Oboe Art and Method

In Oboe Art and Method, veteran oboe performer and instructor Martin Schuring describes in detail all of the basic techniques of oboe playing and reed making, with expert tips and step-by-step instructions for how best to perform each of these tasks with grace and technical efficiency. It has been nearly fifty years since the appearance of the last comprehensive oboe technique book from a major publisher written by a North American author. The musical world and the world of oboe playing have changed in significant ways since then. There are more oboe teachers, oboe players, and oboe students than ever before, yet the oboe is still not nearly as popular as other instruments, so expert instructors are sometimes hard to find outside urban areas. Although a book can never take teh place of private lessons, it can help to guide students toward organizing their thinking.

This book is not an attempt to be a comprehensive resource on the entire world of oboe. The information in this book is all practical. All of it can be applied by any student of the oboe, and even to other instruments. The text is liberally supplied with exercises and illustrations. Schuring’s straightforward and articulate explanations of breathing, embouchure, finger technique, articulation, phrasing, and more help demystify the earliest stages of oboe playing and beyond. In addition, Schuring provides excellent advice on the “extra-musical”; practicing, instrument care and adjustment, professional development, and career development-related issues.

The oboe is a notoriously complicated instrument, and this book aims to remove as much of the complexity as possible, to present techniques that work, and to discuss these in a clear-cut manner. Students who start with this book will learn with confidence that these methods will steer them straight down an effective path. A concise and eminently useful guide, Oboe Art and Method is a must-have for all who perform, teach or are learning to play the oboe, in both conservatories and private instruction.

“This wonderful book is a natural continuation of Schuring’s effective work in the studio… I have begun quoting from it to my students already! Oboe Art and Method will soon become absolutely indispensable to today’s serious oboist – teacher and student alike.”

– Dan Stolper
Instructor of Oboe,
Interlochen Center for the Arts,

Visiting Faculty,
Jacobs School of Music,
Indiana University

“Professor Schuring’s book is an extremely comprehensive, thoughtful, and articulate exploration into the many complexities of the art (and craft) of oboe playing and reedmaking… Congratulations to Martin Schuring for compiling his wealth of knowledge into this thorough and informative compendium for future generations of oboists!”

– Nancy Ambrose King
Professor of Oboe,
University of Michigan

President,
International Double Reed Society

About the Author

Martin Schuring is Associate Professor of Music (Oboe) at Arizona State University. He has held orchestral positions with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Florida Orchestra, and the Phoenix Symphony. He edited A. M. R. Barret’sOboe Method Complete.