When Stephanie Tobin was younger, she was always told to find what she loved and then make that her career. For Tobin, that thing was the oboe, an instrument that she began playing when she was 6 years old.

Less that two decades later, Tobin, a Master of Fine Arts student and the principle oboist of the Wind Symphony, found herself sitting in a lavishly furnished room in the new Ohio Union. She had just taken one of a couple oral examinations required for graduation with a Master of Music degree in oboe performance from Ohio State, and she was now waiting for President E. Gordon Gee, who was hoping for a personal recital from the musician.

Two weeks prior, Gee told a room of Lantern reporters that star basketball player Evan Turner was no more important to the university than the lead oboist of the university’s wind symphony after he was asked about the distribution of financial support to athletes as opposed to other students who contribute to the university.

Although he had never met Tobin, Gee seemed to have a fond spot in his heart for whoever filled the first-chair oboe seat, having been a former oboist himself.

“I used to make my own reeds. It’s hard to buy, find reeds,” Gee said when he introduced himself to Tobin in the Ohio Staters, Inc. Founders Room at the Union. “It’s a great sounding instrument, you’ve got to play a little something for me.”

After a short conversation between the two musicians, Tobin agreed to play for Gee, who said he admired the make and model of Tobin’s instrument, which turned out to be a mismatched combination of two separate oboes.

“This is actually kind of a mutant oboe,” Tobin said. “I got a new one two years ago, but the top joint got really cracked.” So she decided to combine an 8-year-old top joint with a 2-year-old bottom joint.

Despite the fact that an athlete such as Turner would never be seen using 8-year-old equipment in a game at the Jerome Schottenstein Center, Tobin said she feels financially supported by the university.

Financial aid “was a huge factor in [my decision] to come to Ohio State,” Tobin said. “I think that’s why the level of musicianship is high because they can offer that sort of funding.”

Tobin said that many other schools she had looked at for her master’s degree have had to make cuts in funding because of the economy. Tobin schooling is paid for through a fellowship and a teaching position, teaching music education majors oboe methods.

“I’ve had to scrape by some months, but [the university] has definitely been helpful,” Tobin said. “Especially since music is so time consuming … it would be really difficult to have to work another job.”

Aside from Gee’s comments comparing the two, Turner and Tobin have a lot more in common than most musician-athlete combinations. Tobin was the captain of her high school basketball team when she was a senior in Quincy, Wash.

“I’m actually a really big college basketball fan,” Tobin said.
“Several of the people on my dad’s side of the family played at Gonzaga [University], so I’m a huge Gonzaga basketball fan and I love watching March Madness.”

Tobin said she enjoyed watching both Gonzaga, which fell out of the tournament in the second round, and OSU, which lost a round later in the Sweet 16 to Tennessee.

“I definitely watched Evan Turner in those games and cheering on OSU,” Tobin said. “He’s an exciting player to watch, very well-rounded.”

When Turner declared in early April that he would be leaving OSU early to enter the NBA draft, Tobin wished him well, saying that she hopes to see him go far. But Turner isn’t the only one preparing to go pro; Tobin too will be seeking professional opportunities in oboe performance after she graduates in June.

“I’m hoping to get some sort of full-time playing position,” she said. “I’d love to play in an orchestra.”

She added that sometimes musicians have to be flexible. Most end up with teaching careers rather than performance careers, she said.
“I’m really not into the band-teacher route,” Tobin said. “I don’t feel that that is my calling.”

Tobin, who recently got engaged, is planning on moving to Albuquerque, N.M., with her fiancé and will be looking for a position there. Gee, who is a self-proclaimed opera lover, recommended an opera that he frequents on trips out West.

“I’m a huge opera fan, so I go and spend time with the Santa Fe Opera. I actually have tickets this year,” Gee said. “So you can go and play with the orchestra there.”

Tobin, who expressed frustration that music performances aren’t often well-attended at OSU, said that even if there are only a few well-educated audience members in Weigel Hall who appreciate her work, she feels the same rush that she imagines Turner feels when he performs for 13,000 people in the Schott.

“I wouldn’t mind having [Turner’s] pressure,” Tobin said. “I would be really excited that there were that many people interested in what I had to say on the oboe.”

But for now, despite Gee’s pleading, it doesn’t seem likely that the student body will come out in the same numbers for Tobin as they have for Turner.