You Can Play the Oboe

05/24/2023

Brendon Bushman, one of our Mobile Mini-Concerts musicians will be on air presenting Bach Society of MN at 12:40 pm today. The interview will air live on 1240 AM and 95.3 FM WJON. For folks who live outside of the central Minnesota/St. Cloud area, you can also live stream the broadcast on the website https://wjon.com/listen-live/

Brendon Bushman is a freelance oboist, adjunct music faculty at CSB/SJU, and maintains private studios in Saint Cloud and MSP. Recent performances include those with the South Dakota Symphony, Duluth Superior Symphony, Journey North Opera, Minnesota Dance Theatre, VocalEssence, and the Northern Lights Music Festival.

06/17/2022

Y’all. Meet Jenna! Jenna just finished 7th grade in Hopkins, MN and made youth orchestra for this fall.

Jenna started lessons 1 week into the pandemic, entirely online and basically from square one. Other than a few outdoor sessions during my pandemic “driveway tours” to check on reeds and instruments, Jenna thrived while studying exclusively online for her first 16 months or so. I’m so proud of this young, hardworking musician!

01/20/2022

That’s a lot of A’s! 😉

We’re so proud of you, Kallen!

Apollo's Kallen Hanzsek-Brill was selected as our 8AA region AAA award winner for his outstanding work in academics, athletics and arts. He will now go to a state-wide selection committee who will decide between the regions' nominees who will be an overall state winner.

11/08/2021

Grace has been playing for a month — and is killing it! Textbook embouchure, learning new notes quickly, and playing with joy and confidence. But she kept getting off in weird ways, and I realized she was relying mostly on contour to read her pieces.

Recognizing patterns and contours are excellent techniques to help with sightreading. But we have to know the geography of the staff and have quick recall or risk getting really lost!

I proposed a one month flash card boot camp, and she showed up with these great notecards, having already started practicing (and seeing the benefits.)

Get it, Grace!

08/09/2021

Kallen had been playing oboe and taking lessons for just over two years (his studio anniversary was in May.) We are very proud of Kallen’s hard work and accomplishments! Congrats, Kallen!

08/07/2021

So proud of the hard working students at MMEA All-State Orchestra this year. I am especially proud of the winds, whom I had the opportunity to coach this week — they bonded quickly, frequently moving about campus in a pack, and cheered each other on through a week of very difficult repertoire!

Congrats to the students, MMEA staff, and my colleagues at for a great week and the students for a fantastic concert!

08/07/2021

So proud of the hard working students at MMEA All-State Orchestra this year. I am especially proud of the winds, whom I had the opportunity to coach this week — they bonded quickly, frequently moving about campus in a pack, and cheered each other on through a week of very difficult repertoire!

Congrats to the students, MMEA staff, and my colleagues at College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University for a great week and the students for a fantastic concert!

05/05/2021

If you missed the concert on Sunday, it's still online! Check out the archive here:

ARTE Event: Masque: Lyrical Chamber Music from the 19th and 20th CenturyCSB/SJU Faculty, Brendon Bushman (oboe), Lindsay Schlemmer (cello) and Amy Grinsteine...