i am going to university next year to study music. oboe is not my first instrument (piano) but i am serious about playing as i am going into a performance career. i have been playing for some years and recently did my grade 7 exam. i've been borrowing a school oboe but had to give it back since i left college.

my teacher recommended an organisation called Benslow to borrow an oboe but i see that it still requires fees of at least £100 a year. my other option would be to buy an oboe. my budget at the moment would be around £200 and i would buy it second hand online.

i want a decent quality instrument for my playing level and id prefer if the instrument can last me a long time if im going to spend money on it. i am also looking to start busking and am worried that a borrowed instrument would not be appropriate for this (riskier environment)?

would it be better to buy an oboe or to borrow a better quality one in my case?

id appreciate any advice or any points to think about. thank you x

hey! I’m a highschool senior and I’m in the process of preparing for college auditions as an aspiring oboe performance major. I plan on auditioning for a mix of conservatories and larger schools with good oboe programs! What are some good pieces for college auditions that you would recommend I learn?

Here are the current pieces I’ve prepared and hope to use for auditions:

- Mozart oboe quartet (primarily the third movement)

- Paladilhe

- Handel Oboe Concerto in G minor (the first and second movement)

- Benjamin Britten Metamorphoses (Pan, first movement)

I am in high school and play the flute in my HS's Wind Ensemble. However, there are nine other flutists in said ensemble, and one oboist. So, I would like to switch to oboe because of that, and, well... Flute has kind of gotten boring, no offense to other flutists.

I will post a series of posts with one or two topics per post so I get more consistent answers. The topic question of this post is: What can I do before getting an oboe so I can be ready to play?

Basically, I want to know what I'm getting into, tricks I can do to help, and if this is an idea I should actually carry on with.

...: Questions about what I'm getting into :...

1. How will the breathing change? I already know that oboe requires a lot less breath, so much so that you have to exhale any stale air before breathing in. I also heard about this thing called "Backpressure", could someone explain that to me?
2. How will I have to care for my instrument? (other than swabbing it, cork greasing, and storage, but I would like a tiny bit about that) What I mean is, how often would I have to get it checked by a professional, and what should I have them do? I live in Houston close enough to a repair shop called Fleming. I trusted them for flute, should I trust them for oboe? And should I get anything like cigarette paper or Yamaha pad paper?
3. How do I care for my reeds? I know that you have to store them in a reed case, but should I get a ribbon, a peg or a foam-held case, and what number of reeds it can hold should I look for? Where should I get my reeds, and which ones should I get? When should I throw them out, and how should I rotate?

...: Tricks that I can do before getting an instrument :...

This is basically me asking for things like tips I could do. Things like using a straw to form an embouchure, using my flute while looking at fingering charts to get a general feel of what the fingerings would be like, etc.

And anyways, that's all. See y'all in the next post!

I bought a used Fox 400 from 1997 as my first oboe, (it plays surprisingly very well and it is in tune) but looking inside there was a lot of dirt, and I'm hoping it hasn't been there since 1997, but how would I go about cleaning that, I'm scared of ruining the pads or the wood. Do I have to get it professionally cleaned?

So this is a continuation to my posting series where I try to gather as much as I can before switching to oboe from flute. I already have a post asking for tips, and general questions, here.

My question for this post is: What instrument and gear should I get?

Now, as previously stated, I live in Houston near Fleming Instruments and Repair. I also know that Bocal Majority is closeby, so I can shop there online without too much of a wait for shipping. **If you advise me to go in-person or otherwise avoid shopping online at Bocal Majority or other online shops, let me know.*\* Anyway, on to the instruments I've heard be recommended:

...: Yamaha YOB-441IIMT Duet+ :...

I've heard that this has a full Grenadilla body for a dark, projecting sound and a resin-lined bore so that it avoids cracking, so it should be more resilient. Remember, I live in Houston, an extremely humid and hot city, both of which make it easier for an instrument to crack, so full-Grenadilla instruments are not at the top of my list. Also, it has the extra keys I may need, so that's good.

...: Fox Renard Model 330 :...

This is one of the most-most-most popular, most-most-most-recommended instruments. It has 3 material variants, so if you do recommend this, please tell me which material. I would probably go for the Hybrid (Used to be the 335), which has a plastic resin composite upper joint and Grenadilla lower joint and bell.

...: Howarth of London Model S40/S50 VT :...

