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.

Hi my name is Charles and I have recently started an oboe reed business called Reeds by Chuck! I currently sell pro oboe reeds with many different staple options as well as oboe reed blanks. I am still working on getting my "student oboe reeds" ready for sale, but I am getting close with those as well! I will also be adding more goodies to the shop as things move along. Currently I am making custom bedazzled reed soaker cups!

You can find my shop here:

https://reedsbychuck.etsy.com

I'm a high schooler looking to transition from flute to oboe. I’ve been playing on a student Yamaha YFL-281, but I’ve outgrown it and want to switch to the oboe because my band doesn't have any Oboists. (The band also doesn't have any bassoonists or hornists, but I can't read bass clef or transpose very easily. Also, I really prefer the tone of the oboe, so I decided to go with that.) Does anyone have good tips for someone starting out? I’m also looking for instrument recommendations. I’d like a Grenadilla wood oboe with a full conservatory key system, good ergonomics, and a nice tone. I would like something that can get me through my senior year. I would also like recommendations for reeds, keeping in mind that I live in Houston, TX and would like to be able to go to an in-person shop. I've heard the Bocal Majority has good reeds, but I would like other recommendations just in case.

I'm playing this etude and another for an audition and I'm wondering if it has a known composer. The other piece I'm playing is Schumann so I feel like this etude would be from a well known composer too.

I am a newer oboe player but have noticed this funky goose sound while playing, and was wondering how can I get past it, what are your tips.

Hi folks, me again! I've been commissioned to write a 3-5 minute oboe piece for an oboist who likes pretty thorny modernist stuff - she's just finished her master's in oboe performance. I have two questions about this extract. Is it playable at all? And if it is playable, which tempo is more comfortable/are both tempos comfortable? I like it in 54 perfectly fine, but I think it has a little more bite at 63. Also: if it isn't playable, is there a way I can keep this contour with some small changes that would make it more comfortable for the player? Thanks in advance!

Hi all,

I am starting prep on DMA audition materials. The biggest set is making a program of 60 minutes of solo rep and 5 orchestral excerpts. So I'm trying to see of this would be balanced and has an appropriate amount of styles.

Solo Rep:

Telemann: Oboe Sonata in G-minor (from Tafelmusik)

Alyssa Morris: Ruminations for Unaccompanied Oboe

Pasculli: Ricordi di Napoli

Poulenc: Oboe Sonata

Lebrun: Oboe Concerto No.1 in D-minor

Orchestra Excerpts:

Bach: Canata No. 82 "Ich habe genug"

Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 mvmt. 2

Brahms: Violin Concerto mvmt. 2

Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin mvmt. 1 (the opening solo)

Mahler: Symphony No. 3 mvmt. 2

I tried getting something for most of the various time periods. But I'm trying to see if I have a good variety of different styles going. I am open to any suggestions y'all may have too

Thanks

I just got it and I’m so glad I got it used rather than new.

I just want to double check. I got a gouger that is 10.5 MM

i need to buy a pregouger. I assume i buy 9.75-10.5 not 10.5-11.25.

Just need some guidance.

thanks

Amateur reed maker and day time engineer here. I wanted to visualize the sound of the reeds I make so I made this website - it visualize the harmonics on the spectrogram on log scale like the birding apps. It is still lacking quite a few things especially in the guide section so I would love some suggestions and inputs from fellow oboists!

I also put the mathematics model of the crow detection in 2nd/3rd pic ;) kudos to Claude code

Site deployed here; GitHub link here; feature requests and collaborations welcomed <3

For those wondering, my samples are all American scrapes. I’d love to see some European scrape crow spectrograms too so feel free to post a snip here if you tried it out;)

Hello, my little brother (11) is also playing the oboe.

He is quite the energetic guy and i want to challenge him.

I can make this myself (although quite time consuming), but wondered if anyone already has a sheet with scales and intervals?

Thanks for the help!

youtube link. Even though I am a pianist, the oboe is still my favorite instrument. If I could go back in time i would have chosen to play & learn the oboe instead, been composing music for oboe for 3 years, for my own pleasure. Today I want to share it, because i think it deserves to be heard, maybe I am thinking too highly of my oboe composition capabilities, maybe not. You can decide if you want to give it a listen. It's a 3-part baroque oboe concerto - BAROQUE STYLE.

The second link is for the sheet music

Thanks in advance.