Klarinet Archive - Posting 000465.txt from 2001/12

From: "Kevin Fay" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Clarinet and Oboe
Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2001 11:35:14 -0500

Mitchell Halpern posted:

<<<I was wondering if I am the only clarinetist out there who has had a
fascination with the oboe. As long as I can remember, I have promised
myself that--one day--I would at least give the oboe a try. Any of you
managed to combine clarinet playing with oboe playing? As a clarinetist, is
it possible to "teach yourself" oboe, at least to an elementary extent? Will
combining clarinet and oboe "screw up" both embouchures?>>>

One of the best oboists I know personally is a guy named Dan Williams. He's
got a master's from the Manhattan School in oboe, and plays up here in the
pit for the Seattle Opera, teaches at Western Washington University (plus
other gigs around town).

Dan's undergraduate degree is in clarinet performance. Paraphrasing, he
credits the time in the practice room on clarinet for developing his oboe
technique -- seems that many oboe people spend more time working on reeds
than fingers, and clarinet develops nuance in the embouchure that oboists
often lack. As it happens, Dan is one of those annoying people that can
pick up most any woodwind and sound great. (Talent, I suppose.)

I've tried to play my wife's oboe once in a while. The key "system" seems
very odd, not well thought out; almost as if created for an alien being with
extra digits. It produces a nice sound, though (in the hands of others!)

Season's Greetings all,

kjf

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