A number of years ago, I was very fortunate to have Ray Still live near me. Mr. Still was the principal oboe of the Chicago Symphony for about 40 years, and was arguably one of the best oboist in the world at that time. My teacher in high school was principal oboe of the San Antonio Symphony, He and many other people I know also studied with him. The Associate Principal oboe of the New York Philharmonic, Sherry Sylar studied with him at Northwestern University after she was at Indiana University where I studied also. Our teacher, Jerry Sirucek was second oboe in the Chicago Symphony with Mr. Still for many years.
Ray would come over to our house here in Annapolis. He was at an Assisted Living Center near Annapolis with his beloved wife Mary. She passed away before Mr. Still, so Ray used to just pop by my home for oboe reeds, adjusting his oboe, or things like that. His eyesight was not so good later in his life. It was a pleasure to have him in my home and in my oboe reed studio and I made this video while he was in my studio. Whenever he found oboe players around, he did what he did best– which was teach. Ray was always teaching and he loved to teach. This video is one of a few videos that I made when he came over to my home. Most of them are of low quality but this video is higher quality and understandable and you will be able to hear some of what he taught while he was at my home. There is a link here to a YouTube page that has this video on it. You are welcome to link this to anyone who would like to see it. Enjoy!
Below are two older videos ( perhaps in 2006 ) with Ray Still and Reedmaker, Mark Christiansen. We had a GREAT time in my “Old” reed room. Please be aware that the Video AND Audio quality is very poor, but I put these on for all to enjoy anyway.