Whimsical Woodwinds and Boisterous Brass Woodwinds and Brass    

Lesson 13: Oboe - Chansonette

by Hamilton Harty

Performer: Balder Dendievel

Directions

Study the musical selection for one week.

Over the week:

• Listen to the music daily.
• Recite the composer and composition names.
• Read the synopsis.
• Review the vocabulary terms.
• Read about the instrument or topic category.
• Complete the enrichment activities.
• Study the review questions.

Synopsis

The next four weeks introduce a new woodwind instrument called an oboe. As with flutes, bassoons, and clarinets, musicians produce sounds by blowing to vibrate the air inside the instrument. Like bassoonists and clarinetists, oboists play their oboes with a reed. The musical composition for this lesson, 'Chansonette,' by Hamilton Harty, features the oboe. As you enjoy the music, distinguish the sounds of the oboe from the accompanying piano. The fresco featured in the lesson, 'The Tomb of the Leopards - Etruscan Painting,' by an unknown artist, shows a man with abnormally large hands playing two bassoons at once. Note the laurel wreath on his hand, which symbolizes victory and honor.

Vocabulary

Oboist: A musician who plays the oboe.
Chansonette: A little song.
Fresco: A painting done rapidly in watercolor on wet plaster on a wall or ceiling, so that the colors penetrate the plaster and become fixed as it dries.
Tomb: A large vault, typically an underground one, for burying the dead.
Etruscan: Relating to ancient Etruria (today's central Italy), its people, or their language.
Laurel: Any of a number of shrubs and other plants with dark green glossy leaves.
Wreath: An arrangement of flowers, leaves, or stems fastened in a ring and used for decoration.

Category

1. Music lessons group musical instruments into five major categories: strings, keyboards, percussion, woodwinds, and brass.
2. Woodwind instruments in an orchestra typically include flutes, oboes, clarinets, and bassoons.
3. Woodwind instruments produce sound when the musician blows across an opening or through a tube to vibrate air inside the instrument.
4. Most woodwind instruments incorporate a reed to produce their distinctive sounds. Examine the oboe reed. Note how it fans out at the end, similar to a bassoon reed.
5. Reeds are attached to the mouthpiece of instruments, where musicians blow to vibrate the reed and the air inside the instrument. For the oboe, the reed is attached to the staple.

6. Woodwind instruments also have keys or open holes that musicians press to alter the sound. See the keys on the oboe.

Enrichment

Activity 1: Study the Parts of an Oboe

• Study the parts on the labeled picture of the oboe.

Activity 2: Study How to Hold and Play an Oboe

Examine the picture of the oboist and answer the following questions:

• How does the oboist use her right hand?
• How does the oboist use her left hand?
• What do the oboist's fingers press down?
• How does the oboist use her mouth and lips?
• How does the oboist change which sounds the oboe plays?

Activity 3: Quiz Yourself: Identify Oboe Parts

Quiz yourself, and identify the following parts from memory on the oboe diagram:

• Bell
• Reed
• Keys
• Upper Joint
• Staple
• Lower Joint

Activity 4: Can You Find It?

Study the lesson image, 'The Tomb of the Leopards - Etruscan Painting,' by an unknown artist, and find the following:

• 2 Reeds
• 2 Upper Joints
• 2 Lower Joints
• 2 Bells
• Abnormally Large Hands
• Laurel Wreath

Review

Question 1

What are the five major categories of instruments listed in the lesson?

1 / 5

Answer 1

The five major categories of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.

1 / 5

Question 2

Which instrument category does this lesson feature?

2 / 5

Answer 2

This lesson features the woodwind category.

2 / 5

Question 3

Which instrument does this lesson feature?

3 / 5

Answer 3

This lesson features the oboe.

3 / 5

Question 4

What are the major parts of the oboe?

4 / 5

Answer 4

Major parts of the oboe include the reed, the staple, the upper joint, the lower joint, the bell, and the keys.

4 / 5

Question 5

How do musicians create different sounds with woodwinds?

5 / 5

Answer 5

Musicians press woodwind keys or open holes to create different sounds. They also change how hard they blow to manipulate the volume.

5 / 5

❮ ❯

1. What are the five major categories of instruments listed in the lesson? The five major categories of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.
2. Which instrument category does this lesson feature? This lesson features the woodwind category.
3. Which instrument does this lesson feature? This lesson features the oboe.
4. What are the major parts of the oboe? Major parts of the oboe include the reed, the staple, the upper joint, the lower joint, the bell, and the keys.
5. How do musicians create different sounds with woodwinds? Musicians press woodwind keys or open holes to create different sounds. They also change how hard they blow to manipulate the volume.

References

'Woodwind instrument.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

'Oboe.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

'Laurel Wreath.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

'Oboe-player photograph by Zach Hetrick (CC BY-SA 2.0).' Wikipedia. commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oboe-player.jpg. n.p.