Thin, elegant, and packed with a hauntingly beautiful sound, the oboe is probably not the first instrument that pops to mind when you picture an orchestra.
In fact, you might find it difficult to articulate exactly what the oboe is. It’s like a clarinet, right?
Well, no – not really. Packed with two reeds and no mouthpiece, the oboe creates its own unique pastoral sounds. For musician Steve Wade, an oboist and the national president of the Regional Orchestra Players’ Association, playing it is a constant challenge.
“As an oboe player, really, it's hard to find enough time to devote to this instrument, because, in a sense, you're making your instrument every day,” Wade said. “The reeds that I'm playing, I make them, just as most professionals do, and this is very time consuming.”
One of the trickiest parts of playing the oboe is finding good reeds. It’s difficult to buy premade ones that are good, so many oboe players are forced to create their own, “made out of stuff that you might find in wicker furniture,” Wade said. “And you do a lot of work on that and then start whittling it down into this odd little vibrating box.”
When playing the oboe, the musician blows air through that “box,” which is amplified by the instrument. Players manipulate the oboe’s keys to produce melodies.
“I actually feel really bad for my poor wife, who married a musician, but she hears so little music,” Wade joked. “I mean, I'm just making reeds and trying to learn the things that I can't play well.”
Wade is an experienced performer, playing throughout New England with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Boston Virtuosi and other ensembles. He’s also served as a military musician for 30 years with the U.S. Coast Guard Band.
But he’s also a devoted advocate for musicians. As the current head of the Regional Orchestra Players’ Association, or ROPA, Wade's group represents a union of about 6,000 players around the United States.
ROPA is holding its annual conference in San Francisco starting July 30. The gathering will celebrate 40 years for the organization. Back when ROPA began, Wade said its goal was simple: to respond to the needs of its members – working class musicians.
“People back then in regional orchestras were finding that their lives and their problems were a lot different from the players in some of the bigger orchestras,” Wade said, “and the idea was to help them get better wages and working conditions.”
Connecticut is home to a number of regional orchestras including the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, The New Haven Symphony Orchestra and the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra.
There is also the Springfield Symphony, right up Interstate 91, Wade said, and all are filled with working musicians trying to make ends meet.
“In a regional orchestra, you really have people that are making a living piecing together three or four or sometimes five jobs,” Wade said. “They're gig workers, basically.”
As America continues to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, Wade said he’s encouraged to see audiences return to live performances, but challenges remain.
“As always, it's about raising money,” Wade said. “Roughly half of your budget is probably contributed income, and then probably 40% to maybe 50%, if you’re working it right, is from performance based revenue.”
As musicians gather in San Francisco, Wade said the conference will have workshops, talks to educate people about orchestras, and tips for how to negotiate for better wages.
“It's more important than ever that we show people what we are and what we do,” Wade said.
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Regional Orchestra Players’ Association celebrates 40 years with conference in San Francisco
