 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: OboePrince
Date: 2015-01-28 08:36
Okay so I am actually a triple (Oboe, Flute, and Clarinet with proficiency) and oboe hasn't always been my principal horn along with all the corresponding color instruments (YES, ALL OF THEM), I basically played it to get scholarships and then ended up having a better chance in the professional world than on the flute, one because of an injury and two because... good flautists are common. Where I came from I actually wasn't the best oboist (out high school has 2 all state oboes, in a 38 piece band... it's usually hard enough to get one oboe) in the school even, and I always made a better chair and took my flute to all-state. In college, I discovered the world would be so much less competitive for me as a performer. In high school I also was one of the gifted people in the band so I would start a concert on Bass clarinet, Come up, Play Bb for a while, switch to flute and picc, go over to the oboe, and then end up back on my flute or picc. So it used to tear my Embouchure UP.
However, do any of you other doublers/triplers/etc feel like...
I could DROP my Buffet clarinet on the ground, pick it up, and it would still play.
I could throw my Pearl Flute against a wall, pick it up, and it would still play, and may not even have a dent.
I could drop my Yamaha Piccolo (because I HAVE) off a drill tower and that thing won't even pop a spring, it's like, "I was made for this ****"
Yet, while CLEANING (not abusing, not banging, not beating up, CLEANING) my instrument I somehow released tension on the spring to the side octave key. Okay, so what is gonna come out when that key is leaking? Nothing but a few high notes. So I finally get to a tech, and he moves the screw like... meh... 1/8 of an inch... I play the whole chromatic scale and my Rigoutat is back in business.
One screw was 1/8 inch out of place and the horn wouldn't PLAY. The flute would still be playing if the screw fell OUT.
Is it just me, or do all you doublers think this is the most ridiculously fickle horn in the world?
Rodney
American Oboist. I currently play on a Rigoutat Riec. She is beautiful.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2015-01-28 18:50
Oboes are super sensitive to any knocks or poor handling, so they definitely need to be handled with care.
Not just the instrument but especially that poxy bit of folded over grass that gets shoved in the top of the thing that will change its behaviour on an all to frequent basis.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: OboePrince
Date: 2015-01-28 20:28
HAHA that is so funny. Never have I heard such disdain for the reed out of an oboist before.
However, I drop those puppies all the time and they don't break. However, I threw my oboe completely out of playable alignment by CLEANING it. I released about an 1/20 of the tension on the side octave key and nothing would play. I did this while oiling and CLEANING my horn. The stuff I and supposed to do to take care of it.
I don't even bat an eye if another flautist, especially one in the studio, needs to borrow my flute for something and I dropped 7k for that bad girl (Miyazawa 404). I have dropped it on the floor during wind ensemble. If one little tiny thing get's 1/8 of a mm out of place it doesn't defeat the entire horn, and I also didn't mind letting others use my flute because it just takes a LOT to screw up a flute. I was even more liberal with my Clarinet, those things can take a beating.
My RIEC oboe however, which was not as pricey as my Miya, I only paid 2500 for it (which is a steal, considering it had one other owner and he went to my high school) but I would not even DREAM of letting another oboist borrow my oboe for a few days. MAYBE if theirs was screwed up, I could put it together, and hand it to them in their seat, MAYBE. But I'll be damned if this is not the most fickle piece of wood.
I don't really have reed problems because the humidity (even though the temp isn't) the humidity in Kentucky is pretty consistent. I just have hate for the person who created the key mechanism for the full conservatory oboe, and made it so delicate that you can throw of one thing by the tension of a spring. On my flute, if there is a spring out of place, I reach in and fix it WITH MY HAND, it's just not as simple on oboe.
However, oboe is my principle horn now (damn this destiny) rather than one of my two secondaries. One because of the market, but mostly because of a thumb injury.
It's just coming back to it full time like I have I am re-realizing how damn mean and vengeful this instrument is. "Did you just stick a chipped reed in me? What am I a Yamaha? That's fine, screw you, I'll only be playing in the color of bright and flat today."
mean little horn.
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Author: Barry Vincent
Date: 2015-01-29 02:07
Quote :- "So I finally get to a tech, and he moves the screw like... meh... 1/8 of an inch... " OboePrince , that is a very large adjustment as far as Oboe adjustments go.
As for anyone carelessly handling their expensive Flute as in dropping it. Well , we'll have to agree to disagree on this as Flutes even expensive ones can be easily damaged with careless handling.
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Author: OboePrince
Date: 2015-01-29 04:15
The expensive ones can be MORE easily damaged, but flutes in general are easy to fix. Most flautists know how to adjust their own flute. I can take the rod out of mine and all. I would never dream of taking a screwdriver to my oboe except to adjust my vent keys or turn on my triple octave key (I hate those things, I never turn it on unless I have higher than an F in orchestra) And 1/8 of an inch is a measurement I was just making up as a very tiny amount he adjusted the thing.
I'm not saying people should be unkind to their flutes, not at all. it is still a delicate instrument. But if I am bringing it up into playing position and tap it on the stand by accident, or something that is not a hard hit like that, the flute will be just fine, at the very worst you may pop a spring. That same amount of banging would knock an oboe out of playable alignment for days. I'm just saying, it's much more sensitive.
I also, because it's all metal, leave my flute in whatever temperature, I am not really even conscious of that. My oboe, it doesn't even sit out in the cold car for a few minutes.
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Author: Oboelips
Date: 2015-01-29 22:35
Greetings!
Oboes ARE finicky...and that's half the fun of it. Are you making your own reeds yet? Do you gouge cane? Think of the wonderful myriad of tools & gizmos (not the flute kind) that you need to do all that! There are placques, mandrels, tubes, tubes of cane, planers, gouger, knives, knife sharpening implements, cigarette papers, oh the STUFF! WAY too much to list! Yes, oboes are for finicky, detail-Oriented people. But...when doing the solo on Spartucus, or Swan Lake, or Florida Suite, Bizet 1, or (I think most existing pieces for full orchestra must contain an oboe solo) aren't you glad that you're YOU and sitting being that beautiful oboe?
BTW, I take care of my plastic Yamaha recorders with as much care as what I do my Rigoutat Evolution Oboe. I take care of all my instruments diligently. If you don't respect the oboe, it will have it's revenge upon you.
I too, was a flutist who switched. I now can double most all woodwinds (my bassoon isn't great, my clarinet is now better since I got a plateau style, but some saxes are just too big (I'm short). My first love is for Oboe/Ehorn, but flute/picc is always a fun time.
Oboefully
Deb
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