Klarinet Archive - Posting 000791.txt from 2000/06

From: "Edwin V. Lacy" <el2@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Proposal for oboe fingering
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 16:10:14 -0400

On Tue, 20 Jun 2000, Stan Elias wrote:

> I think I remember reading about someone who came up with a Boehm-like
> fingering system for the oboe to make it easier for saxophone players
> to make the transition. At the same time there were tiny single-reed
> oboe mouthpieces. As I remember, the entire project was scrapped
> because the intonation of the resulting hybrid was terrible.

I believe you are correct on both counts. The Boehm-system oboe has been
tried a few times in the 19th century, but abandoned because of one rather
significant problem - it didn't sound like an oboe. Also, the single reed
mouthpieces for both oboe and bassoon came quite a bit later. I first
heard of them back in the early 1950's, and was under the impression that
it was a new idea at that time. I was surprised to learn a few years ago
that the person who marketed them, and who possibly invented them, Santy
Runyon, was still alive and still selling them. Again, while intonation
was certainly a problem, the main objection of many people to them was
that they no longer sounded like the same instruments.

Ed Lacy
el2@-----.edu

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