NYSSMA Solos for Oboe

Samantha Fay

Level One
On Wings of Song- Mendelssohn Dr. Bulls Juell- Bull Queens Alman- Byrd Menuetto- Mozart Entracte- Schubert

On Wings of Song- Mendelssohn

Posture, breathing, and support

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: Sustained notes and slurs, Intervallic leaps as far apart as 6ths

Finger Facility: Proper use of forked F in relation to Ds and Ebs, Vast majority of Fs forked (or left), but not all, Fast notes- grace notes

Articulation: slurred verses tongued, tenuto, legato tongue, Tonguing changing notes verses tonguing repeating notes

Expression: Basic expression such as following marked cresc./dim, Flow and line- very connected to articulation

Other: method books probably have not introduced grace notes or compound time by this point in a students career

Dr. Bulls Juell- Bull

Finger Facility: fingers must move together without blips, even over the break. The F# simplifies fingerings a little but, and there are many courtesy accidentals, and students who are accustomed to playing Bbs all the time may have trouble breaking the habit.
Articulation: Articulations should be as gentle as possible, while still separating the notes and student should work towards keeping them the same through registers. Expression: No expressive markings are specified, but maybe students could figure out to play the three phrases F, p, F or some other simple dynamic scheme.

Posture, breathing, and support: breaths are marked in, but they might actually be too frequent

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: leaps up to a fifth, starting on a low D, tapering

Other: six eight may not be very familiar to students at this level, even if it is counted in six, but this could be a good opportunity

Queens Alman- Byrd

Finger Facility: a minor, maybe practice a minor scale as well as C major, even though beginners often dont play minor scales, this would be a great opportunity to introduce the, even if it doesn't have to be memorized. Articulation: staccato verses unmarked quarter and eighth notes. Altering the last note in a slurred group note after words can be staccato and separated.

Posture, breathing, and support: Breaths are marked I four bar phrases

Embouchure and other matters of tone production:

Expression: hierarchy of accents in 44 time, short notes moving to longer ones, DC al fine

Other:

Menuetto- Mozart
Posture, breathing, and support: breathe can be used to propel through the repeated notes, breath marks are marked in seemingly reasonable places
Finger Facility: G major, some chromatic notes, many scalar passages, and occasional leaps

Embouchure and other matters of tone production:

Articulation: many repeated notes that need to be articulated stylistically and scalar passages that need tongue to line up with tongues

Expression: long notes and repeated notes need forward motion, and no time is too early to start talking about phrasing, even in simple terms. Dynamics are marked P and F

Other:

Entracte- Schubert
Finger Facility: This is the first out of the album that is in Bb, which although comfortable for many beginners does come with its own set of fingering problems.

Posture, breathing, and support:

Embouchure and other matters of tone production:

Articulation: Slurs with staccatos under them confuse everyone, not just beginners, but this piece calls for smooth articulations and smooth slurs through intervals.

Expression: Smooth feeling and following marked dynamics, even hairpins.

Other: some syncopationseighth note followed by quarter or ties over the bar line.

Level 2
Minuet- Nicholas Amani Orientale- Cui

Minuet- Nicholas Amani

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: Range- low C to high B, Tonguing low C# and C, Leaps over an octave, large slurs, endurancerepeats Expression: What style is a minuet played in? What other minuets do you know of, can we listen to recordings of them? Motion across bar lines.

Posture, breathing, and support

Finger Facility: G#, Key changes in middle

Articulation: Slur, tongue, tenuto, accent, Minuet style

Other

Orientale- Cui

Posture, breathing, and support:

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: Leaps over an octave, slurring down to low notes

Finger Facility: Many accidentals, fast 16th notes

Articulation: Long, smooth lines

Expression: Moving through faster finger passages, keeping the line though fast moving notes

Other: Syncopations

March- Handel
Posture, breathing, and support: breaths are marked, and the mark style leaves opportunities for breathing in plenty of places as long as they are well planned. Other: Beginning band students know marches, this is a very comfortable option, but I really dont see much unique potential for learning here. A Handel march isnt quite the same as a Sousa march, but there are definitely better options for level 2s than this one.

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: Nothing too complicated here, some larger tongued leaps.

Finger Facility: C major, simple melody, only fast finger work required is in trills, simple dotted eighth 16th passages, and written-out turns.

