Klarinet Archive - Posting 001102.txt from 1998/12

From: ROBERT ABRAHAM <rkabear@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Re: [[kl] To Oboe or Not to Oboe....]
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1998 12:34:44 -0500

I have been lurking since October(post flame war - licking
wounds) and decided this was as good a time as any to post
again after my hiatus.

Dorothy,

I have been a church musician at major churches all over the
southeast for 15 years, including 3 churches in Atlanta (mostly
large congregations, including Episcopal and Catholic cathedrals
in 7 states.) I then moved to San Francisco, and most recently,
to New York, where I play at local churches, teach clarinet,
and sing. I double on clarinet, oboe, flute and saxophone, and
would like to add some assistance on your question about the
oboe and doubling.

Oboe doubling is great, but there are some drawbacks.

Playing the oboe will take more than a month or two to get a
reasonably good tone, so don't plan on playing in public for
some time. This is the hardest thing about the oboe. Good tone
on the oboe is also *VERY* dependent on heavy duty breath
control, which is preferable on clarinet, but you can't fudge
on the oboe at all in this realm. Your embouchure will get
tired after 5 or 10 minutes for the first couple of months, so
playing for long periods of time is also a struggle.

Doubling on oboe (for me) causes me to have a very strange
clarinet embouchure for a short time after switching back to
clarinet from oboe, so if you have to go back and forth with no
down time between oboe and clarinet, the switch *to* clarinet
might be quite a surprise to your mouth.

The fingerings for oboe are *very* different in the logic from
a clarinet, saxophone, and flute. Fork fingerings and key
positions seem illogical when going from clarinet to oboe.
Most of the fingerings seem like a hybrid of sax and flute,
with fork fingerings added for a good measure of difficulty
<grin>. The basic fingerings seem close, but there are a few
major differences in side keys, along with the fork fingerings
that can really mess you up if you are not comfortable with
both instruments while doubling.

Oboes are very fickle, and to play well, an intermediate oboe
(IMHO) is not an option for doubling in public performance,
because it is very hard to control the pitch problems on an
intermediate oboe. Professional oboes can easily run over $2000
used for good ones, and run upwards of $7000 for new. This is a
BIG downside, but I can link you with a couple of good new and
used oboe retailers in Atlanta area.

Reeds are MUCH more a maintenance issue on oboe than clarinet,
and rather than spending 5 years learning how to make reeds
that play well, you would do better to find a local person that
plays oboe who could make you reeds, or a good distributor.
This would be an almost as important reason to take lessons
after just learning the instrument as learning the instrument
is. Even if you don't *make* your own reeds, you need to learn
to work on them to your liking.

The last caution I have is from my experiences in churches over
the last 15 years. People are much more used to hearing oboe in
church settings, especially at conservative or traditional
churches. Being able to double on oboe could limit your chances
to play clarinet in church if your director thinks that oboe is
*more appropriate* in church than clarinet. You would be
surprised how often this happens.

This is not to deter you from oboe doubling, but to give you
information on what you might encounter, so as to be prepared.
I love doubling, but keep clarinet as my main emphasis, even
though I have been playing oboe, saxophone, and flute longer.

By the way, I also have been arranging choral and instrumental
music for churches for almost 14 years, and could probably be of
some assistance to you in the arranging music scenario that you
wrote about previously. You can fix your own clarinet parts, and
maybe assist the arranger with arranging some of the parts
yourself, since you are more familiar with your instrument and
its range than the arranger is.

I will be coming to the Atlanta area on Friday, Jan 1 for 4
days. Maybe we can get together while I'm there. Drop me a
line if you would like to grab a bite to eat, or play clarinet
some while I'm in town.

Happy New Year!

Kelly Abraham
Woodwinds/Computer Geek
New York City
******************************************************************
> Hi all,

>

> Are there any clarinetists/oboe players out there?
> If so, how challenging is it to grasp and efficiently
> play the two. I am a lifetime clarinetist, but a lot of
> recorded contemporary gospel music have that oboe sound
> included. I'm thinking that maybe on a few selections,
> I could cross and play the oboe. If it is not too much
> of a challenge to teach myself the oboe.
>
> I guess my questions are: Is it an easy cross between
> the two? Is the fingering much like the clarinet, etc.?
> All feedback would be appreciated.

> Dorothy Clark

> Have A Blessed Day!

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