Klarinet Archive - Posting 000316.txt from 2001/03

From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] switch to oboe?
Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 20:52:40 -0500

Lauryn asked:

<<<Hi. I have been contemplating over the last couple of months whether
or not I should switch and double on oboe. . . .>>>

Why would *anyone* want to play such a god-awful whiny instrument as the
oboe. You'd be consigning yourself to a life of reed scraping in
rehearsals (whilst all of your brass-playing friends are getting their
good magazine reading in) and having little "oboe droppings" all about
your house. Your felines will be driven crazy by all the strings tied
to your table legs. No one will like you; consign yourself to a life of
celibacy and self-hate.

[Removing tongue from cheek]

. . . other than my wife, of course, who started on flute but now plays
oboe more than anything else. Or my friends who get all the doubling
gigs because they can play the little suckers. Heck, you might even get
to play Bach or the odd church gig now and then.

Be aware that you are probably at a great *advantage* in starting
clarinet first. Indeed, the best oboe player I know personally has his
undergraduate degree in *clarinet* performance (plus graduate degrees
from Manhattan). Why, there are miscreants on this very list who play
oboe as well.

The bottom line -- in my humble opinion -- is pretty simple. Do you
want to? Sure, it will cost more money and all, but if that's the
instrument you really want to play, I can't think of a reason not to.

kjf

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