r/oboe

So.. I've been playing oboe for about 3 months now, and I'm absolutely loving it. I've fallen in love with the sound, and everything about it is really cool.

HOWEVER... the reeds get in the way of that...

I'm still a beginner, so it's very likely that I'm just doing something wrong, or just accidentally abusing them, but my reeds do NOT last. They last about a week of 2-hr practice sessions daily.

Reeds are expensive, so I was wondering if I should just start making my own.. my teacher says that it's probably not a good idea, but I'm also kind of in need of a more cost effective option.

I've looked into synthetic reeds, but I've kinda only heard bad things about them.

I'm not sure what to do, and any insight would be helpful. I really don't want to quit this instrument.

TLDR: reeds not lasting, thinking about making own or buying synthetic

Hello again everybody. This community has been extremely helpful before so I'm giving it another go with knife sharpening. I often watch other reedmakers scrape and I am amazed at how easily they scrape of greats amount of cane with seemingly little to no effort. I feel like I get a decent burr but I still have to apply some downward pressure to get it to take cane off and even then it's taking off very little unless I really apply more pressure. I know this is not ideal and so I am left thinking that my knife is not correctly sharpened. Right now I use a single beveled knife for my rough scraping and then a jende double hollow ground for my finish scraping/fine scraping. (I'm a lefty unfortunately). I do use a couple of the Jende wet stones to sharpen and the fine ceramic sticks to reset the burr as needed while scraping. I have tried many approaches to sharpening, but the one I am currently on is keeping the knife at a constant 15-20 degrees, starting with the back of the blade down and doing 8-10 strokes back and forth, then going to the other side at the same angle, and doing this a few times slowly doing lighter and lighter pressure, and the last stroke is knife flat on the stone with the back of the blade up, just one quick pull across the stone length-wise. Any advice is appreciated.

I'm a 4-year saxophonist and a few month bass clarinetist. I'm renting out an oboe for a month next month. It'll be my first double reeded instrument until I HOPEFULLY start on bassoon. Any tips for me?

I saw it on sale for $125 a couple weeks ago and I bought a Medium-Soft one. I heard all the stories about how they were flat in pitch. I thought that wouldn't be a problem for me because I generally play pretty sharp. I WAS WRONG.

The reed crows about plays about 35 cents flat.

I bought some sand paper and after about 30 minutes of sanding the bottom (the "cork") down a fraction of a mm, it is only 25 cents flat. But it is incredibly tedious work.

Hello! I'm this random person who wants to learn the oboe, and if anybody would like to recommend me some that would be great thanks

Ok. Someone once told me that an oboe part on a certain well-known pop song was a brilliant piece of orchestration, and that it *made* the song. I listened, and they were right.

Problem (of course): I can't remember the song. My guess is that it would be no later than 2010. It could be anyone from Smokey Robinson to Madonna.

Does this ring a bell (if you'll pardon the expression) for anyone?

TIA for any help. I'd love to hear that song again.

Hello everyone!

I play the oboe. I'm in my second year of college, and I'm 18 years old. I'm currently working on a relatively easy piece, but I'm having trouble memorizing it. I remember the melody, notes, and fingers (although slightly less accurately), but when I start playing the piano, I get lost in the rhythm and music, and this happens every time, making it difficult for me to complete the piece quickly. Memorizing a piece is a stressful experience for me. Just yesterday, I had a speciality, I was learning a concerto all week (playing it every day), as a result, the slow part was well learned, but in the fast one, I still stumbled and got confused. When I entered, I had problems with the rhythm, but now I play quite smoothly. Maybe someone here has faced the same problem? How did you deal with it?

