Ohio University’s oboe studio prepare for this weekend's Oktoboefest.
With the arrival of October comes Halloween, pumpkin spice and colder weather. To the nine members of Ohio University’s oboe studio, it’s Oktoboefest.
“It’s a way to celebrate the oboe, which is one of the less common instruments,” Michele Fiala, associate professor of oboe at OU, said. “And it’s a series of both concerts and master classes and demonstrations and even a session about the repair and maintenance of oboes.”
It is not the first time OU has held the oboe festivities. With the upcoming Oktoboefest on Sunday, four events will include two featured guest artists.
Richard Kravchak is a visiting guest artist from Marshall University who will perform in the gala concert and the “historic instrument petting zoo.”
The event showcases historic instruments that were used for baroque, classical and romantic pieces.
“It’s going to be the first time that (the students) have seen some of these instruments,” Fiala said. “Several different historic instruments (being shown) are pitched differently and have different keys, so that will be really interesting.”
Edward McDonald, a sophomore studying music performance, said he enjoys making reeds, a mouthpiece for the oboe, as a way to release stress.
“Honestly I like making reeds, I think it’s a lot of fun,” McDonald said. “It’s relaxing, it’s creative and it just helps time pass by, and it just kind of gives you something different to do. Something cool to tell people like ‘oh yeah, I’m making reeds.’ ”
Another visiting guest artist is Kostas Tiliakos from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
“Kostas Tiliakos will actually be performing two contemporary Greek pieces,” Fiala said. “Tiliakos played in an orchestra in Greece for a number of years and then he came to the United States.”
Another event taking place at Oktoboefest is the Masterclass. In this event, oboe students will get to perform and then the visiting artists will critique them.
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“My favorite part is the Masterclass, when you go up and you perform for the artists that come in and they are able to give you feedback from whatever experiences that they had,” Yvonne Staton, a junior studying music therapy, said. “Everyone has played the piece that you are playing for years and years, and they might hear something you may not have noticed.”
Additionally, the Masterclass offers a wider range of observations and perspectives of each performance.
“Because we perform in our lessons with Dr. Fiala, we get used to her feedback, so it’s nice having multiple opinions about what’s going on because she might say one thing but they might say another thing and you yourself might think a third thing,” Paige Bazaar, a sophomore studying music therapy, said. “Having as much feedback as possible is really reassuring.”
Without hesitation, the studio is enthusiastically preparing for Sunday’s event.
“So for people who don’t know that much about the oboe, it’s a chance to get exposure to something new and it’s a chance to really celebrate,” Fiala said.
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