Author: huboboe
Date: 2012-05-28 21:44
There's been lots of good advice given here. Whatever oboe you play will sound different in different venues - and will feel different in different venues. There's a local hall that I hate to play in because everything feels bright and brittle but I love to listen in because the listening acoustics are excellent. It's better to assume you will always sound pretty much like yourself no matter what the playing conditions are. If the hall is bright or dark, everything will be, not just you...
Oboelips and jhoyla both describe bits of a method I have used for my own and my student's choices, a sort of double-blind tasting. I 'number' the instruments and play them while the prospective buyer listens from a distance for their favorite. Then I have them 'renumber' them and play them while I listen and they choose a favorite for the feel of playing.
Afterwards we compare notes, identifying the instruments. If the buyer likes the same instrument both playing and listening the chances are it's a good match. If there are serious differences, it gets more difficult.
I agree with jhoyla, though, the instrument that allows you the freedom to best play what you are trying to is the best choice.
Some years back I was visiting Grover Schiltz in Chicago and he asked me if I had ever played a Decker oboe? I had not then ever even heard of Ken Decker and said so. He let me try his and I was absolutely blown away. Every note on the instrument felt like every other note, the scale was flawlessly in tune and absolutely even from bottom to top. All I had to do was blow and finger and everything I played was - right. It was the best instrument I ever played.
Decker had a long waiting list and I was on it for a couple of years when unfortunate circumstances forced me out of full time playing, so I never had the chance to own one, but, as jhoyla says, you should listen when the instrument says, "I'm yours."
Robert Hubbard
WestwindDoubleReed.com
1-888-579-6020
bob@westwinddoublereed.com
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