Hi idk how to use reddit but here we go I suppose.
So, I(F15) have been playing oboe for about 7 months now, prior I had been playing flute for 2 and a half years. And though I love the idea of always being first chair, or always being the one with solos I have been very negative towards my playing. Since I’ve started I was put in the varsity band at my school because the oboe prior to me graduated, so I had major shoes to fill, and though being on varsity made me feel great about myself I didn’t know what I was doing and ended up teaching myself for multiple weeks until I got private lessons. I was forced to try out at region for my area, and shockingly got last place. But by a few months I was given 3 solos, 2 of which were turned into duets because “I wasn’t loud enough. Just recently we had our spring concert and at that I believe I played extremely well, I even had a reed that didn’t need adjusting (even though I don’t have a reed knife sadly) but at that concert the flute next to me broke my reed in half. Tears were definitely shed. And since then I have not found a reed that remotely plays at all. This situation has made me extremely unmotivated to play and I have quit practicing at home for the time being. I know daily practice is definitely what’s needed but I just don’t know anymore. My parents have created this picture that I don’t want to play anymore because I don’t practice at home, but I don’t have a reed to play on at all. They complain about reeds costing so much and needing to be replaced a ton, and I don’t know what to say, I try to fix the reeds they get me but they all are horrible quality because they buy off of amazon. They say that it’s probably my fault and I just don’t understand?? Is there any advice I could get?

Hey everyone, I have a couple of questions that I cant find the answer to, and it really concerns me. I am desperate and have nowhere else to turn to.

I've been playing the oboe for eight years. I'm 18 years old. I'm currently in my second year of college with a good teacher. Since my first year of college studies, I've been suspecting something's wrong with my embouchure placement. Perhaps I have the wrong embouchure, or maybe it's just not right for the oboe. I often have problems with my sound; my lips feel very uncomfortable and tight.

I can't say I sound terrible, but I've noticed that I have to work harder to get the same results as the other students. I've watched their performances, and everyone sounded very good with clear intonation. They also didn't go red from the strain of blowing, whilst I on the other hand had issues with this.

Another common problem is when I've completely mastered an etude, but the sound remains problematic (notes blur, don't hit, or are stuck). I've earned a good teacher and won first place in competitions purely through hard work and because I love music. Could you please tell me who to contact and how to tell if your embouchure is right for your instrument?

Could it be that my lips are just not suited for the oboe? I can't say they're particularly plump or oddly shaped, though.

So I have a 10 year old loree. it’s been serviced a few times, had a crack repaired, nothing too unusual and generally I adjust it myself and can fix most things.

Recently I’ve had a problem with my A being very unstable. The tuning is actually fine but it really really wants to break into the upper octave and I have not been able to figure out what is going on. There has also been some response issues in my low register that I believe is related.

Is there something obvious I’m missing?

I know it's only been a month since it released, but im thinking about buying one, for personal use and maybe for a wind orchestra in the future (I currently play Bb tuba). I'm a bit worried about the price, though. €895 for an oboe seems quite cheap, especially considering that the Yamaha YOB-241 is made from the same material, has three fewer keys, and costs about twice as much.

Does this seem like a good deal, or should I be cautious?

Hi, I've been playing the oboe and making my own reeds for a long time, but I have really struggled to get the double c crow. Usually my reeds just peep one 'C', but I can feel the reed vibrating on my lips even down past the heart when I'm playing. They play the whole range and usually very comfortably. Often while I am making them I will get some sort of crow but when it's crowing the reed feels far to flat and I have to really work to bring it up to pitch. I clip which solves the 'too flat' feeling, but then the crow is lost. The reeds feel okay to me but I will say I wish they had more of a ringing tone. For a long time I just told myself that I am just a different player with different reed preferences. Do you have thoughts on this? I've honestly done a ton of personal research, reading articles/dissertations on reeds and reed making, reading books about it, watching tons of videos on it by different makers and of course talking to whomever I can about it to get advice. I'm at the end of my rope on this, so any insights are appreciated.

I can't find fingerings for anything above Eb6. I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of a chart or something?

I have pretty bad cramps but I felt better after taking some painkillers, so I decided to practice oboe.

I only played for 5 minutes and my cramps were almost unbearable and I had to stop. It makes me so frustrated to not be able to play for a week each month. I really want to practise, especially since I have my lesson tomorrow but I haven't been able too.

Does anyone else have any tips? This sucks.