Theo Todman's Web Page - Notes Pages

• "Admin - Music - Administration"
• "Practice - Oboe - General Practice"
• "Practice - Piano"
• … and various books appearing under Theory and Aural.

1. My oboe expertise has improved somewhat with practice, though I still have trouble with breath-control, and with playing for longer than 30 minutes at a stretch. It seems that the tone of the G, and especially the C, above middle C, has never been very good, though this now seems to be improving. Strangely, I’d never thought the oboe needed to be tuned against the piano, nor was I quite as clear how to vary the pitch so much by controlling the reed. So, I guess that’s progress. My focus continues to be on the mechanics of breathing, reed-control and tone, but is now moving on into other areas of musicality.
2. Lessons: 38 from April 2008 to September 2010.
3. Practice pieces for the oboe:
   • "Langey (Otto) - The Oboe: Practical Tutor for the Oboe and Cor Anglais":-
     1. #52 – Andantino in E-flat Major
   • "Craxton (Janet) & Richardson (Alan) - Second Book of Oboe Solos":-
     1. Telemann: Affettuoso from Sonata in C minor,
     2. Mozart: Theme from La Ci Darem La Mano (Arr. Beethoven); in C major,
     3. Mozart: Theme and Two Variations from Divertimento #13; in F major.
   • Morgan Nichola: Melody in a minor,
   • Loeillet: Sonata in C major,
   • "Arnold (Jay) - Oboe Solos":-
     1. Caesar Cui: Orientale (The Kaleidoscope), Op. 50, in g minor,
     2. Grieg: Solvejg’s Song,
     3. Dvorak: Indian Canzonetta (Op. 100, No. 2),
     4. Dvorak: Slavonic Dance (Op. 72, No. 2),
     5. Handel: Sonata #1 in g minor,
     6. Schumann: Romance No.1 Op.94
   • "Bononcini (Giovanni Maria) - 15 Dances for Two Treble Recorders and Basso Continuo"
   • Michael Head: Gavotte.
   • John Barbirolli: Concerto for Oboe and Piano, on Themes of Pergolesi.
   • "Bach (J.S.) - 105 Difficult Passages from the Works of J. S. Bach. For oboe":-
     1. Cantatas #1 & 121,
     2. Christmas Oratorio, Aria (c).
   • "Joppig (Gunther) & McColl (Anthony) - 100 Easy Classical Studies for Oboe":-
     1. Items 35 – 36
     2. Item 37 (Allegro Assai, by Franz Thaddaus Blatt)
   • "Albinoni (Tomaso) - Oboe Concerto Op.7 No.3 (Oboe/Piano)": this is allegedly a Grade 8 piece, and I need to speed up a bit on the running passages to keep up with the piano accompaniment.
   • "Hinke (Gustav Adolf) - Elementary Method For Oboe": Scale studies in …
     1. C major and a minor, p. 25
     2. G major and e minor, p. 26
     3. F major and d minor, p. 27
     4. D major and b minor, p. 28
     5. B-flat major & g minor, pp. 29-30
        Started to plod through the whole manual – up to p. 9 so far.
   • "Davies (John) & Harris (Paul) - 80 Graded Studies for Oboe: Book 2":-
     1. Harris - Rumba
4. Also some elementary scales (C major; D major and minor; F major; and G major and minor; E-flat major).
5. Finally, some re-engineering of the fingering for top C# and D – and now D# and E – I’m beginning to get used to these, which is an advance over my school days.
6. Violin Books:-
   1. "Jones (Edward Huws) - Jigs, Reels & Hornpipes: Traditional Fiddle Tunes from England, Ireland & Scotland",
   2. "Jones (Edward Huws) - The Celtic Fiddler",
   3. "Jones (Edward Huws) - The Klezmer Fiddler: Jewish Music of Celebration",
   4. "Bach (J.S.), Szeryng (Henryk) - Sonatas and Partitas: For Solo Violin".
7. Enigma Ensemble:-
   • Classical
     1. Alfven: Swedish Rhapsody
     2. Bizet: Carmen Fantasy
     3. Boccherini: Minuet & Trio
     4. Debussy: The Girl with the Flaxen Hair
     5. East (arr): Three Traditional Tunes
     6. Elgar: Chanson de Matin
     7. Gershwin: Summertime
     8. Gounod: Funeral March of a Marionette
     9. Grieg: Peer Gynt
     10. Haydn / Brahms: St. Anthony Chorale
     11. Monteverde: Three Pieces from the Operas
     12. Music of the Court of Henry VIII
     13. Offenbach: Barcarolle from “The Tales of Hoffmann”
     14. Purcell: Popular Pieces
     15. Schubert: Ballet from 'Rosamunde'
     16. Schubert: Marche Militaire
     17. Sousa: Marches, The Liberty Bell
     18. Strauss: The Blue Danube, Tritsch-Tratsch Polka
     19. Susato: Danserye
     20. Tchaikovsky: Waltz of the Flowers
     21. Verdi: Rigoletto – La Donna E Mobile
     22. Vivaldi: Two themes from The Seasons (Autumn, Winter)
   • Semi-Classical
     1. Lloyd Webber (Requiem): Pie Jesu
     2. Schonberg (Les Miserables): I Dreamed a Dream
   • Popular
     1. Lennon / McCartney: Eleanor Rigby, Mull of Kintyre, Yesterday
     2. Trombey: Eye Level