Articulation: march style articulations

Expression: marcato is marked at the beginning, so the march marcato style must be kept in mind throughout the piece without specific reminders

Level 3
Mosquito Dance- Mendelssohn Arioso- JS Bach (CCC) Two Menuettos- JS Bach (CCC) Gavotte- Goedicke (CCC) Aria& Rondinella- Handel (CCC) Menuetto & Presto Haydn (CCC) Piece in G minor- Pierne (CCC)

Mosquito Dance- Mendelssohn

Posture, breathing, and support: Long phrases

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: Endurance needed- no significant breaks, Downward octave leaps

Finger Facility: Navigating frequent key changes- keeping track even in simple keys, Requires comfort in use of C# key, a difficult finger stretch, No forked Fs required, even in CM section!

Articulation: Almost constant articulation cant get in the way of musicality/tempo, what kinds of articulation help to portray lively

Expression: Musically choosing how much to change tempo at a little slower or slower and back to a consistent a tempo, Change tempo and dynamic independently, Using articulation as a tool towards expression, not a hindrance

Other:

Arioso- JS Bach
Concert and Contest Collection

Posture, breathing, and support: Long slurred passages. Some breaths are marked in, but students must also take into account in verses out breaths and make a breathing plan that works for them and the music, even if that is different from what the editor marked.

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: Embouchure must allow for smooth skips under slurs

Finger Facility: No particularly fast finger work, but some trills, accidentals, alternate Fs

Articulation: smooth articulations necessary, and also knowing when to articulate and when to slur as marked

Expression: Many opportunities for expression. More dynamics can and should be played than just the pianos marked. Also performance suggestions listed at bottom of page provide interesting stylistic advice and background for a young player.

Other: Counting the eighth notes, counting even triplets

Two Menuettos- JS Bach

Concert and Contest Collection

Posture, breathing, and support: support necessary for large upward leaps and connecting moving notes under slur

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: Embouchure adjustment and flexibility necessary

Finger Facility: Many moving notes, some accidentals, could potentially get fast, but cannot get sloppy. Although there are no specific technical challenges a true allegretto tempo would make this more technical than many level 3s

Articulation: Menuetto style is driven by articulation and much attention should be paid to them. Clean and crisp but not too short or accented.

Expression: Student should explore what to do dynamically and musically in sequences where no specific instructions are marked

Other: break between two sections may be helpful for student struggling with endurance, although if repeats are taken piece will still be quite long

Gavotte- Goedicke
Concert and Contest Collection

Posture, breathing, and support: Breaths are marked in to aid in phrasing, but as always may need adjustment by student

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: upward slurred leaps

Finger Facility: If taken in a quick cut time, this piece could also be relatively technical. G#s tend to be unfamiliar to young students, but the problem of choosing Fs is generally taken out of the equation in GM, which helps. Excessive courtesy accidentals may be confusing at times.

Articulation: the biggest articulation challenge in this is the difference between staccato 8ths and staccato 4trs, and not being tricked by the small changes in articulation patterns in 8th note groupings/

Expression: Articulation should propel the piece forward, the general feel, no matter what the end tempo is, should be light and dancing.

Other: Cut time can be challenging to students who are unfamiliar with it, but that should not get in the way of learning the piece.

Aria& Rondinella- Handel

Concert and Contest Collection

Posture, breathing, and support: support, even at PP is vital for largo (and all music!) and tonguing in the wind will be important for faster articulations

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: There are some big skips at the end of the Allegretto Scherzo. Also tone quality is important in slow music. Since fingers are easy, that gives the opportunity to focus on other things

Finger Facility: The allegretto scherzo doesn't specify if it should be in 1 or three, but there are some fast moving notes there. Practicing the GM scale in thirds could help a lot.

Articulation: Articulations should vary between first and second sections. Differentiating between staccato, accented, and unmarked notes in Allegretto Scherzo.

Expression: Accentuate contrasts between movements and between repeats! Start trills from the note above.

Other: This piece is set apart from many other level threes because of its contrasting movements, which is a really appealing opportunity to practice style and contrast and work on well-rounded musicianship, especially seeing as so many students work on NYSSMA pieces for so long at a time. It also gives the opportunity to talk about baroque style, trills, anticipations, turns, written out ornaments. And Relative Minors.

Menuetto & Presto- Haydn

Concert and Contest Collection

Posture, breathing, and support: Large intervals, ascending and descending, tongued and slurred, air must support through them, not back away.

