Stapel said:
The Oboe (haut-boit) has the finest sound of all instruments known to me!
Unless you are just starting out. In that case it sounds like you are strangling a goose
Actually, the sound of the Oboe is why I chose to play it. I had a computer game that let you arrange your own music and choose an intstrument to play it (it was a game for little kids, so you couldn't get too complicated). Anyway, I liked the sound of the Oboe out of all the choices. Than, in 4th grade, my school tried to get everyone to choose an instrument, and they suggested that I play violin (which wasn't about to happen). I asked to try the Oboe, so they sent me down the hall to the woodwinds section (I think they just wanted another strings player and didn't actually have a good reason for me to play violin).
I've played it for 5 years (1983-1988). The lack of easy music was what made me to decide to switch to tenor sax.
I guess we could start a club of people who have played Oboe
I can guarantee all of you that playing the oboe is a 100 times harder!
I was really struggling with the oboe. But when having switched to sax, I acheived the level of playing in a band that people would actually pay money for to listen to, within 2 weeks.......
That's pretty cool. In my experience, the fingerings of a Sax are clearly the easiest because everything makes sense. Clarinet has that weird thing where a C of one octave equals a G of the next octave (and the switch from A to B is probably one of the more awkward finger changes that you would make on a regular basis). Both Oboe and Sax just need an octave key or some other small change in order to go up an octave. But single reeds are probably easier to use (I played Oboe for such a long time before even trying a second instrument, so its hard for me to judge, though).
Eventually, I wouldn't mind playing a Sax for something, though. Its a fun instrument and playing jazz is cool.
cegman said:
for a flat to a don't you just lift your ring and pinky off the keys and quickly replace them. I guess I could be off but thats what I do.
Well, I was playing A flat to B flat. Aside from that, its a trill, which makes it difficult to change quickly (its hard to have good finger speed with two notes, especialy with your pinky). If you wanted to trill between A flat and A, I'd imagine that it would involve only lifting the ring finger for a slightly out of tune note (that's how it usually is).
Stapel it has a wonderful sound when in tune and with a good reed but I am neither right now.
Keep trying, though. Although I don't think I thought about it at the time, but I didn't have a very good sound when I started out either. Getting a better Oboe with good reeds helped a lot, though. I tried to play a student Oboe with a beginer reed recently and I couldn't get any sound out of it!
