 The Fingering Forum
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Author: TorusTubarius
Date: 2003-06-25 20:51
For those of you who wonder why I give marching band the cold shoulder, here are some reasons:
1. The instrument is too delicate.
2. It would be impossible to maintain the appropriate embouchure and march.
3. The reeds are too fragile and expensive to replace.
4. They would never be heard.
5. If they were heard, you'd wish they weren't.
6. It's too hard to learn to play the oboe correctly to adulterate your technique with bad habits acquired from trying to play that loudly.
7. There are usually no oboe parts to marching band show tunes.
8. Oboes cannot play that sharp.
9. Oboists as a general rule are fussy, perfectionist primadonnas who would rather cut out their own teeth than pollute their instruments with tunes like "Gimme Some Lovin'", "Louie, Louie" or any type of fight song.
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Author: Theboy_2
Date: 2003-06-26 02:46
OK, the subject is a little lot more clearer now.
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Author: musichick
Date: 2003-06-26 12:58
haha too true, the three songs you mentioned I have memorized, not by trying to memorize them, just from playing them so much. You forgot one reason: even with the best marching, sometimes accidents happen (ahem colorgaurd) and if an oboe player fell the reed could cut through the top of thier mouth
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Author: oboe
Date: 2003-07-03 17:32
hey!
i've heard about (and seen in some books) single oboe reeds. the ones with mouth pieces and all. i was just wondering, would that make it possible to march???
thank ya much!
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Author: Torus Tubarius
Date: 2003-07-04 15:52
Well, if such a thing existed, that might elimate one reason not to march. If you can find a way to circumvent the other eight reasons, then perhaps...
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Author: oboe
Date: 2003-07-04 18:34
ok....... and these are in order with your numbers!!
~how about if (of course) you use a plastic oboe
~with the single reed and m.p. you could probably keep a pretty good embouchure
~the single reed and mouthpiece would slightly bring down the expence for reeds
~it still probably wouldn't be heard...but its hard to hear just ONE instrument out of about 90 (which is our marching band size)
~i don't know about the wishing you weren't heard
~you just have to practice differently for marching band than concert season
~sometimes i end up having to play flute part for music anyways......and you can use Finale or something to just write the flute part an octive lower
~yeah, it'd be hard to play the right pitch when you hear all these other people off!
~well, i agree with part of it.....depending on the song, but there are some really good songs during marching season
AND AGAIN.....YOU WOULDN'T HAVE TO LEARN ANOTHER INSTRUMENT!!!!
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Author: oboe
Date: 2003-07-06 00:59
do you think those are good enough reasons???
or course, i am probably wrong about the reed expences, b/c it might cost a bit to get a "single" reeded oboe reed
i was talking to someone who said that their teacher had a single oboe reed & mouthpiece. But that it was old. It looked like a mini - clarinet reed but with a cork/staple coming down to fit into the oboe.
has anyone else even heard of these???
i saw a picture of one that was being sold on ebay. but, i'm not really sure if these are one's that would fit into a regular oboe. with the description I'm not really sure.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2533032685&category=16227
...that's the site
~Corinne
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Author: Torustubarius
Date: 2003-07-06 18:16
No, I'm sorry I don't.
1. It's not the wood that is fragile; it's the keywork. A plastic oboe's keywork is just as delicate as a wooden oboe.
2. The embouchure you would have to use for the single reed mouthpiece will be nothing like the embouchure you use for the double reed. So, in a sense, yes you would be learning an entirely new instrument. I'll guarantee you that the position of the lips and the air support are different, and your ability to use the double reed will therefore diminish the longer you fool around with a single reed contraption.
3. Yes, it would bring down the expense, and the quality of your playing.
4. That's not a reason.
5. Neither is that.
6. Practicing a <i>different</i> way of playing = practicing an <i>incorrect</i> way of playing.
7. That is true, though personally I find having to play another instrument's part insulting.
8. Of all the factors that go into playing an instrument, pitch is by far <u>the most important</u>. It's more important than tone, more than technique, more than expression. The inability of a marching band to play in tune is no reason to allow your own playing to suffer.
9. Are you sure you're an oboe player?
With the single reed like I said, yes you would.
I'm sorry but asking an oboe to marching is about like asking a violinist to march; it's just not meant to happen. I mean sure it physically can happen; you can in fact stick a reed in the oboe and go out on the field and attempt to play flute parts while marching from set to set. However at what cost to your playing, your instrument, your musicality, your pitch, etc.? It's not worth it.
I'm trying hard not to let this turn into a general marching band-bashing thread; I'd instead like to stick to the subject at hand: why oboes do not march. However I feel like I'm this close (*holds up finger and thumb together*) to having to launch into that speech as well at the risk of insulting people who actually like marching band. So please don't make me be the bad guy; just don't march oboe.
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Author: oboe
Date: 2003-07-07 03:08
yeah, i wouldn't march an oboe anyways.....i was just wondering if you thought it would work out. besides, considering hardly anyone's ever heard of them, the mouth pieces alone would be probably be pretty expensive....i wasn't suggesting that anyone should march their oboe......that's a very stupid idea....especially since i love the oboe and that could ruin it.
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Author: brassplayer
Date: 2003-08-05 22:30
during one of our marhcing contests in like 2001 or 2002*might have been both* i saw an oboe player. But they were small marhcing bands though.
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Author: TorusTubarius
Date: 2003-08-15 23:40
Heh, that wasn't a oboe; that was a nightmare in marching shoes.
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Author: Lucy
Date: 2005-08-26 01:28
Hello, this is my first year marching. What are the instruments that are similar to the oboe? I'm basically the only oboe to go through the system, and they apparently have no problem with me marching. (We marched a in place, I'd never think of doing it while moving and afterwards I was light headed and my whole body was quivering...was that just me, or does that happen?) And I'm not to keen about color guard. I think that the district has no idea about what the oboe can, or can't do, and the 5th Grade teacher actually *broke* two of my best reeds, and even said that they were not any good, though the most costly in the entire store. And he did not even play the oboe. (That really ticked me off...I can't let go off it, though I get chastised by my family) I feel lost about this, everyone telling me something else, but none of them even play the oboe. Can anyone please help me?
~Lucy~
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Author: Lucy
Date: 2005-08-26 01:29
Hello, this is my first year marching. What are the instruments that are similar to the oboe? I'm basically the only oboe to go through the system, and they apparently have no problem with me marching. (We marched a in place, I'd never think of doing it while moving and afterwards I was light headed and my whole body was quivering...was that just me, or does that happen?) And I'm not to keen about color guard. I think that the district has no idea about what the oboe can, or can't do, and the 5th Grade teacher actually *broke* two of my best reeds, and even said that they were not any good, though the most costly in the entire store. And he did not even play the oboe. (That really ticked me off...I can't let go off it, though I get chastised by my family) I feel lost about this, everyone telling me something else, but none of them even play the oboe. Can anyone please help me?
~Lucy~
TorusTubarius wrote:
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Heh, that wasn't a oboe; that was a nightmare in marching shoes.
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