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Re: Flute AND Oboe??

Author: sylvangale
Date: 2006-04-16 05:04

The flute and oboe are certainly different beasts and dedicating too much time to one certainly can hinder the other, but also dedicating some time can be of benefit. I do believe that so long as an oboe remains a primary instrument the flute will suffer in tone quality, but you’ll still be able to sound as good if not better than the average community band flutist.

Too much flute and little oboe:
Embouchure weakens and excess breath develops. The excess breath with an even weaker embouchure does not enjoyable oboe playing make.

Too much oboe and little flute:
Limited breath and slower air stream develops. Embouchure shape may be adversely affected. Flute tone can become shallow and intonation problems may develop.

Primary oboe with a little flute will help develop your fingers and aid in developing your high range on the oboe. The flute can be a tool to allow you to practice exercises you cannot achieve with the limitations of your reed.

Primary flute with a little oboe will help develop the pinkies for the lower octave and improve embouchure control for a possible improvement in tone and intonation (especially if the flute was never studied privately).

The flute is my primary instrument and finding a balance with the oboe certainly has its problems. I would normally put the oboe on the backburner and focus on the flute except that I’m playing it with a community group so the oboe is getting a bit more practice than usual.

My main flute is a Gemeinhardt 3SB w/ handmade Natsuki P2 head. I have been playing around with a Pearl 505 using the same head lately and am finding that it is more kind to doubling, but lacks the richness of tone capable on my Gem, though it also has a very nice mechanism in comparison (excepting some odd defects).

Regards,
Stephen
Los Angeles, CA

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