When I was about 9 years old, I took part in a fine arts camp . I loved the music portion of the camp and continued to take classical recorder lessons for a year after that. I grew very fond of my teacher, Ron Tucker, and was disappointed to learn that he did not teach the instrument that I thought I wanted to start in band: the flute. When he told me that he taught the bassoon (TOO BIG!) and the oboe, I decided that I should choose one of those so I continue to be his student. I knew the sound of the oboe from the orchestral music that I used as a competitive ice skater.
As for the English horn, I was asked to play it in youth orchestra and thought I needed to know more about it. I began to travel once a month to St. Louis to take lessons from the English hornist in the St. Louis Symphony, Marc Gordon. I love playing English horn and am so grateful that my position with the RVS allows me to play both instruments. English horn uses the same fingering system as the oboe but sounds a fifth lower. It feels a lot different to play. I feel like it is always an ab workout for me when I am playing the English horn properly.
One of my favorite orchestral works that features the oboe is Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scherezade”. I love the second movement of Ravel’s Piano Concerto for an English horn feature. I love Mozart’s Oboe Quartet and Poulenc’s Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano.