Exercises to help strengthen your Embouchure

Oboe

Three C’s Exercise

1. Place your lips on the thread position of the reed and blow. The pitch sound
should be a C (may crow a little!)

2. Next, form your embouchure around the very tip of your reed and create the
same pitch that sounded in step 1. If flat in sound try and bring your lips
tighter around the reed, SMILE!

3. Next, put the reed on the oboe and play a C with the same embouchure you
used in step 2, this note should be in tune if you are doing this correctly.

Flexibility Exercises on the Reed

1 Say “EEEEEEEEE”
Form your embouchure around your reed and begin blowing. While
blowing, position your embouchure to say “EEEEEEE”. The pitch of
the reed should go up!

1 Say “OOOOOOOOOOOOH”
Form your embouchure around your reed and begin blowing. While
blowing, position your embouchure to say “OOOOOH”. The pitch of
the reed should go down!

1 Say “EEEEE---OOOOOOOOH”
Alternate between “EEEEE” and “OOOOOH” sounds. Discover the
highest and lowest notes you can play. Can you play short songs such as
“Three blind mice” and “Row, Row, Row”
Two Fun Exercise to help strengthen those lip muscles

1st Exercise

a. Role you lips as if they are going to play.

b. Rest a pencil on your bottom lip.
c. Raise the pencil as high as possible by tightening your lips
d. Hold in the high position for a few seconds and relax.
e. Repeat as many times as possible.

2nd Exercise

a. Blow as hard as you can through a straw. You should be holding the straw of
the pen in your lips as if it was an oboe reed.
b. Repeat several times

Breathing Exercises

a. Breathe in for the count of eight

b. Hold for Eight
c. Breathe out for eight

Keep this exercise very controlled and gradually increase the number of counts.