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: Embouchure flexibility a must for large interval slurs, up to an octave in range.

Finger Facility: If the Menuetto is taken at a reasonable tempo, the sixteenth notes will be pretty past. They arent difficult finger patterns, but regular F is a must!

Articulation: Articulations between Menuetto and Presto should be different. But how?

Expression: opportunity to discuss stylistic changes within Menuetto (and trio) and relative minor concept.

Other: Many examples of simple syncopations. Counting triplets.

Piece in G minor- Pierne

Concert and Contest Collection
Expression: many expressive markings are given as guidance, and they are even bilingual. There is much room for expression with tempo, dynamics, articulation, emphasis etc.

Posture, breathing, and support: long phrases, and long notes that must be supported through, regardless of range.

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: tapering and control on long notes

Finger Facility: wide range of appropriate tempo determines how much finger facility is necessary. Many arpeggios and scalar turnarounds.

Articulation: articulations are simple, but must portray style and meaning.

Other: Another great piece, high quality writing, not just a transcription, very different feel from the baroque ones

Level 4
Sonata in C Major-Loeillet Elegiac Dance- Michael Head Allegro Moderato- Haydn (CCC) Sonatina- Mozart (CCC) Colloquy- Schwarz (CCC)

Sonata in C Major-Loeillet
Expression: Requires knowledge of baroque stylehow to handle ornaments, what articulations are appropriate to the style. Is Adagio at the end of the Largo movement supposed to be faster or slower? Is it a sudden or gradual tempo change? Italian Largo cantabile Adagio Allegro Largo espressivo Dolce espressivo allegro

Posture, breathing, and support: Long phrases, need shaping and support, especially in Largo Cantabile

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: Incredible endurance necessarily if repeats are taken fully

Finger Facility: Many scalar and arpeggiated passages. Trills, mordents, grace notes, turns.

Articulation: Very wide variety of articulations required: tenuto under slur, accent, staccato. Use of articulation for expression/style

Other: Counting common time in 8 while maintaining good phrasing

Elegiac Dance- Michael Head

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: Slow areas need beautiful tone, Keeping tone consistent from slow moving notes to fast ones and back Finger Facility: Finger facility is important here, to be able to navigate over the break and through forked/left F passages quickly and easily in flourishes Expression: Much potential for expressionplaying with tempo in many marked tempo changes and in rubato and ad lib sections., Shaping long phrases Other: Must keep sense of steady pulse through slow moving eighth notes and sections where the tempo changes, this might be one of the largest challenges to this piece.

Posture, breathing, and support: Long slurs and phrases, Honoring marked breaths and adding your own

Articulation: Soft tongue, grazia and dolce. Differentiate between slurred and tongued while maintaining grace.

Allegro Moderato- Haydn

Concert and Contest Collection

Posture, breathing, and support: Upward leaps of an octave or more require solid support

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: High Ds, large leaps require embouchure flexibility and awareness of pitch within intervals.

Finger Facility: scalar passages require fast, even finger work, with F# or natural.

Articulation: Accents, staccatos, etc. need to be performed in a classical style, which is not necessarily the same way as they would be in a band setting. Haydn isnt the same as Sousa.

Expression: this piece has a relatively small stylistic palette, since it is a single movement, but that means that more attention can be paid to mastering this particular style, with the marked dynamics and articulations, as well as attention to shape and phrasing.

Other: This is probably the easiest four our of the concert and contest collection

Sonatina- Mozart
Concert and Contest Collection

Posture, breathing, and support: support through long and short notes, not giving up on the airstream between eighth notes/eighth rest repetitions High Ds may show if support is adequate anywhere else.

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: High Ds in second and third movement, including notorious B to D slur, students at this level should be thinking about pitch and intervals, and maybe even vibrato. The opening long notes are perfect places to introduce vibrato.

Finger Facility: Finger facility is important and some notes do move quickly, luckily fast notes tend to be scalar and GM or CM, but there are some tricky parts with left (forked) Fs and chunked scales in thirds and arpeggios

Articulation: Light, classical articulations required, staccatos should not be too short or severe, but should lend character

Expression: this piece has plenty of opportunity for expression, the editor has given guidelines of dynamics and articulation, but the movements also have the potential for distinct personalities, and the second movement really requires thought of expression, not just in dynamics, but emphasis and intention.

