Klarinet Archive - Posting 000631.txt from 1995/06

From: "Sydney R. Polk" <jazzman@-----.NET>
Subj: Playing double reeds
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 1995 13:36:28 -0400

Playing double reeds is, in my opinion, much harder than playing clarinet,
sax or flute. The reeds are a nightmare, and you really have to make
your own to guarantee any success. This is very time consuming, and
takes a long time to learn. The fingering systems are arcane as Boehm
never got around to modernizing them. The back pressure is tremendous.
The embouchure gets tired in places you did not even know you had muscles.

Intonation is a nightmare. Getting a good sound takes a long time.

Oboe has more back pressure, and a more difficult embouchure, but it only
has a two and a half octave range. Basically, oboe and saxophone seem
very very similar to me, but oboe has worse fingerings, a more difficult
embouchure, and reeds that are more difficult to deal with.

Bassoon has the additional headache of having to read three clefs,
a four and a half octave range, thirteen or more thumb keys, and the
whole thing (reeds, knives, bassoons) is very expensive.

Both instruments are conically bored, so have the classical problems of
playing soft in the low register, going sharp in the high register, etc.

I played bassoon in high school, but I have never been able to afford
one. I was given an oboe for Christmas (a garage sale special!) and
it is being overhauled right now (~$650!!), and I will go back
to learning it.

One thing, though. Oboe and bassoon players are always in demand and the
technical requirements expected of an average oboe player are much
less than saxophone, flute or clarinet players. And there is 900
years of literature for these instruments.

Syd Polk