First, a disclaimer. I am not telling you to buy anything, or insisting on any one method book, oboe model, or piece of reed-making equipment. I do get questions all the time, though, about these things, and on this page I will lay out many of the things I have found to work. Based on your individual needs you might gravitate to one specific thing or another – or use something completely different. If you have questions, feel free to reach out!
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Bluetooth Page Turner for iPad
If you’re playing music from your iPad, it’s FANTASTIC to be able to do your page turns hands-free. The best part is turning the tablet on its side to make the notes SO MUCH BIGGER, and there are twice as many page turns, but WHO CARES?!
Forscore
This iPad app holds ALL of my sheet music. Remember when we used to have to lug huge folders around with us, or method books and piano scores for teaching? NO MORE. I can write in the music, I can zoom in or out, I can easily scan pages into it or pull in Pdfs someone sends me. I can sort music by composer, by title, by use. I can keep full orchestral scores in there for reference. I can perform from it, with a foot pedal for page turns. My overburdened shoulders and eyes thank me for this app.
Phone Holder with Ring Light
This tiny device has made it SO EASY to create videos and photos OF MY REEDS to share with students or on my channel. When people can see my hands and scrape, they can really LEARN from them. I love this little guy.
Tunable
This is my FAVORITE practice app. The interface is easy, and there is NOTHING more satisfying than playing a note in tune and turning the WHOLE SCREEN green. I can look at my vibrato, my dynamics, my intonation, and I can easily operate the metronome, and I can record myself right in the app and THEN it analyzes my pitch for me and tells me what percentage of time I played in tune. Humbling and GREAT.