Other:

Colloquy- Schwarz
Concert and Contest Collection

Posture, breathing, and support: support is necessary for a confident sound, especially when intervals are not what are expected

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: No hugely large leaps, but many slurred intervals that need to be smooth, pp final gesture requires delicate balance of air support and embouchure. Tapering is always important.

Finger Facility: Fingers do not have to move particularly fast, but they do need to move through unfamiliar progressions of notes and finger combinations. Music reading ability is particularly important because it will be all but impossible to just follow patterns and intervals and make it though

Articulation: Variety of articulation necessary, accent, staccato, staccato after slur etc.

Expression: Expression is so important for this piece to keep it sounding cohesive and intentional. The small cadenza is a great opportunity for students who have never had the opportunity to use musical freedom and make decisions for themselves before, in a smallscale controlled setting. Expressive marks are clear and frequent throughout piece, so the student has no shortage of guidance.

Other: Mixed meter, especially 7/8 is very tricky to count, alone or with piano, and requires a really good sense of beat and subdivision

Level 5
Sonate for Oboe- Hindemith Concerto in C minor- Cimarosa Concertante- Paladilhe Handel Sonatas No. 2&3 Concerto in f minor- Telemann Three Romances Schumann

Sonate for Oboe- Hindemith

Finger Facility: Fast and decisive finger movements are necessary, but also comfort with nonstandard finger movement patterns, planning of fingerings in advance for difficult passages, being consistent with patterns. Comfort in music reading, enharmonic tones, muscle and other memory, and ability to look ahead and think of many things at once is especially important for this piece compared to more traditional solos of this difficulty.

Posture, breathing, and support: Good fundamentals of posture, breathing, and support are vital for maintaining sense of phrase through large and unusual intervals and long phrases.

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: Embouchure must be able to smooth through intervals and span a wide range.

Articulation: Wide variety of articulations needed, but no particularly fast tonguing required. How do articulation and style need to adjust for modern music verses what the student is more accustomed to?

Expression: How do you find the beauty in the music? How do the different notes connect and relate to each other? How can you maintain a sense of line, phrasing, and forward motion despite a very slow tempo? Translating German performance instructions

Other:

Concerto in C minor- Cimarosa

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: Mature, developed embouchure necessary for high notes and octave jumps in first movements, Great opportunity to use vibrato in resolution notes in first movement and in third movement, Tuning intervals and notes, Smoothing slurred downward intervals in fourth movement Expression: Heavily edited, but much direction given for students who are unfamiliar with what sort of judgment calls go into interpreting a piece themselves. Difficult to make fragmented, repetitive melody of first movement seem coherent. Large stylistic differences and challenges between contrasting movements

Posture, breathing, and support: Support important for high notes, fast octave jumps, tonguing on the air to maintain line

Finger Facility: Fast playing (and coordination with tongue) in both fast and slow movement

Articulation: Variety of articulations, Fast repeating staccato articulations necessary in fast movements

Other:

Concertante- Paladilhe
Finger Facility: Facility required for fast notes, high notes, and fast high notes. Enough facility required in fast cadenza notes to allow expressive taste to dictate cadenza and rubato feel, not finger facility. Expression: Following expressive marking and adapting them to fit into your musical ideas , Having musical ideas beyond those clearly marked in ink on the page, Requires higher level understanding of musicianship for an expressive, successful performance.

Posture, breathing, and support:

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: Facility required for large leaps (slurred and tongued) in different ranges including to and from High C, D, Eb, and E.

Articulation: Articulative palette needs to allow for stylistic changes throughout the piece. Consistency through registers

Other: Learning with accompaniment may present some challenges, triplet/8th note overlap etc.

Handel Sonatas No. 2&3

Articulation: Smooth articulations for slow movements, variation and creativity is key. Articulation, more than speed, determines the style of allegro. What articulations make for an allegro feel and how can you keep them always moving forward? Expression: Counting the 8th note pulse while maintaining good flow and phrasing and syntax in first movements. Knowledge of baroque music to determine style. Other: Good potential for first attempts at ornamentation on third movements. Write in ideas, experiment, hear what sounds right, dont be afraid to make mistakes or deviate from what is written.

Posture, breathing, and support:

Embouchure and other matters of tone production:

Finger Facility: Ornaments in slow movements need to be smooth, and fast movement sixteenth notes need to be secure.

