Author: Chris P
Date: 2017-03-09 14:49
I do know players that have done Grade 8 on a basic thumbplate system oboe (Howarth S10, Buffet Artist, UK spec Bundy, Italian made Louis LM5/Howarth B/Selmer Sterling/etc.) - thse oboes have simple 8ve keys, only the LH3 C-D trill and no LH F key, so they are really pushing such a basic instrument to beyond its limitations by that stage - usually a basic thumbplate instrument is designed to take a player to Grade 3 and at a push Grade 5, so hats off to anyone taking them to Grade 8.
The Howarth S1 (their first pro level model oboe) wasn't all that more advanced mechanically to the S10 or the B model - the main mechanical difference is the S1 has the RH C-D trill key and the LH2 C-C# trill key. The S2 was the next model in line and has the semi automatic 8ves and sometimes a LH F key and RH G-Ab trill key if that was ordered - the LH F key and 3rd 8ve was more or less standard on them by the 1990s by which time players started to change over to dual system full Gillet conservatoire models (Howarth S5 and all the French imports).
In the UK, the Loree-built Cabart 74 was one of the first commercially available semi pro model oboes in the '80s which had nearly everything (apart from the D#-E trill mechanism), then by the late '80s Howarth added the S40c to fill in a gap in their lineup (which by then was the Italian B model, the S10, S20 student models and pro level S2, S3, S5, S2XL and S5XL).
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
|
|
The Oboe BBoard
.jpg){kind=small}
