told that we need to practice a certain number of hours in order to become good. Many have the idea that if you didn’t manage to learn the piece we are playing fast enough or if we are not developing our level fast enough, that then it must be because we are not practicing enough. We might spend hours and hours in the practice room and still be told that we need to practice more. But in reality, it is probably not the amount of practice that is the problem, but the efficiency of the practice. If we practice efficiently it is possible to develop faster with only a small amount of practice compared to non-efficient practice for many hours.   Read here for tips how to make your practice more efficient. Have a goal with each practice session Before starting your practice session, you have to determine what you want to focuse on today. The focuse can be anything you feel that you need to improve, it can be intonation in the high register, sound quality when playing loud, i...

The past year has been challenging in  many ways, and because of quarantine and restrictions it has not been possible to play concerts, teach in person or attend lessons. Therefore, more and more have started to record at home, either to send to their teacher for feedback, to post on social media, to host a virtual home concert or to send recordings for competitions. But if you are not used to record at home, it can be a struggle to find a reed that sounds good on the recording. There are a few factors to bear in mind, in order to get the best quality recording you possible can. Read here for my tips on what to consider when choosing the best reed for home recording.   What kind of equipment will you be recording with? I highly recommend using a zoom recorder for home recording. I myself have a Zoom H1 that I have been using for years, and I am still very happy with the result. If you have good recording equipment, like a zoom recorder or any other good recorder, it will be mo...