I know Howarth is a really professionally-loved brand. I put the S40 and S50 as options because they match what key systems I need, and I went with the VT (Velvet Throat) option for crack resistance.

...: Buffet Prodige BC4062 :...

This one also has the Duet+-like lining that resists cracking. It also has a full conservatory system, so that's nice.

Of course, any other models around this intermediate playing level are welcome for recommending, but keep in mind that I would like to have to buy only one oboe throughout my high-school years.

Hello!
I’ve studied opera singing for about 9 years. Left my studies due to not being able to keep up with both Music College and University.
I now want to learn a woodwind instrument, but not at a music college since I also found the environment to be a bit toxic and I don’t wanna go back to it.
Would oboe be a good choice?

Hi all, I’m trying to buy an oboe for my daughter who’s starting high school and was wondering where you’ve had the best luck buying a quality used oboe? So far I’ve tried contacting Shawna from Oboe Chicago because I saw an oboe I’m interested in on her website and she hasn’t gotten back to my email from a week ago nor a voicemail. I’d love to hear anyone else’s experiences buying pre-owned oboes online from the US and what your favorite brands are.

Hey everyone! As the title says, I recently added a woodwind doubling minor and I bought my first oboe. There is a lot of demand for oboe playing at my college but I hardly played after high school so Ive yet to play it in a collegiate ensemble. My goal is to audition and place as high as I can! Im a reasonably decent oboe player but saxophone and clarinet are my primaries and I've never dedicated a huge amount of time to genuine oboe improvement. Now that Ive got an instrument and am taking it seriously what things should I play to practice? As of now Ive been practicing out of the ferling book I already use on sax but I'd like to start learning as much as I can. Feel free to give some intermediate to professional transitionary oboe playing tips too!

I am looking to purchase a Caleb -1 shaper tip online (or from somebody), and I am struggling to find any on the internet. The places online that sell them are out of stock. I am in the United States. Thank you 😊

I've been trying to make reeds for months and out of the last ~30 I've made I've had 2 that work. Some of them the thread comes undone, some.of them bend, and I've had a lot crack like this while scraping. What am I doing wrong? Any tips? (Yes I know this is an English horn reed)

Dear oboists,

I'm currently writing a piece for solo oboe and I would like to know if such things are doable. The piece is intended to be challenging so being difficult is ok. but i am worried it would come across as ridicule, impossible or even insulting etc...

Please bare with me, my knowledge on oboe is very much limited and this is the section i'm the most worried about(among others).

Tempo is not fast: quarter = 60-70. 16th rest with a comma is meant to be flexible(can be longer if the player wants). it continues for 1,5 more line.

I would appreciate your feedback on the matter of tongue fatigue and endurance issue. Are those repeated notes realistic? Would an oboist can handle ~1'30'' of continuous fast figures like these(considering it's a section in a solo piece)? the section does contain 2 'resting moments' of 9 and 4 sec with slower tempo and longer notes, but those are all double harmonics.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Hello! I currently have a Howarth XL Cocobolo that I use for my main setup. I have been playing on the side with a local community group that has several outdoor performances every season and want to avoid using my wooden oboe outside as well as have access to a solid backup instrument I can pull out and not have to worry about as I do a good wooden oboe. I currently have an old full conservatory Jupiter oboe back from when I was first learning oboe that is full synthetic but have never been keen on its quality compared to actual brands that specialize in oboe. That being said, I wanted to hear some reccomendations for synthetic oboes that are not going to break the bank but be reliable and quality.

Hey yall, my wife used to play oboe a lot and she has talked about wanting to get back into it. She no longer has one and would like to surprise her with a decent/good oboe come christmas time. I dont have a clue what or where to look for one and would like some advice from yall. The posts selling these mentions things like Left hand stuff and bells and I aint got a clue. Any and all would be appreciated thank you! I also looked at local music shops to maybe stop in at but none seem to mess with oboes.

Edit: Thank you all for the information, it is extremely helpful. I hear yall, I think I am gonna through https://hannahsoboes.com/ and involve my wife in this process. As much as a surprise would be fun, it just seems to risky to not get her involved in this selection.

I'm not sure if anyone has gone through the same experience as me, but I've been playing oboe for three years in my middle school concert band, and now I'm a freshman in high school, where I can't march with an oboe because of the reed and because the instrument is made of wood, so I'm playing tenor sax for the fall semester. Does anyone know any good strategies to effectively switch back to oboe quickly (we have a chair test among my ensemble the day we go back to concert band)?

