Hi there. I played oboe for a few years at school. I didn't go very far - I passed Australian AMEB grade 3 (which the internet says may be similar to US grade 5?) and I had started participating in my school orchestra and did a solo performance at school before quitting. I always regretted quitting.

Now it's decades later and I have acquired disabilities from chronic illness. The only reason I bring that up is, it means I am almost completely bedbound and I have very limited stamina even for ordinary speech. The only way to find out how long I can play for would be to try it, but it would be very brief and only new and then, on my best days. There is no way I could take lessons. It's unlikely that I will recover from these limitations, but if I do it will be many years, not any time soon.

I understand that most people might say, "Well, don't be silly, you can't play oboe in that case." But since this is how my life is going to be permanently, I want to make the most of it, even if I can only play oboe for a few minutes once every few weeks. Even playing a few scales would be a joy. I really miss it.

I'm not looking for advice on how to deal with the physical logistics. But I'm hoping someone might be able to help me figure out how to go about getting an instrument. I've read a few posts and a few random websites. I'm a bit overwhelmed for a few reasons.

Since I'm completely housebound and almost completely bedbound, I can't go to a shop and try out different oboes, which makes things more complicated. I also haven't yet been able to find a shop that sends you three different oboes to try before you choose one, like it seems some places in the US do. So I may not have that option. And since I'm not well enough to take lessons for the foreseeable future, I don't feel like it would be right of me to approach my old teacher and ask her for guidance in choosing an instrument. So I'm a bit lost.

My main roadblock is, I would love to get an oboe that has the same kind of key system that my old oboe had. That way, at least I can use some of my (very old) muscle memory and brush up from there. But I don't know what my old oboe was. I didn't even realise there was a range of different key systems until I started looking into getting a new one. When I played at school, I started off with something not great, but at some point my teacher got me to upgrade to one from England, I think Howarth's. It was definitely at the cheaper end of the scale as Howarth's goes, not $10k or anything crazy, but I don't know what it was.

Apart from that, mainly I'm just daunted by the idea of trying to buy something so expensive sight unseen. I think I need to not be perfectionist about choosing one oboe over another. If I was able to go to a shop, of course I would try multiple instruments and choose one that produced a sound I preferred or that felt better to me. But since I can't, I just want something that is decent quality and not a total lemon or a scam for the price. I think in my situation, it's better to prioritise getting an oboe, any reasonable oboe, rather than aiming for my dream oboe. If I aim too high, it will be too hard and I will just end up not getting anything, as it's already challenging.

I'm also slightly unsure about maintenance, as in, will I be able to play it often enough to keep it in good condition? I vaguely remember that you can't leave them unused too long because they can dry out and crack.

I know I will also have to deal with the question of, how do I get a reed I can stand playing with, but I will just tackle these puzzles one at a time.

If I was lucky enough for my health to improve in years to come, I would certainly want to take lessons and exams and improve my playing as much as possible. I would also want to participate in a community orchestra or ensemble of some kind if someone will have me. But I don't have any ambitions of becoming a teacher or professional of any kind, so I wouldn't need an oboe that allows for that amount of growth.

I know it might sound crazy, an AMEB grade 3 player wanting to dabble in oboe on their own, especially after such a long break. If it helps at all, I got a few levels further in piano, so at least I have that little bit of extra background knowledge, but I know I am coming in at a pretty low level. Still, it would just be fun and mean a lot to me.

Thank you in advance if anyone reads this and replies! Sorry it is such a long post.

Edit: I should say, I have thought about renting or rent-to-buy. Since I don't have heaps of money, I'm not that keen on renting unless I can rent to buy. That's precious money that could go towards owning something! I have seen a website that offers to rent Howarths in Australia but I haven't seen rent-to-buy yet. I need to get to know the Australian oboe marketplace, I guess, I just feel a bit lost and daunted and reading shop websites is not really the same as being in the know about what they are like, maybe.

Hi everyone, adult oboist of 8 months here.

I’ve had an oboe specialist as my teacher for that whole time and recently I started playing in a local community band. I practice for at least 30-45 minutes for 5 days of the week, not counting lesson days or band days (2 hour rehearsals!!).

But my problem is that my lips will only give me about 6-8 minutes of (continuous) playing before the muscles around my lips start wearing out, and beyond that if I play for too long without lots of rest between phrases then I eventually get a total blowout and start blowing raspberries on the reed and I give up for the day.

