Author: Dutchy
Date: 2006-09-14 17:51
Second what Suzan said, about the oboe not being something that you can just pick up and improvise on, no matter how much you may enjoy the sound of an oboe. It's much more difficult to play than the clarinet, and it takes a lot of practice just to get to the point where you don't squawk and honk like a dying duck. You can't just pick it up and get any kind of decent sound out of it without, I would estimate, at least a couple of months' work of at least an hour's practice every day, building up your embouchure and reed control. And THEN, after you have the basic reed control, and you can play for more than a minute or two without having your embouchure collapse into jelly, THEN you can start working on tone production.
And after you've spent, I would say, the next six months working on tone production every day, THEN you can start thinking about picking it up and improvising with it on blue rainy afternoons. Just make sure there's no one within earshot, because it certainly won't sound the way the oboes on recordings sound, that "oboe sound" that you love. It'll be an "oboe sound", yes, but not a particularly pleasing one. :D
The problem is that the oboe has no mouthpiece; the sound that comes out of the reed is completely dependent on your embouchure, unlike a clarinet, with its mouthpiece to do most of the work for you. Even a flute has more of a mouthpiece to help with tone production than an oboe does. With an oboe, you're totally on your own to produce that "oboe sound" just with your mouth muscles. And it takes a LOT of practice to make it happen just at the "reasonably competent beginner" level that won't frighten the dog and make the baby cry.
In my opinion, sixty-five dollars is too much to pay for an instrument that you will never be able to use in the relaxed, recreational way you seem to envision yourself using this. Save your money and buy something else that pleases you.
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