Concerto in f minor- Telemann

Articulation: articulation drives style in fast and slow movements, staccato in adagio and staccato in allegro are very different. Repeated staccatos in a row require fast, steady tongue as well as coordinated fingers. Expression: heavily edited, there are many instructions for expression in this piece, but performers can also make their own decisions on what is right for them. Slow movement is not ornamented, but ornaments can be added in any of the movements.

Posture, breathing, and support: frequent repeating notes and sequences require breath suport and direction

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: tapering ends of notes, holding long notes in tune, and beautifully

Finger Facility: F minor gives frequent challenges with finger coordination and planning of alternate fingerings

Other:

Three Romances Schumann

Posture, breathing, and support: this is really the key of these pieces. They really rush the performer to new levels of fundamentals that they had probably never thought of in this way. Planning breathing is essential and any flaw in breathing or supporting technique qill be magnified to the point that the performer has no choice but to fix it. Every oboist should spend some time with these romances. Just because they are only a level five doesnt mean that they are easy. Embouchure and other matters of tone production: a strong, flexible embouchure is so important for these pieces to make them sound romantic and easy, no matter how untrue that may be. Embouchure must be able to control pitch, tapering, and beauty of sound through any range or interval, even when it is thoroughly exhausted. Vibrato is also so important to the shaping and phrasing.. Expression: Expression is paramount in these romances, the interlay between oboe and piano should be enjoyed and brought out. The subtle differences between different iterations of the same melody must be planned and accentuated, and every note needs to be considered in the greater picture. The air is the center, breathing life into the music.

Finger Facility: the lack of fast-moving notes is what makes these pieces so deceptive, but it is still important that fingers can move smoothly and decisively with no blips or breaks in the sound.

Articulation: articulations must be clean and clear and placed with intent to propel the phrases forward, not just to break slurs and make time to breath. Beauty and clarity of articulation cannot just go out the window when one is out of breath, although this is much more easily said than done.

Other:

Level 6
Sonata for Oboe and Piano- Poulenc Sonata for Oboe and Piano- Saint Saens Concerto in C for Oboe- Benedetto Marcello Six Metamorphoses after Ovid- Benjamin Britten Concerto in C- Haydn Concerto for Oboe and Strings- Vaughn Williams

Sonata for Oboe and PianoPoulenc

Posture, breathing, and support: High notes, dynamic range, long phrases all require good fundamentals of posture, breathing, and support. Embouchure and other matters of tone production: Embouchure is necessary for high notes and many large intervals. Ability to vary vibrato speeds would be very beneficial. Finger Facility: Facility is necessary in flourishes in slow movement and movement in fast movement. Facility in high register and in new keys necessary. Articulation: Fast articulations and coordination with fingers necessary in scherzo. Clean, confident attacks on high notesespecially first note of the piece!

Expression: Using articulations to drive style in scherzo, forward motion, tone color, vibrato. Meanings of names of movementsElegie, Scherzo, Deploration

Other:

Sonata for Oboe and PianoSaint Saens

Other: The first movement presents a few counting challenges, especially in the thirty second notes and the tempo changes. Likewise, the third movement tempo needs to remain consistent from triplets, to sixtenths, to long notes, and back again. Mood must change, but tempo remains the same. Also, NYSSMA passes over a huge opportunity for experimentation, expression, and personal growth in the second movement of this piece. The second movement should be studied for the artistry of the cadenzas and the technical smoothness that they require and also the beautiful, stylistic use of compound meter, which many students do not have enough exposure to.

Posture, breathing, and support: You cant fake breath support if you are ever going to play a high F# or G, not to mention spending an extended time trilling or playing unbroken slurs. Breath and support are essentual for runs to speak and expression and artistry to come through. The time time a student is playin this piece, posture needs to be a non-issue.

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: A flexible embouchure is vital for the B and D octave leaps in the third movement, as well as high note work and even the more innocent looking bell tones in the opening. Embouchure must also facilitate good intonation.

Finger Facility: Finger faciliity is huge in this piece. The runs in the third movement are not easy, neither are the flourishes in the first.

Articulation: As always with music of this caliber, variety and quality of articulation is key. To perform movement 3 at a very high , true allegro MOLTO tempo, a very rapid tongue is necessary, but to play the piece at the high school level at a more conservative performance speed, this piece does allow for a lot of practice with fast finger work that is separated from the tongue, which could be beneficial for some students.

