Band Today, Part 3: Oboe Book

Ployhar wrote the Contemporary Band Course from the ground up for real teaching situations, and Part 3 reflects that earned authority. The progression balances fundamental technique work with musically interesting material, so students advance their oboe skills without slogging through disconnected exercises. Directors appreciate how the scale studies, articulation work, and contemporary rhythmic studies integrate seamlessly, giving oboe students both the foundation and the forward momentum they need to handle advanced repertoire.

Purposeful and direct. Every exercise and tune has a job to do, whether building finger dexterity, evening out the registers, or preparing your ear for contemporary compositional language. The contemporary rhythm studies especially bridge the gap between traditional technique work and what your ensemble is actually performing.

Advanced-intermediate oboe players in concert band programs who have moved past foundational method books and are ready to refine their tone, expand their technical vocabulary, and prepare for the demands of upper-level band literature. This book serves oboists who need focused daily work on scales, articulation, and modern rhythmic concepts without abandoning musical context.

• Tackle the chromatic scale studies slowly and methodically, focusing on evenness of tone across the full range rather than racing through them. These are muscle memory builders, not speed tests.
• Use the contemporary rhythm studies as preparation for the actual pieces your ensemble is learning; mark the rhythmic patterns you encounter there and apply that awareness to rehearsals.
• Approach the articulation studies by isolating the specific tonguing patterns one at a time, then layer them into the technic tunes once your tongue feels secure with the motion.

Assign sections of Band Today, Part 3 as focused woodwind sectional material during your weekly rehearsal cycle, rotating between scale studies one week and articulation work the next. The contemporary rhythm studies work particularly well as preparation for new band pieces featuring modern meters or syncopation, giving your oboes a head start before the full ensemble learns those sections.

• Major and minor scale fluency and evenness
• Chromatic scale facility across the full range
• Articulation clarity and consistency (tonguing techniques)
• Reading and performing contemporary rhythmic patterns (syncopation, displaced rhythms)
• Technical etude playing (embouchure control, finger coordination)
• Tone balance across registers