I love using analogies for teaching oboe. They seem to click with students far more than any technical description of how they should sound or how their physical movements should be. Here is a list of some of the analogies and descriptions that I have found helpful in teaching and that I even visualize for my own playing.
Embouchure
Hoot like an owl – When teaching a student to form a proper embouchure, I start by having them make a “you” sound shape with their lips. This sound is far more fun if you tell them to hoot, or maybe pretend to blow out a candle, or make a mime surprise face.
You can probably think of some other ways to describe it. And, of course, these are most effective if you yourself are demonstrating these to your student with as much vigor and silliness as you can muster. This is a simple position that can be taught easily without anything elaborate, but when students are laughing, they are more relaxed, attentive, and better players!
Breath Support
(This is SO important for students to understand!)
Pant like a dog – this helps students to feel where their support muscles are in their lower abdomen. You could also gasp or cough.
Tube of toothpaste – for my students to remember to play with support from as low in their body as possible I tell them to push out their air like they are getting their toothpaste out by squeezing from the bottom of the tube. The air is the toothpaste and their body is the tube. No squeezing above any of your air, but all from below!
Be a whale on high notes – in order to support high notes, I tell my students to push their air out of the top of their heads, as though they have a blowhole there like a whale. This helps the upper register to soar and improve in tone.
(More help improving air support.)
Posture
Sit like a string is pulling you up from the highest point of your head – I don’t mind my students being a little rigid at first. Flexibility and movement will come later when they are more comfortable playing in a good posture and they understand what kind of movements will interfere with their playing.
Brace for impact – for students who want to squeeze their arms to their sides, telling them this is a reminder to spread their arms farther as though they are balancing themselves or perhaps getting ready for a fist fight. If they are standing, then this also involves the shoulder-width, one foot slightly in front of the other stance. This could also be called video game stance which also tends to imply more flexibility because of how the animations bounce.
Embouchure Adjustments/Tone
Golf ball in your throat – to keep students from pinching the reed and having a thin sound, telling them to pretend they have a golf ball in their throat or to stretch their throat open large enough for a golf ball to fit in gives them a much rounder and richer tone. This also keeps them from biting the reed.
Legato
Play notes like you walk – just like how smoothly one foot takes over for the other when taking steps, so one note should transition into the next without a pause
Play notes like strokes of rolling paint – maybe this analogy is not as relatable, but the same idea here is that when rolling paint on a wall, you want to go up and down smoothly without lingering anywhere and causing a drip or pool of paint.
Maybe there are some other analogies for legato that you can come up with for your students better than rolling paint!
Staccato
Like jumping on a trampoline – the idea here is that the emphasis is on the start of the note, or contact with the trampoline, and there is space between notes, like the pause you feel in the air before falling back down.
This is a really slow-motion staccato analogy, so I would also be curious to hear an idea for a faster example.
Dynamics
Bend the flame of a candle – to play softly, it can feel like trying to blow on a candle but not blow it out, just bend the flame. There is also emphasis here on blowing on a small point with a narrow stream of air.
Be the big, bad wolf – when playing loudly, I have them try to imagine their air being so broad it is hitting every point on the wall in front of them. Or to be like the big, bad wolf trying to blow an entire house down!
Style
[insert overly dramatic and ridiculous story/scene] – oftentimes, telling students to play with more punctuation, or to be more smooth, or whatever style of playing they need to have is uneffectual. Therefore, I will tell them an overly detailed situation that I want to them to imagine when they are playing. Like there is a king walking down a red carpet in his huge crown with red rubies on it and his finest robe and the band is playing. This makes them play more stately, and maybe there is a point in the music where the style changes and now there is a fly buzzing around the king! Or maybe the king trips! I try to be creative and silly and I tend do my best work on the spot when a student is really struggling with expression. The results are always good!
Hopefully this gave you some ideas! Are there other ways you describe some of these concepts or get ideas across to your students?
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