Expression: Emphasis, priority, and line is essential to the first movement. Much attention should be paid to expression In the third movement, the music must move forwards even when there are short areas of rest. The long trills must not be stagnant.

Concerto in C for OboeBenedetto Marcello

Articulation: Varied articulations are important, as always articulations color the expression in both fast and slow music, luckily the first movement is not actually fast and the third movement , although faster doesnt require extremely fast tonguing. Expression: It can be easy to get bogged down in the first movement because of all of the breaks, especially when playing unaccompanied. There is a lot of room for expression in the secnd movement, and it is important to remember that the ornaments, although written out, should still have an improvisatory, natural, easy feel. Articulation in the third movement should be lightand forward moving.

Posture, breathing, and support: Breathing plan in first movement needs attention, especially in and out breathes. Support necessary all around, through slurs or articulated passages, just the same.

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: Smooth, flexible tranisitons between intervals and ranges and ednurance are both key, as well as intonation, tapering, etc.

Finger Facility: Embellishments require much facility, scales, arpeggios, alternate fingerings, etc.

Other:

Six Metamorphoses after OvidBenjamin Britten

Posture, breathing, and support: Good breathing and support are essential to success in playing mvt 3, Niobe. Any flaws at all will be readily apparent throughout most of the movement, not to mention the final pp high D. Dynamic Contrast, and also supporting through lines with breaks or strong articulation also require good fundamentals of breathing. Articulation: Large range of articulations are marked and implied, and they need to be executed so that they are distinctly different from each other while still fitting the style of the piece. Performer must decide where the line is between stylistically appropriate and ugly, and not cross that line. Expression The performer is given many specific instructions directly from the composer and must honor those instructions, but also make their own stylistic judgments about performance, and has the freedom and responsibility of playing unaccompanied. The characters and descriptions given to each of these movements give very solid, tangible places to start a discussion of taking music to a new level of expression, not just technical accuracy, especially if a student is struggling to make that transition.:

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: Supporting through lines, tapering, playing senza vibrato at the end of Niobe, and changing tone color between and throughout movements are all necessary to pull off these pieces.

Finger Facility: Finger facility though fast flourishes, and long fast passages, even those that dont fit cleanly into commonly played scales and arpeggios is vital. Even the slow movement is written with five flats, smooth use of left F and Eb, forked F, side Ab etc. are all required.

Other: No student should ever prepare this for NYSSMA without working on Pan, it really is an indispensable way to learn counting and rhythm and flow and freedom and confidence, and so many things. But it is understandable why it would be difficult to judge in a formal setting like NYSSMA.

Concerto in C- Haydn
Finger Facility: This is why we practice scales! Like most classical music, scales, arpeggios, scales in thirds, etc. are really prominent and really helpful to be familiar with, comfortable with, recognize, and even have memorized. Articulation: Articulation is important, but all of the sixteenth notes in the first movement are slurred, which is a huge difference from the Mozart Concerto. That means that when there are articulations, they are that much more important, and there are plenty of opportunities for fast tonguing in the third movement! Expression: this music has so much character and contrast between movements and the included cadenzas provide so much opportunity for expression, but it could be difficult to find the point in music that at some times seems to much more technical exercise than melody. It might not be a good choice for a student who struggles with playing musically.

Posture, breathing, and support: Good support and wellplanned breathing is essential for intonation, tone, style, everything. They cant lag when notes get fast or during easier sections

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: Embouchure must tranisiton between registers quickly, easily, and seamlessly. Note endings must be beautiful and in tune

Other:

Concerto for Oboe and StringsVaughn Williams

Articulation: Articulation should really bring out the different sections within the music, emphasize character and mood and changing color and energy. Often articulations need to be very fast and light. Expression: this piece, although very technicallly difficult, is a goldmine of exxpressive possibilities, even if only in the first movement, which NYSSMA grades. The melodies and cadenzas are beautiful and flowing and varied, but the contrasting moods in the middle section also give many other opportunities for exploration.

Posture, breathing, and support: this first movement is so long, with long phrases, high notes, and long sections and short breaks. Fundamentals are everything here.

Embouchure and other matters of tone production: Slurs to night notes and back, moving quickly through large ranges, tongued or slurred,

Finger Facility: Finger facility is so important, scales, arpeggios, changing keys, very fast movement in and outside of cadenzas

Other: