Author: shmuelyosef
Date: 2008-08-05 23:21
The daughter of a good friend of mine is an excellent musician, accomplished classical pianist and passable flute player, and has gotten very interested in playing oboe the last couple of years. She is using a loaner older Loree from the school system, but is ready to purchase an oboe for herself. She is telling her mom that she 'needs' a new Loree Professional, but mom is concerned about the very high cost...but is willing to buy a high quality instrument. So I am looking for some guidance to pass on to her. She is clearly ready for a high end intermediate or 'standard' (not elite) professional horn, as she has passed auditions to get into advanced ensembles.
I generally like to give sensible advice, so I personally consider eventual resale value and as such, stick to well-known brands. I assume the major oboe manufacturers: Loree, Fox, Buffet, Patricola, and of course, Yamaha. In each of these lines, I'm looking for advice as to what I call the inflection point in the offerings...i.e. the point where spending more money does not get you a dramatically better oboe. For example, how much better do the Fox oboes get as you progress from the 330 resin to the 400 or the Yamahas as you go from the 400 series to the 800 series. Really worth the money?? Will the difference be noticeable in the first 5 years of oboe playing.
I don't play any double reeds and my last experience with an oboe player was a girlfriend 40 years ago in a woodwind quintet setting. I did read through all the posts here and couldn't find much info.
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