I want to play longer and more often but the muscle blowouts keep me from practicing for the amount of time that I would like to play.

My teacher told me that every oboist, even professionals, have the same problem, but they just deal with it. But I don’t know how to deal with it, and my teacher’s advice boils down to “keep going”.

How long did it take you guys when you first started out to have a good amount of endurance? I feel insecure that I’ve been playing for 8 months and can only last for the short amount of time that I do.

I am thinking of switching from clarinet to oboe but people say its too hard but i think i can do it

I have a Lorée oboe that I bought new in 1986. This past Saturday I played a double concert, and as I was getting ready for the evening show I noticed that my bell ring was missing! Thankfully I found it in the green room. I put it in my case until I got home, and played the second concert without it. I checked for cracks before and after the concert and don't see any.

I remember the ring falling off once while I was still in high school when the instrument was about a year old. My teacher just worked it back on carefully by hand, checked for cracks, and told me it happened because the wood shrinks in our dry climate (Colorado). The ring has always been a bit loose since then, but has never fallen off again until Saturday.

Do I need to do anything special with it? I can push it back on with moderate pressure, but I expect it will work its way off again over time. Can I leave it off and continue to play, or does it serve a structural purpose? Is this something a repair shop can adjust so that it fits more snugly?

For all the futuristic technology advancements that Star Trek creators dreamed up, they did not fathom we will have plastic oboe reeds in the future--I think Data is playing regular cane reeds. I would imagine plastic reeds would be particularly useful to Data who does not supply any moisture.

Does anyone out there know the A1/A5/A10/A15/A20/A25/A30/A34 dimensions of the Joshua +4 shape? I’m buying a RnS shaping machine and they don’t have a Joshua+4 template, so I’m looking for a substitute.

I've been given an oboe! It is a vintage F Buisson Dallas London, seems to be in the original case and as far as I can tell is in pretty decent condition. I can't see any signs of cracking, but the mechanism is tarnished and it will obviously need a service at least.

I play flute/piccolo and piano, so have some transferable skills. I'm flat broke at the moment, so lessons are out of the question in the short term. Where would you recommend I start? I hope to be more solvent in the near future - is it worth waiting until I can pay a teacher? Thank you for any insight into learning or into caring for the instrument :)

I want to play oboe in my free time outside school. I play flute for marching band and Bassoon for concert band. So i'm already comfortable reading treble and double reeds. I do not want to rent an oboe because I would have to give my mom cash monthly and that would be harder to do in my case. My school does not have an oboe for me to use, and my budget is up to 3000$ preferably. Does anyone have any recommendations for me to get?

Hello! My daughter has been playing oboe since 3rd grade, and now that she's in high school, she's ready to move beyond her rented student Yamaha.

From what I've read, a budget of around $4,000–$4,500 should get us a decent pre-owned oboe, but I'd love to hear from more experienced players about which brands and models are worth looking at.

We live in New England, so I'm assuming we'd likely need to trial instruments by mail unless there's a good dealer nearby. Is that generally how it works? Are there particular dealers you'd recommend for buying a used oboe and arranging trials?

I'd appreciate any advice on brands, models, reputable dealers, or anything else we should know as we navigate this process. Thanks!

I'm a beginner baroque oboe player and my new reed (Baroque oboe reed: Tasso from Oboe-shop) takes a huge amount of effort to play. Should it be lightly scraped (blended)?

It seems nearly impossible to play softly and no matter the embouchure, the low F sounds very muffled. It's total thickness is 0.44 at the tip and 1.05 mm at the heart. There is an abrupt increase in thickness on the top blade, here is a video of what it looks like after 2 minutes of soaking and playing a couple of notes. Also, it's been soaked, briefly played, and completely dried for about 10 times the past 5 days. Any help would be much appreciated!

https://reddit.com/link/1x7c3jt/video/b7oubruzxsvh1/player

In a pinch I bought an English horn reed from a maker I thought would be decent. The reed is fine, but it has nothing to secure it to the bocal. I find that when I play I end up pulling the reed off. As you can imagine, that’s a pain in the neck. I don’t make my own reeds (and I realize that is a cardinal sin), but is there any way to put tubing on a reed after it’s made so it doesn’t keep slipping off? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Personally, I can't recall encountering any situation where it really mattered whether I used the left or right D trill key.

