Welcome to the oboe studio at the University of Colorado Boulder College of Music!
Pedagogy
All lessons include reed-making assistance with the goal of developing the skills to be a first-rate reed maker. Teaching Professor Peter Cooper works with students on basic fundamentals such as embouchure, breathing, tone production and body efficiency, as well as covering solo repertoire. The studio has between eight and 10 students, comprising undergraduates and two Graduate Teaching Assistants. One of the TAs is responsible for organizing the weekly studio class, as well as teaching a technique and reed-making class for the undergrads; the other TA plays in the Graduate Woodwind Quintet.
What makes the CU Boulder oboe studio unique?
Students are strongly encouraged to contribute to an atmosphere of camaraderie in a supportive environment. Healthy competition means students aim to inspire each other, emulate what they admire in other students and strive for their personal best while encouraging each other. Cutthroat competition is strongly discouraged. Cooper’s position as principal oboist of the Colorado Symphony adds a performance perspective and experience to his teaching, and students can hear him perform major oboe excerpts in a full-time professional orchestra. Nothing requires good reed-making more than the weekly routine of being a principal oboist and Cooper passes these skills along to his students. Having been a first oboist for more than three decades, he has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities of the classical music business and works with each student on career goals.
Peter Cooper
Principal oboist of the Colorado Symphony since 1993 and teaching professor of oboe at the University of Colorado Boulder College of Music, Peter Cooper has taught and performed as soloist with orchestras in Asia, Europe and the United States. He previously held positions in the San Francisco Symphony and as principal oboist of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2022, he co-hosted the International Double Reed Society conference at the University of Colorado Boulder bringing together 1,000 oboists, bassoonists and exhibitors from around the world. In recent years, he has given master classes at the conservatories of Paris and Lyon in France and Berlin, Leipzig and Stuttgart in Germany. MORE