I am a 9th grade oboe player. I have an audition for band in few days, and have some questions to ask about it:

1) When is the good timing to start soaking up my reed? It seems like I have about 30 minutes or more to wait by the audition room (where I cannot warm-up).

2) When I go into the audition room, do I get to "toot" on my reed before I play? Maybe play few notes as well? I am really, really worried about my reed not working after waiting for quite a while...

3) My octave holes (both 1st and 2nd, but especially 2nd) and D trill hole seems to get clogged by water at least once every 10 minutes when I practice. (Unfortunately, the audition piece has a lot of C - D trills.) Since I don't have time to go to my teacher and/or oboe technician before the audition, are there any quick tips to prevent it from happening too often?

Could anyone offer me some advice? Thank you in advance

It is difficult to tell you when you start soaking your reeds. Different reeds soak differently depending on how they are made. You need to do some homework before the audition. find out how long you need to soak your reed to make you happy and then find out how long it takes to dry out to the point you don't like it. When you know these numbers you can soak the reed, have it out and then soak it again while standing in line. An example would be to soak your reed for 5 minutes, and then while waiting in line soak it for two minutes every 10 minutes.

Do you get to toot before you play? YES !!!! and everyone should play a couple of notes or part of scale to see how the room responds to your playing. Don't play part of your solo, just a half scale , a few higher notes, low notes, some short notes, and a couple legato notes. You want to know how the room in going to respond. As an Oboe player they should understand your special reed issues.

Octave holes. Try to keep the instrument dry before you play. perhaps get one of those magic wands I see flute players with that dry the inside of the instrument. Keep it in the instrument while you are waiting outside. Since you will be slightly nervous you might get dry mouth and find not as much water accumlates as when you practice.

Have fun with the audition. The audition is just another time where you have the opportunity to play your instrument. And we play our instruments because we like it. So, if you have practiced your warm-ups, and scales, and etudes, and your music and you are prepared you should do just fine. RELAX and find yourself enjoying the performance and the happiness your playing will bring to the panel listening to you.

1) Ten minutes is usually the best amount of time in luke-warm water to soak a reed. This should work for most reed strengths.

2) YES!!!! Please do! It will make things go at least 10 times better.

3) The best solution for this is to swab out the top joint of the oboe right before you play. If it's specific keys that get water-logged, try taking cleaning paper (also called cigarette paper) and putting it above the hole so that it is in between the trill hole and the pad of the key. Gently press the key down on to the hole with the paper stuck on the hole. Release after a few seconds. If you see a ring, this means there is moisture there. Repeat until you no longer see one.

Hope this helps!

Thank you very much for the advices... both of you!
I'll 'enjoy' the audition (tomorrow) as much as I can!

I find that I only need to soak my reeds for 3 minutes. It depends on your climate. But DO NOT over soak your reed! When you over soak your reed they tend to open up quite a bit. I recommend soaking your reed for 3-5 minutes in room temperature water, but this is just my opinion.

As for playing the notes, you should peep your reed, maybe even a crow. If there is a warm up room do not play any "test notes" in the audition. If there is no warm up room do 2 or 3 test notes but not very long. If you play lots of random notes judges get angry.

For the water issue it sounds like you may have something (a piece of lint or fluff) inside your key. Try blowing with some compressed air (they sometimes sell them in cans for cleaning camera lenses). Also, blow the water out of your reed from the cork outwards (opposite way then when you are playing) to get rid of extra water in your reed.

Hope your audition goes well.

Thank you so much, everyone. I didn't get accepted, but I did my best using those tips.