Chapter 2: The Embouchure and Breathing
IN THIS LESSON:
Learn proper breathing for band and playing the oboe.
After watching the instructional video above, be sure to practice your breathing each day. Remember to focus and pressurize your air stream!
Daily Breathing Exercise Instructions
Set your Oboe down somewhere safe (ideally on an Oboe stand or disassembled in its case). It is best to do this exercise before assembling your Oboe for two minutes while your reed is soaking!
While seated or standing with good posture, grab your straw and anchor it to your bottom lip like your Oboe read, being sure to breath naturally through your mouth. This will help create some resistance while you breath. For the exhale, extend your hand out with your palm facing you roughly a foot away, and direct your airstream through the straw onto the center of your palm.
Your goal should be to fill up your lung capacity equal to the exhale needed for each count of air. This will take some practice to get used too! Set your metronome to quarter note = 88 and work your way through this exercise.
CAUTION:
Breathing exercises may cause you to feel lightheaded. If you start to feel overly lightheaded, stop, and have a seat while breathing slowly in through the nose and out through the mouth. This is your body’s natural reaction to larger amounts of oxygen - you will get more used to this over time.
