The bore in a new oboe should be oiled with bore oil frequently at first, gradually tapering off during the 1^st year of ownership until you are oiling once every 6 months. Oil sparingly with a turkey feather.

New oboes should be ‘blown in’ gradually at first. Play for 10 minutes the first time, adding 5 minutes each day until you can play for 3 hours at a time.

Remember that your new oboe is very dry and devoid of moisture content in the wood. This is why you are trying to build up the moisture content gradually, otherwise, the inside of the oboe will try to swell before the outside, making a crack on the outside possible. During periods of very low humidity and very dry weather, it pays to oil the bore of the oboe to guard against the wood drying out too much.

Always remember to dry your oboe out properly after playing, using a dedicated pull through or a turkey feather. The best type of pull through is the double ended type that doesn’t go completely through the top joint, guarding against getting the pull through jammed in the top joint at an inappropriate time.

Always put your oboe away in its case after you have finished playing. This guards against getting too much dust in the action and also, in certain countries, it helps to guard against moths attacking skin pads on some oboes. (Really!)

When the weather is cold, always remember to warm the outside of the oboe before you blow warm air into the inside to avoid the possibility of a crack. You can do this by putting it under your arm for a couple of minutes or simply blowing warm air onto the outside.

If you are troubled by water in your octave vents even after you have taken them out and cleaned them thoroughly, try a thin smear of Vaseline inside the hole. You can also try running a thin line of detergent on the inside of the bore on the opposite side of the tone hole vents. This sometimes encourages the water to flow down this line rather than into your tone hole and the octave vents.

You can actually encourage yourself to make less saliva when you’re playing if you create too much - just think about having a dry mouth when you’re playing. You’ll be surprised at the result!

Sometimes you can extract another performance out of an old reed by soaking it in vinegar for half an hour and then carefully cleaning it out on the inside and thoroughly rinsing it out in cold water. This dissolves the hardened saliva and calcium deposits from inside the reed and can sometimes give you another performance.

If you’re having a hard time with the third register high notes, try a reed with a shorter scrape which plays these notes easier than a longer scrape reed. The drawback, of course, is that you lose some of the upper partials out of the sound.

If you have a really good reed that has a good sound and is reasonably responsive, yet has lots of resistance, you can sometimes give it less resistance and keep its other characteristics intact by making a small ‘window’ on either side of the reed. That is, a slight thinning on either side about 3mm back from the tip.

A good cure for a sticking pad is to take the key off and clean the surface of the pad with eucalyptus oil. Don’t forget also to clean the top of the tone hole, also with eucalyptus oil. Let it dry thoroughly before putting the key back on the oboe.

A good cure for sore mouths after a long rehearsal is to dissolve as much salt as you can in a quarter of a tumbler of warm water. Hold some against the inside of your mouth for several minutes before spitting it out. Keep doing this until you have used all the solution and repeat this process every three or four hours. (Tom also keeps a glass of his favourite scotch - lemonade for the younger players - on hand to wash the salt away!)

If you’re touring with your instrument, do your utmost to take it as carry on luggage. Even though the baggage hold is pressurised and temperature controlled, baggage handlers don’t care about your instrument nearly as much as you do. If you must check it, put it in the case and put the case in a box about three times the size full of solid packing material like t-shirts.