Klarinet Archive - Posting 000280.txt from 1998/03

From: ROBERT HOWE <arehow@-----.net>
Subj: Re: oboe and clarinet
Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 14:42:23 -0500

Someone wrote:
"Clarinet is great. Piano is good. Oboe--well, I never played one
much,
but I'm married to an oboe player. I won't say that the clarinet is a
superior instrument (even though it is), but I do see her spending a lot
of time tying reeds and cutting her hands with razor blades.

Keep practicing!

kjf"

The glove is thrown!

I disagree. Clarinet is great. Piano, I dunno. Oboe is FAN-Tas-Tick,
every note on the instrument is expressive in a way that the clarinet
can never be, in part because of the lack of the use of vibrato on the
clarinet. You can't play a phrase on the oboe without emoting. Listen
to the slow movement of the Schubert Unfinished Symphony and compare the
two long, slow solos, the first in C# minor on clarinet followed by Db
major on oboe; then the second,in a minor on oboe followed by A major on
clarinet; and decide for yourself.

After that, we can talk about which instrument is more facile in sharp
keys. We don't need an oboe pitched a half tone lower, like clarinet
players use, to play comfortably in all the keys.

Tell the lady with the reed problems to buy her reeds from a fine maker,
like David Dutton or Fred Capps or Brian Charles, it will revolutionize
her playing to be able to spend all that time practicing oboe rather
than whittling. And why not, don't clarinet players buy their reeds in
a box?

Regards, Robert Howe
(a doubler; prime instrument oboe; also clarinets and Saxophones)

   
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