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Shelley Heron

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Shelley Heron

TED: Practice Theory

shelleyheron Audition/Jury Prep, Practicing March 1, 2017March 1, 2017

TED TALK

The theory behind effective practice

A must “listen” for all musicians seeking to improve their skill. Read more

Overview: Audition/Jury Prep

shelleyheron Audition/Jury Prep, Musicianship, Uncategorized February 2, 2017February 3, 2017

“Under pressure, you don’t rise to the occasion, you sink to the level of your training” – Navy Seal

Read more

Water Issues?

shelleyheron Tips, Uncategorized January 24, 2017January 26, 2017

Are you frustrated by a tone hole that continually collects water no matter how many times you swab out your oboe and apply cigarette paper to dry the pad?

Sounds like you might need to retrain your oboe to stream condensation down the back of the bore (thumb-rest side).  Perhaps you may also need to clean your tone holes.  Read more

Reverse Practicing

shelleyheron Practicing, Tips, Uncategorized December 29, 2016December 31, 2016

From a young age we are conditioned to start at the beginning and go to the end.  We learn our alphabet “a” through “z”.  We read books from the first chapter to the last.  We eat breakfast, then lunch, then dinner.  Read more

Scraping to 80%

shelleyheron Reed Making, Scraping, Uncategorized December 24, 2016January 14, 2017

In order to avoid ulcers on the job, I decided early in my career that I needed a reed-making method I could absolutely count on.  What follows is a series of scraping instructions that has worked for me for decades.  Read more

Reed Talk

shelleyheron Reed Making, Scraping, Uncategorized December 15, 2016December 20, 2016

John Mack, former Principal Oboe of the Cleveland Orchestra and Richard Woodhams, Principal Oboe of the Philadelphia Orchestra talk “reeds” in the following videos.

Read more

Clean Your Reed, Please!!!

shelleyheron Reed Making, Tips, Uncategorized December 15, 2016December 29, 2016

Keeping your reed clean is easy and here’s a method that works.  Your reed will last longer and your teacher will thank you.   Advisory!!!  If you have a queasy stomach, you may want to skip this post. Read more

Choosing Tube Cane

shelleyheron Reed Making, Tube Cane, Uncategorized December 14, 2016December 31, 2016

The first step in making an oboe reed from scratch is to acquire some 10-11 mm tube cane – available online through most double reed accessory businesses.

Cane can range in quality from very hard and dense to soft and pithy.  Read more

Refine or Recycle Your Reed

shelleyheron Reed Making, Scraping, Uncategorized December 12, 2016January 13, 2017

What is the likelihood that the reed you are currently scraping will become a playable reed?  Should you continue to scrape/refine your reed or should you recycle it (strip the cane off the tube and begin again) before you waste more time in a fruitless effort?  Here is a chart that helps you decide. Read more

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