It comes pretty easily to me,(playing 6 months or so) I guess because I have played every instument under the sun before it unril this one "stuck." I have two questions.
1. Generally how long do you need to have been playing/how good do you have to be before you can think of music school (as in university) I was thinking of majoring in something else before, but I love to oboe so much that I am slowly starting to consider the possibility of "what if" I went in that direction. Would it even be worth pursuing considering the fact that I still have (as does nearly everyone) a few things to learn? I know this is hard to say one way or the other, but opinions or otherwise would be greatly appreciated.

You repeated your question so i`ll repeat the answer


Heather,

it doesn`t matter how long you have been playing whether or not you will be accepted into a music school or not, it`s how hard you work!. I worked my tail off practicing every day for 1 1/2 years, and got a full scholarship ship to a university with a music program. After another year of hard work I then applied to oberlin conservatory and got accepted with a Dean`s Scholarship and outstanding talent/musical promise grant. I did this with no previous wind instrument experience. I know that it sounds like i`m bragging, but i`m really just trying to prove a point. If i can have that success with that short amount of time anyone can! So if you really want to go to a music school as bad as it sounds, practice and acheive your dreams!

Good luck!

Adam: I`m extremely impressed. Would you be kind enough to elaborate on your practice routine? I`ve been playing for six years and because inefficient/inadequate practice I`m far from being as good as you are (I`m listening to your recording of Saint-Saens Sonata I found while looking for oboe stuff on Google, and my interpretation doesn`t even compare!) How can you take the first movement so slow? It`s impressive! I would never survive, although I`d like to take it that slow. Anyway, what sort of routine do you follow when you practice? I`d love to get that good in a year and a half!

oh god, that`s like the worst recording of me ever, they need to take that offline, lol. But thank you very much for the compliments. Everyday i start with like 15 minutes of long tones... this will improve your tone immensly, while also working on your vibrato control. Do a lot of long tones... like a Low C starting ppp crescending to fff and slurring to a half hole D decrescending to ppp and at the last minute slurring back down to a low C.... that kind of stuff works on tone, vibrato control, and reed control. Then i do the full round of scales and arpeggios all slurred, all tounged, and slur 2 tounge 2. This includes the chromatic scale from Low Bb to high-high g-sharp. Then i practice my 4 barret articulation studies and 4 barret melodies for the week. After this i work on ensemble music. Then i work on my solo of the month. for your last 5-10 just play whatever you want. Maybe a favorite passage for a song you`ve played? Maybe a run that you love? Let the last part of your practice session be fun. I usually practice 3-4 hours a day, but this is NOT all in one sitting! i usually do 1 hour each 3-4 times a day, or 1:30 2 times and 1 hour one time in one day. Good luck with your studies, if you work hard you can achieve anything!

Adam Parnell