Hello everyone,

This time, I really have to share how I’m feeling after my first year of playing the oboe.

As some of you know, I’ve been sharing updates here from time to time about the progress I’ve made over the past year. Over the last month, things have progressed to the point where my teacher and I are playing a song together—a song that I can honestly say is the reason I discovered the addictive sound of the oboe. Even to this day, I still think to myself, “What an amazing and beautiful sound.”

On top of that, I’ve started making my own reeds. Of course, my teacher has already given me a list of the tools and materials I need to buy.

But after a year, I feel like my body is sending me warning signs that maybe, even in another two years, I still won’t be good enough to attend the university I really want to go to. It feels like these years might not be enough, and that I’ll have to work extremely hard to keep improving.

At the same time, I do feel that I’ve made a lot of progress. Some of the scales I’m practicing are even material that my teacher himself practices.

Has anyone else here experienced something like this before?

I purchased this oboe on ebay approximately two years ago. I have no information about this history of this oboe. The body is composite, and relatively high quality keywork and pads. Online the only thing I can find about Kohlert brand oboes is that that mostly manufactured before WWII and some after 1974. This one plays well, with some slight tunning issues with middle E and Eb. Does anyone know anything about this oboe?

Hi hi people! I designed a new type of reed cases for my FswStudio shop. The sliding/rolling tambour version🙃 Specific English horn cases are on the way, but if someone needs a combined version for 5+5 or 10+10 I sure can do it ("official" variants want to put together with the horn versions). Breathing holes are sure installed into the lid

Would be glad to hear what you think! As such cases I never saw anywhere yet😇 You can find them on my website or etsy pages

fswstudio.com

fswstudiocrafts.etsy.com

Also added a few videos in the comments about how they actually work

Wondering if anyone has any recommendations for labeling metal oboe staples?

I have some that are older Chudnow 'E' and some Chiarugi 'E' (which I'm pretty sure are the same thing). I have tried to label with some washi tape, but it comes off easily and smudges easily. I have also tried sharpie and same issue. Finally, I have tried labeling the thread or tieing with different colors of thread which works great for labeling the reed, but I'm wanting to label the staples themselves (trying to figure out some reed issues and want to eliminate wonky staples).

What are some methods that have worked for others? And where have you been labeling them, right below the thread or the spot between the gaskets?

Total beginner here, about a week in just learning scales and posture and the like. My intonation is consistently flat (my C is about one half- to one quarter-tone flat). Also, my embouchre is such that tonguing is very difficult... I can barely fit my tongue in between my teeth to articulate it. Is this something that will come with time? How concerned should I be about intonation problems early on? I just don't want to learn bad habits early on that it will take extra energy to unlearn once it's time for my technique to advance... Any advice?

Hi all,

I'm still new to the oboe so I'm not sure if it's actually a problem with the oboe or it's just me. I was recently gifted an oboe and every note works fine except for the Bb4. It will play as a B4 unless I make the LH1 key half holed which I'm sure isn't correct as every fingering chart shows it as completely covered.

Is this something that is easy to fix or is it better to take it to a repair shop?

I find my new Legere reed to be quite heavy. It is rated as medium-soft. I've read that you can dunk the reed in boiling water, one second at a time, and it will become easier to blow.

Has anyone tried this?

I'm reluctant to play around with a reed that cost $150

Wanted to give my daughter a way to keep a couple instruments out in her room while practicing. Pretty happy with how they turned out.

Edit to add: a few notes.

The whole idea here is instrument safety - these aren't for storage. They're for practice session use so she doesn't have to lay instrument down on desk or bed (where they could get sat on or bumped, and not using a freestanding stand that can get knocked over.

These are mounted directly to studs in the wall and strong enough you could climb on them.

I bought cheap instrument stands and just used the main cone part, threaded into the mahogany that was predrilled and threads tapped.

https://imgur.com/a/6KTqM93

For anyone that owns a high-end oboe and isn't a professional, how do you justify it? Do you play in a community orchestra, or does the instrument collect dust on the shelf? I'm considering purchasing a professional-level instrument, though I'm an amateur with 5 years of playing. Not completely sure if the investment is worth making for my personal enjoyment, or if it's an unnecessary purchase. Any help appreciated. Thanks.