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Time to upgrade???

Author: floboist
Date: 2012-11-27 19:17

Hello everyone! I am originally a flutist and have a degree in flute. Since graduating, I've taken up oboe and have been playing 2 years now, with private lessons with the best teacher I could find in my part of the state.

Currently, I have a fox 330 which was my stepsons oboe (how convenient!) and this is what I've been playing on. I know this is regarded as a very good intermediate oboe, and I agree, but here are my issues:

I love playing oboe, in many ways more than flute. I definitely practice an hour a day around 5 days a week but I think I would practice more if I had a different oboe. I feel like the oboe's mechanism is so klunky and hard to play with an ultra light touch. I am not sure if it's just because I've been spoiled by playing hours and hours a day for years of my life on ultra smooth professional flute mechanisms. The oboe has been serviced and adjusted and periodically my teacher looks over it to make sure it's fine, so I don't think that there's anything wrong with the oboe per se, I think I just don't like the oboe itself! I have small delicate hands and I definitely feel a difference between certain flute mechanisms and some flutes are much more comfortable than others. Is oboe the same way? I don't have any experience playing another oboe other than I got to play my teacher's Loree once and it felt like butter!

I want to spend more time on oboe and get really good at it. But I know that takes time and more practice than what I'm putting into it. I've had a few gigs here and there and I've yet to see another oboist play on a plastic instrument, they all have beautiful Lorees, even in the community bands I've encountered. Why is that?

I have a hard time justifying the money to spend on another oboe when I already have a pretty nice oboe and I just do this for fun.... although I'd love if it could turn into something more, perhaps an extra income on the side.... weddings, holiday gigs, etc. would be fabulous. I think I could persuade my husband for an oboe for my birthday in July, and could probably spend up to $5,000 before either one of us would have a stroke. He's a flutist as well and is understanding of having an appropriate instrument.

So thoughts? Will a different oboe make a difference or should I just learn to play what I have? Is it just in my head? Should I just try out some used instruments and see if I notice a difference? When I asked my teacher about it briefly she said if I was going to spend money on a new (used) oboe, I should just go in for an English horn... but that's not something I want to get into, at least at this point.

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