Clara Blood Oboe Lessons and Reeds

10/08/2025

Getting in the groove 🎶 Here’s a sneak peek of Afro-Cuban Concerto. Catch bringing it to life this Sunday at

09/29/2025

Spent the weekend tying reeds, rehearsing with and teaching. It never truly stops but I love it! 🎶 So much work, but really it is such a rewarding experience to collaborate with my amazing colleagues.

05/12/2024

Join me in taking on this summer deep dive into minor scale mastery!
Happy practicing!

05/07/2024

Sunday setup! Any recommendations for good shows to watch while making reeds?

10/12/2021

TUESDAY TIP

Friendly reminder to work hard to improve a little everyday and not for the purpose of earning others' approval.

Intrinsic motivation is far more sustainable.

Work intelligently and consistently and the results will follow.

09/26/2021

SUNDAY 🔥

In lieu of Friday Fire, I'm posting a quick thought to propel you towards a successful week ahead.

What if you went ALL IN?

What would happen if you followed through on the promises you made to yourself?

You've got nothing to lose and SO MUCH to gain.

But remember, commit to the most important tasks and focus on going all in on those rather than burning yourself out trying to do EVERYTHING and ending up with a bunch of half baked work.

Prioritize first, then GO AFTER IT

09/26/2021

"Summertime" from Alyssa Morris's Collision Etudes (2017)

Recorded by Dr. Clara Blood September 19, 2021https://www.clarabloodoboe.com/

09/19/2021

NEW BLOG POST! Shifting your internal dialogue makes ALL the difference!

In this blog post, Dr. Blood discusses how adopting a positive mindset can make your oboe practicing and oboe reedmaking more productive and enjoyable. Follow my blog for various oboe related topics including practice tips, reedmaking tips, and pedagogical approaches.

09/19/2021

Two new audio recordings are LIVE on my website! Check it out!

Listen to these audio recordings by Clara Blood, Doctor in Oboe Performance and Pedagogy from The University of Texas at Austin.

09/17/2021

FRIDAY 🔥

How can you SIMPLIFY your process to maximize the results of your practicing?

Last week I talked about working SMARTER and one of the most effective ways to accomplish this is to do less but at an extremely high level.

Instead of trying to play ALL your scales at *insert challenging fast tempo here*, try working on ONE scale for the week.

How beautiful can you play that ONE scale? How well can you play it in tune and maintain an even tone quality? How broad can you expand your dynamic range?

In essence, do less, but do it BETTER

09/10/2021

FRIDAY FIRE 🔥

This week I encourage you to work SMARTER.

Grinding away and putting in the hours of work is only effective as the QUALITY of the work you are performing.

Setting strict time limits on the work you're doing can facilitate this process.

For example, the past couple of weeks I have been only allowing myself to work on a reed for a maximum of 30 minutes at a time.

The quality of my scraping and as a result, the quality of my reeds has greatly improved.

How about you? How will you work SMARTER this week? 🤓

09/06/2021

Video review of Barton Cane is live!!

Thank you for watching Dr. Clara Blood's review of gouged and shaped oboe cane from Barton Cane. Rigotti cane, 10.5 mm diameter, Joshua +2 shape.Give Barton ...