https://musescore.com/user/37270121/scores/39174434?share=copy_link
https://musescore.com/user/37270121/scores/39117005?share=copy_link
Edit: To listen to both sonatas: https://musescore.com/user/37270121/scores/39200117?share=copy_link

Import oboes..? Let me explain.
I am a drummer primarily. I’ve hopped around disciplines for awhile, but I’m settling on drums as a primary. That being said, I still record and produce music and I have always had a soft spot for the soaring Melodies on oboe and english horn. Being as I have already spent my money on good drums and cymbals… and… trombones… trumpets and saxaphones… and being that I do not play oboe in any performing sense, nor could I ever afford to hire an oboist to record for my personal tracks (I enjoy multitracking more anyways,) how bad are the Chinese oboes anyways?

I know that they are not fit for professional performance use and often have softer keywork that is more prone to go out of alignment, but is there anything redeeming about them? Can they sound good for home and studio use? Will they suffice for a doubler like me? Or is there really 100% no point in spending a couple hundred on one?

The reason I even ask is because most forums I have read often are coming from a place of “I want to be a concert oboist,” to which the replies will all be “invest in your career, you will need a good instrument, spare no expense” which I fully agree with. I don’t think oboe doubling is maybe as common of a perspective to this question. So yeah, if anyone has used them and had a good experience, let me know! I miss playing oboe…

Hi oboists — I'm the developer of Solfa. I tried a small, real English-horn-to-oboe notation example rather than a generic key change.

These are two bars from the Largo of Dvořák's Ninth, in an old Oboe II / English Horn part. The top panel is the scanned F-English-horn notation; the bottom is the actual Solfa output for C oboe. It is written down a perfect fifth so the sounding pitches stay the same. The written key signature changes from four flats to five. I haven't corrected the notes by hand. I checked the displayed pitches and rhythms, but this is only a two-bar excerpt; I haven't validated the whole part. Timbre and range across a complete movement would need a musician's judgment, and a player should proofread any generated part.

If you've ever had to cover an English horn passage on oboe, would a readable transposed part help, or is the different sound usually the deciding issue?

Disclosure: I built Solfa. The tool is at https://solfa-music.com. New accounts get two page credits after phone verification; further credits are paid.

Source: Dvořák, Symphony No. 9, Largo, Oboe II / English Horn, historical Simrock/Kalmus part, IMSLP #41075, PDF page 11 (printed page 3): https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.9,_Op.95_(Dvo%C5%99%C3%A1k,_Anton%C3%ADn_Leopold))

So I sat down to tie on reeds and it snaps super easily, I move onto another roll and it also snaps with very little tension. I go through all my thread and it just snaps. It did not do this last week what is happening?

The rod is loose and my D key can’t be depressed…

Im a freshman im first chair out of 3 flutes and we have plenty of clarinets and we lost our oboe player due to them being a senior and i want to try and learn oboe i think im a alright flute player ive gotten into all state and held first chair and also played with the highschool since 7th grade but

Hi!! I'm a middle school oboist who has an All-County Audition in 3 days. It's for the middle school county band, and I was wondering if any of y'all had some tips. I've been playing for about a year, taking private lessons and practicing every day, but I was wondering if there are any audition-specific tips, how to control nerves, not flub it up, etc,. All I know is that there's not a lot of competition for oboe at the middle school level.

Thanks!!

quick question to oboe community

so I feel like I finally cracked the code on compression and support: I am finally applying compression using my “lid” or the top of my compression sandwich. my notes are flowing better (it seems) and it’s gotten a lot easier to diminuendo to nothing.

I’m also experiencing a tightness in my chest that is also apparently normal. it’s really making me tired when I play my longer pieces though…is this just something that I will build resistance to? It’s making me feel uncomfortable and tired though….

please help!

I had this reed for about a month but didn't really use it. I've been playing with this reed for about a week now. I noticed that it had these weird black lines. Is it mold?

Edit: I can't believe I forgot to upload an image

I’ve been playing oboe for around a year and a half and wanting to know how i can improve on intonation, tone, and phrasing.

I know the reed matters a lot on how you sound but how can i improve on phrasing and such things like that?

Any exercises or books would be appreciated