Oboe Lessons with Dr. Glenda Bates
All levels and ages
Oboe, English horn, Baroque oboe
reed-making, musicianship
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Online or in-person (Vienna, VA)
Glenda is a thoughtful and engaging teacher who tailors lessons to each student's interests and unique music journey.
Glenda Bates, D.M.A, has decades of playing and teaching experience. She is an oboist in the San Francisco Bay area, performing with California Bach Society, Mills Performance Group, and in her own series at Center for New Music. Dr. Bates has been teaching since 2002, when she was a high school oboist teaching a young, elementary school oboist. She has continued to teach throughout her performance and academic career, including as a graduate assistant at the University of Maryland. She is the Oboe Coach at Hayward-La Honda Music Camp, and has taught students at the Oakland Youth Symphony and Chabot College. She was also the Jazz Ensemble Director at Pacific Union College in Angwin, CA. She earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts in Oboe Performance from Stony Brook University in 2014, where she studied with Pedro Diaz of the Met Opera Orchestra.Read her full bio here!
About Oboe Reeds:
Study of the oboe requires a commitment from students and families, and very importantly requires learning on professional, hand-made reeds. Learning on poor-quality, mass-produced reeds develops bad habits in embouchure and performance technique. Learning on hand made reeds with lessons from a professional oboist will set any student on the proper track to making beautiful music on the oboe and English horn!
Intermediated to advanced oboists will learn to make oboe reeds in lessons as well. This is a skill that any serious or long-term oboist needs. A student preparing to study oboe deeply or professionally may even require a separate reed lesson, or an extended weekly lesson to learn this technique specific to double reed players. If this is the case for you or your student, please contact me about creating a unique plan of study.
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I have a list here of sources I know and trust to get good quality reeds and reed-making supplies. I also sell my own hand-made reeds exclusively to my students, and we can discuss that in setting up lessons. If you have a question about getting reeds locally where you are, please let me know! I'm happy to help.