TEACHING
Elaine Douvas teaches at the following schools and learning institutions - please scroll down for more detailed information about each school listed below:
Aspen Music Festival and School
Hidden Valley Music Seminars (Carmel, CA)
Elaine Douvas Master Conference Adult Seminar (Michigan)
The Juilliard School:
The oboe faculty at Juilliard has designed a program to cover all aspects of oboe literature (orchestral, solo and etude), English horn instruction, reed making, and repair. Oboe instructors Elaine Douvas and Nathan Hughes and English horn instructor Scott Hostetler function as a team and foster a supportive group atmosphere. Oboe class meets every Monday, 4-7pm, and the students receive instruction from all of the teachers; they benefit from hearing each other and observing the instruction of their fellow students.
Each oboist has a primary lesson teacher who gives him/her 26 lessons per year. Linda Strommen, Professor of Oboe at Indiana University, is a visiting instructor, giving 4 lessons per year to each oboe student at Juilliard. The group classes described below are in addition to private lessons.
The orchestral literature class meets once a month and is taught by Nathan Hughes. About 50 complete works are covered in a two-year rotation, following a well outlined syllabus. Students are asked to study one complete major work per week, listening to 3 recorded examples, and using a complete oboe part and a full score.
Etude class also meets once per month and is taught by Elaine Douvas. The entire Barret and Ferling methods are covered in a 2-4 year rotation, following an organized syllabus. The oboe faculty seeks to perpetuate the tradition of teaching universal musical principles through etudes and to prepare students to be effective teachers.
English horn is a required part of the oboe curriculum and is taught by Scott Hostetler, English hornist of the Chicago Symphony and oboe instructor at Northwestern University, visiting four times per year.
Each oboe student receives 4 private lessons per year and 12 hours of English horn class, covering audition literature, solo works, and reed making. English horn is required for juries in the junior and senior years and in both years of the master’s degree.
Solo repertoire is covered in lessons and in two guest master classes each year. There is an annual Oboe Class Recital, where each student performs a 10-minute solo work.
Each of the teachers gives one 3-hour reed making class, and most of the follow-up work is done in private lessons, as this is so individual. Written material is provided. Repair skills are essential to be able to play the oboe fluently, to handle emergencies, and to become an expert teacher. There are two repair classes per year, covering adjustment screws, crack gluing, pad changing, spring changing, octave vent and tone-hole cleaning, and tuning of tone holes.
There are three placement auditions each year, two on oboe and one on English horn, behind a screen, intended to prepare students for professional orchestra auditions. There is an 8-semester rotation of audition repertoire.
The Juilliard Pre-college:
The Juilliard Pre-college is a Saturday program offering comprehensive conservatory-style music training for students 8-18 years old who exhibit the talent, potential, and ambition to pursue serious music study at the college level. Students work with world-class faculty - many of whom are on the Juilliard college faculty. Students participate in orchestra, theory class, reed making class, chamber music and private lessons. Ms. Douvas joined the faculty of Pre-college in 2016. Serious students sometimes commute from other cities on the east coast because of the excellence of the program. Auditions are held in May for the following fall. There are approximately 8 oboe students divided between two orchestras.
Mannes College:
Information regarding Mannes College will be added to this page in the near future.
Bard College Conservatory:
The oboe faculty at Bard has designed a comprehensive curriculum that addresses orchestral, solo and etude repertoire, as well as reed making, instrument repair, and training on the English horn.
The instructors, Elaine Douvas, Alexandra Knoll, and Ryan Roberts function as a team and foster a supportive group atmosphere.
One of the three oboe instructors comes to Bard almost every week to give private lessons and a 2-hour class. Group sessions are efficient and valuable because the students benefit from hearing each other and observing the instruction of their fellow students on a weekly basis.
The orchestral literature class meets once a month, taught by Ryan Roberts, English hornist of the New York Philharmonic Fifty complete works are covered in a 3 to4-year rotation, following a well-outlined syllabus. Students are asked to study two or three major works per month, preparing independently, listening to three recorded examples, using a complete oboe part and a full score.
Etude class also meets once per month (8x per year) and is taught by Elaine Douvas, principal oboist of the Metropolitan Opera. The entire Barret method is covered in a two to four year cycle, following an organized syllabus. Ferling etudes are added for students in their 3rd, 4th and 5th years and are also taught in private lessons. The oboe faculty seeks to perpetuate the tradition of teaching universal musical principles through etudes, and to prepare students to be effective teachers themselves.
Training on the English horn is essential for all oboists, and English horn class is taught by Ryan Roberts.
Reed making class is held about 5 times per year, taught by Alexandra Knoll, Principal Oboist of the American Symphony and Acting Associate Principal of the NYC Ballet, although reed making instruction also takes place in individual lessons. Bard owns 2 gougers, an RDG and an Innoledy. Students working in small groups help each other and progress more quickly. Detailed written material is provided.
Repair skills are essential to be able to play the oboe fluently, to handle emergencies, and to become an expert teacher. Repair class, taught by Ryan Roberts, mainly covers adjustment screws, but additional subjects can be covered in one more class, if desired: crack gluing, pad changing, spring changing, octave vent and tone-hole cleaning, and tuning of tone holes.
In order to prepare students for professional orchestra auditions, two placement auditions are conducted each year at Bard. (We use the eight-semester rotation of audition repertoire used at Juilliard.)
We hope this course of study sounds exciting for you; we believe you can master all of your repertoire and skills in this well-organized way. We teachers will try our very best to prepare you for a happy life in music!”
Hidden Valley Music Seminars (Carmel, CA):
The Hidden Valley Seminar is intended as a college level course. Among the 21 participants, there are some high school students, some professionals, and even an occasional 14-year-old, when highly recommended. There are no auditions, so the quality of playing is varied. The older participants are often teachers themselves, and I believe it is useful for them to see how I would handle the musical/technical problems of the less advanced. Everyone plays three times in class: a solo piece, an etude and an orchestral excerpt, all assigned in advance. There are three additional classes devoted to reed making and possibly repair. There is a faculty recital, and the students have one free evening and one free afternoon while we rehearse for the concert. The whole point of a group seminar is to be efficient with handing out information; there is no time for private lessons. The reed making sessions involve one very detailed demonstration and about 20 minutes of individual coaching per person. I have a couple of expert assistants: Christopher Gaudi and Liam Boisset. They help people outside the class hours: lunch time and late night. We cover a lot of ground and accomplish a great deal in a few days at Hidden Valley.
Aspen Music Festival and School:
Information regarding Aspen Music Festival will be added to this page in the near future.