Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2005-09-30 14:58
Well, I will jump right in here and start a controversy with the statement that I don't think playing the oboe well is fundamentally any more difficult than playing most any instrument well (except maybe trombone or euphonium or saxophone -- no offense to virtuosi on those instruments).
I think it is largely folklore and mystique-making that insists upon perceiving the oboe as being in a class by itself when it comes to difficulty.
Every instrument has its own challenges and learning curve and plateaus, and the like. Take the clarinet, for example. Back in the day, school music programs started every second girl (me included) on the Bb soprano clarinet. Later, as aptitudes and commitment revealed themselves, some of this horde of clarinetists got "promoted" to the other clarinets and the oboe. So the idea developed that the Bb soprano clarinet was somehow "easier" than these other instruments.
Now, here's the catch: in my school, the ones who got switched to oboe, etc., were NOT the best clarinetists. The best clarinetists were kept on clarinet. It was the "second tier", if you will, who the director was looking to switch. So the clarinet section ended up with a handful of the most talented players, and a bushel-basket-full of the least talented players, while those with moderate talent were moved to the "color" instruments.
You could find the same situation, I believe, in a school orchestra program. No director would move their best violinists to viola.
I was one of the clarinet "elite". I wanted very much to play the oboe, but was told at every turn that I had to stay on clarinet because "the section needs you." So I spent my high school years watching poor Sherry struggle mightily with the oboe (which was probably not the best oboe to start with, and most likely out of adjustment), and thinking, "Wow! That must be a really difficult instrument!"
And in the meantime, the clarinet section sounded AWFUL, with the three or four who could actually play the instrument all on first part, and the eight or ten plodders wheezing away, out of tune and out of time, on second and third part.
So, the clarinet got a further reputation as being the last refuge of weak players, and the oboe got a further reputation as a difficult instrument.
The fact is, it is difficult to play most instruments well, and exceptional players of any instrument are rare. An exceptional clarinetist would also become an exceptional oboist. An exceptional violinist would do equally well on viola, or cello. It's just that at the outset, fewer truly talented folks ever get, or take, the opportunity to play the less-basic instruments.
When, as an adult, I finally got the courage to try the oboe, I was stunned to find out that it was, indeed, no more difficult (and in some regards, easier) to play than the clarinet.
Do I prefer to oboe to the clarinet? You bet your booty! I prefer the sound it makes, the way it feels in the hands, the repertoire written for it, and yes, the enhanced ability it provides to "to stand out and be admired".
But I do *not* think it is one whit more difficult to play well.
Just my experience.
Susan
Post Edited (2005-09-30 15:06)
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