Author: vboboe
Date: 2006-10-15 04:56
... now that you're asking this question and you've been taking lessons awhile, maybe it's the right time now for you to move up to a left F keyed oboe; however, it does take a bit of getting used to as you have to learn to coordinate different combination of fingers, so you can't expect to be smooth with it right away
However, I would say it's useful to be able to play forked F's with both left and right E-flat as resonance (brightens F) especially if you can work up the difficult co-ordinated combinations for keys in 4 or more flats. There are still lots of very good oboes out there without left F's. Leftie F players are kinda stuck to full keyed oboe models unless they've got those other fingering skills down pat already.
The usual rhetoric supports the notion that left F's are bad and only basic F & left F are good. Somewhat true, but not to be swallowed as a blanket endorsement of left F instruments. A well cut & well adjusted oboe fitted with just F resonance, but no left F, should sound about the same as basic F, making forked F a darn good fingering for passing through in fast flurries.
However, not all oboes are fitted with F resonance either. What about yours? If yes, you don't need to use E-flat to brighten or flatten forked F's. If no F resonance, you do. Learning those fingering techniques left and right is a doozie which is why a lot of people skip it and get left F oboes instead
IMO no left F oboe for anybody with less than 4 beginner years, but hey, everybody wants to take short cuts to get somewhere faster
If you're still not that good at left & right forked F fingering combinations yet, step up intensive drill reps this year and get left F oboe next year -- or a year before you go on to oboe studies at university, whichever comes sooner, in which case learn left F now
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