1. I’ve been studying Piano since July 2008.
2. Lessons: 31 from July 2008 to September 2010.
3. I reached the end of Book 1 of "Barratt (Carol) - The Classic Piano Course (Omnibus Edition: Books 1, 2 & 3)" in December 2008. Final piece: Fur Elise.
4. From January – August 2009 I was assigned a Grade 2/3 book – "Agay (Denes) - Classics to Moderns (Volume 2)" – items as below.
   • Minuet from the Notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach,
   • Corelli – Gavotte,
   • Burgmuller – Arabesque,
   • Beethoven – Sonatina in G,
   • Tchaikovsky – Italian Song,
   • Beethoven – Ecossaise,
   • Couperin – Carnival,
   • Schumann – Melody,
   • Schumann – The Wild Horseman,
   • Kabalevsky - Waltz.
5. From September 2009 – September 2010 I was assigned a Grade 3/4 book – "Agay (Denes) - Classics to Moderns (Volume 3)" – items as below.
   • Clowns [Kabalevsky, Dmitri]
   • Ecossaise [Weber, Carl Maria Von]
   • First Loss [Schumann, Robert]
   • Little Prelude in C [Bach, Johann Sebastian]
   • Puppet's Complaint [Franck, Cesar]
   • Rondo [Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus]
   • The Mechanical Doll (Six Children's Pieces) [Shostakovich, Dmitri]
   • Waltz [Schubert, Franz]
6. "ABRSM - Selected Piano Exam Pieces 2009-2010: Grade 2":
   • Biehl: Allegro Grazioso from Sonatina in C, Op. 57 No. 1.
7. "ABRSM - Scales, Arpeggios & Broken Chords: Piano Grade 2".

1. Set up Nat’s Roland Juno-D Synthesiser in the spare room and bought a set of deluxe headphones. The idea is to practice my “feel” (if any) for music by learning to play by ear – without people listening – maybe using "Cannel (Ward) & Marx (Fred) - How to Play the Piano Despite Years of Lessons: What Music Is and How to Make It at Home" for inspiration,
2. "ABRSM - Aural Training In Practice: Book 1 - Grades 1-3".

1. Theory Theory:
   1. "Taylor (Eric) - The AB Guide to Music Theory - Part 1",
   2. "Taylor (Eric) - The AB Guide to Music Theory - Part 2".
2. Theory Practice:
   1. "Taylor (Eric) - Music Theory in Practice: Grade 1",
   2. "Taylor (Eric) - Music Theory in Practice: Grade 2",
   3. "Taylor (Eric) - Music Theory in Practice: Grade 3",
   4. "Taylor (Eric) - Music Theory in Practice: Grade 4",
   5. "Taylor (Eric) - Music Theory in Practice: Grade 5".
3. Theory Answers:
   1. "ABRSM - Music Theory in Practice: Model Answers Grade 1",
   2. "ABRSM - Music Theory in Practice: Model Answers Grade 2",
   3. "ABRSM - Music Theory in Practice: Model Answers Grade 3",
   4. "ABRSM - Music Theory in Practice: Model Answers Grade 4",
   5. "ABRSM - Music Theory in Practice: Model Answers Grade 5".
4. Oboe Theory:
   1. "Goossens (Leon) & Roxburgh (Edwin) - Oboe (Yehudi Menuhin Music Guide)".

Live Version of this Archived Note

Table of the 6 Earlier Versions of this Note

Table of the 8 Later Versions of this Note

1. Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2023