Flutes etc. Oboe question..........

I cannot answer your question, except to say that my sax teacher (teacher of sax, clarinet and flute for at least 25 years) decided last year to take her oboe grade 1.
She said she found the whole thing quite hard. Her musical ability is exemplary, but her struggle with a new instrument gave her a re-freshed insight into the struggles of students going into exams.

As far as I know, she hasn't progressed to grade 2!
 
The oboe is one of the most difficult woodwinds to play well. There is almost no transfer from saxophone in terms of embouchure and tone production since the double reed, double lip aspect is so different. There is some transfer where fingering is concerned, but there are several differences that can be confusing. For example F# on the oboe is fingered the same as F natural on the sax. The 3rd space C is fingered the same as 1 - 1 Bb on the sax, and the low C and Eb pinky keys are in the opposite order as they are on the saxophone.
 
From people I've known the two common double-reed instruments (oboe and bassoon) have a reputation as jbt says of being difficult instruments to master. The air flow for the oboe is tightly controlled and oboists actually have to make sure they exhale the stale air.

If you take it up, you will find plenty of bands and orchestras keen to have you - oboists are in demand.
 
I had a blow on one once. The result was rather like someone slowly pushing a piglet, snout first, onto a belt sander.

I guess it's all finger co-ordination, but the lips stuff is plain weird. Mind you, I'm one of the few sax players I know that really struggles to get even a note our of a flute, though someone once told me that's coz I started life as a trumpet player. Not as in, right out of the womb you understand, as that would have been a) painful for mother I'd imagine, and b) both surprising and irritating for the Midwife.
 
I am late for this but maybe someone will be inspired to start my favorite instrument 🙂

I play the oboe and now also tenor sax. They say that oboe is one of the most difficult instruments to learn. I strongly disagree. Oboe is likely the most exhausting wind instrument to play but this is a different story. Just try and you know what I mean😉 Here is my point:
I do not think that it is more difficult to play good on the oboe than on the saxophone or even the recorder. It's just far more easy to get a tone out of a sax or a recorder so that not everybody is running away but nobody should look for a mediocre tone. If you have healthy lungs, some tolerance to frustration, have the time to no practice at least 5 times a week and if you are willing to learn to adjust your reeds by yourself: Go for it.
Sax players know how to manipulate the tone of an instrument. I would expect this to be a big advantage in learning the oboe.
 
I wanted to play the oboe when I was a kid but someone convinced my father that oboe players are prone to getting TB(!) so I ended up with a clarinet.
 
I know a number of oboists. All instruments present challenges, but double reed instruments have a few peculiar ot them. Most players seem to spend an inordinate amount of time fettling reeds (and most experienced players make their own)
 
I just don’t subscribe to the harder/easier arguments.
Different instruments in different genres have different expectations - more notes, higher notes, big spans on piano or guitar etc.
the list is endless.
People are all different too, physiologies etc and what one person finds awkward is not a problem for someone else.
 
I wanted to play the oboe when I was a kid but someone convinced my father that oboe players are prone to getting TB(!) so I ended up with a clarinet.
Sad. It is true that Oboes need an extremely high pressure and it may cause some dizziness. You get used to it. Just make sure you learn a proper breathing technique. It will soon become 2nd nature. May I encourage you to try to start again. The world has far too few goodenough oboists 😉. If you still have the compassion for it you'll overcome all the obstacles.
 
If you can play the saxophone how much more difficult or easy to play is the oboe?
I was a first study Oboist at music college, second study clarinet and sax. Having taken up Clarinet at 12, then Sax, then Flute and finally at age 17, Oboe, I discovered that I had an affinity for the Oboe and progressed quickly.

After leaving college I didn't play very much Oboe professionally but focused on the Sax; I returned to it in my 30s and played a lot of shows at the National Theatre, two tours with Sinatra, and some doubling session work for about 10 years. However, the difficulty of retaining my Oboe & Cor skills including reed-making was very taxing indeed. If I was playing Oboe & Cor regularly at the NT everything was fine, I could go off and do a few Nyman gigs on Sax and come back relatively unscathed. But as soon as I had a break for more than a couple of weeks I started to loose my Oboe focus: more than a couple of months and it was a very real problem.

In the late 90s I decided that I had had enough of the stress and constant pressure of playing Oboe professionally and sold my (very good) Howarth instruments. Fortunately I have not regretted this decision too much as I have had a lot else to focus on musically.

I sort-of disagree that the Oboe is 'just the same' difficulty as other wind instruments; in my experience it required the sort of constant attention the sax does not. It is absolutely essential that one's teacher is a good player and moreover, a good reed maker, and if one wants to play well, a 3 to 4-year stint at college (or equivalent) is the only way. The onus of reed-making is enormous and most of the pro players I know use reed making machines, or buy from pro reed-makers. The difference between having or not having even a serviceable Oboe reed is musical life and death professionally.
 
As an aside, I must say that the oboe and cor anglais are my favourite instruments of the orchestra, and they have been so well written for over the years.
 

Similar threads... or are they? Maybe not but they could be worth reading anyway 😀

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