The Oboe

The oboe is a woodwind instrument with a double reed and a conical bore. Its tone is produced when the breath makes two wafer-thin scraped blades of cane vibrate against each other; the bore shapes this into a concentrated sound, rich in overtones, that many hear as particularly “speaking” and close to the human voice. Hardly any other instrument links craft and music so closely: most professional oboists make their own reeds and are constantly adjusting them. The oboe emerged around 1660 at the French court from the loud shawm, conquered opera, orchestra and chamber music in the eighteenth century, and is still the instrument the orchestra tunes to. At the same time it belongs to a worldwide family of double-reed instruments – from the Turkish zurna through the Indian shehnai to the Chinese suona.

1Overview and classification

In the Hornbostel-Sachs system the oboe belongs to the reed aerophones, more precisely to the double-reed instruments with a conical bore and keys (422.112-71). Three features determine its character:

• The double reed: two blades vibrating against each other form the sound generator – unlike the clarinet and saxophone (a single reed on a mouthpiece) or the flute (an air stream against an edge).
• The conical bore: the tube widens from the reed socket (about 3 mm) to about 16 mm before the bell. The oboe therefore overblows at the octave, like the saxophone and the bassoon, and has all the harmonic partials.
• Little air, high resistance: the tiny opening of the reed lets very little air through, so the oboe calls for a breathing technique of its own.

The oboe is in C, sounds as written and is notated in the treble clef. In the symphony orchestra there are usually two players, in late Romantic works three or four, often with a cor anglais. It is a fixed member of the wind quintet, of the wind octet (Harmoniemusik) and of the wind band, and it has an extensive solo repertoire.

2Etymology and names

The word oboe goes back to the French hautbois (“high wood” – “high” in the sense of loud or high-sounding). English turned this into hautboy and finally, by way of Italian, into oboe. In eighteenth-century German it was also written Hautbois, Hoboe or Hautboy, and military musicians were called “Hoboisten”. Today: English oboe, French hautbois, Italian oboe, Spanish oboe, Russian goboi, Chinese 双簧管 (shuānghuángguǎn, “double-reed pipe”), Japanese オーボエ (ōboe).

3Double-reed instruments around the world

Double-reed instruments are ancient and found worldwide. Many are played with a lip disc (a pirouette) on which the reed vibrates freely in the mouth, which makes them very loud and well suited to outdoor music, festivals and ceremonies.

Instrument	Region	Features and use
Aulos	Ancient Greece	a double pipe, usually with a double reed; theatre, ritual, competitions
Zurna / sornai / surla	Turkey, Iran, the Balkans, the Caucasus	a loud conical oboe with a pirouette, played with the bass drum (davul) at weddings and festivals; circular breathing is usual
Mizmar	The Arab world	folk music in Egypt and North Africa
Shehnai	North India	a wedding and temple instrument, brought into classical Hindustani music by Ustad Bismillah Khan (1916–2006, Bharat Ratna)
Nadaswaram	South India	a very large, loud temple instrument of Carnatic music
Suona	China	a conical oboe with a metal bell; weddings, funerals, opera; also in the modern Chinese orchestra
Hichiriki / piri	Japan / Korea	cylindrical double-reed instruments with a large reed; gagaku and Korean court music
Duduk	Armenia, the Caucasus	apricot wood and a very wide reed; a soft, plaintive sound; UNESCO cultural heritage (2005, 2008)
Bombarde	Brittany	a short, loud oboe; played with the bagpipe (biniou) in the bagad
Dulzaina, gralla, tible	Spain, Catalonia	folk music and sardana bands (the cobla)
Shawm	Medieval Europe	the immediate forerunner of the oboe

These instruments show that the oboe is no isolated European phenomenon but the refined, quieter branch of a worldwide family.

4History

The shawm

In medieval and early modern Europe the shawm was the most important double-reed instrument: turned in one piece, with a wide bell, often with a pirouette, and very loud. In various sizes (descant, alto and tenor shawm, and the bombard) it formed, with trombones, the “alta cappella” of town musicians and court bands who played at festivals, processions and dances in the open air.

The hautbois at the court of Louis XIV

Between about 1657 and 1670, musicians and makers at the French court – above all Jean Hotteterre and Michel Danican Philidor – developed a new instrument from the shawm: the hautbois. The decisive innovations were these:

• The oboe was built in three sections (top joint, lower joint, bell), with a narrower bore and smaller finger holes.
• The pirouette was dropped: the reed was taken directly between the lips, which made dynamics, colour and intonation controllable.
• Two or three keys (for C4 and E♭4, the latter duplicated for left- and right-handed playing) widened the possibilities.

Jean-Baptiste Lully used the new oboe in court ballet and opera; his ballet L’Amour malade (1657) is considered one of the earliest works in which it is thought to appear. By about 1680 it had spread across Europe: to England (Purcell), the Netherlands (Richard Haka, Jan Steenbergen), Germany (Johann Christoph Denner, Jacob Denner, Johann Heinrich Eichentopf) and Italy.

The baroque oboe

The baroque oboe had a wide bore, large finger holes and two or three keys, and was played chromatically using cross fingerings and half-covered holes. It was considered especially voice-like and became the leading woodwind instrument of the Baroque: Bach used it in more than 200 cantata movements, often as an obbligato partner to the voice. Pitch standards varied by place between about 392 Hz (French chamber pitch) and 440 Hz; today baroque music is usually played at 415 Hz.

The Classical period and the early nineteenth century

From about 1760 the bore became narrower and the sound brighter and more agile; the “classical oboe” (by Grundmann in Dresden or Delerablée in Paris, for instance) was the instrument of Mozart and Haydn. Around 1800 further keys were added (A♭, B♭, F, later octave keys). National styles of building emerged: in Germany and Austria the oboe kept a wider bore and a darker sound (Josef Sellner, Stephan Koch in Vienna), while in France it became narrower and brighter.

Triébert and the conservatoire system

The Paris workshop of the Triébert family (Guillaume, later Frédéric Triébert) developed the modern oboe step by step between about 1840 and 1880. Frédéric Triébert’s système 6 (around 1875) was taken further by François Lorée in 1881/82 and established as the standard by Georges Gillet at the Paris Conservatoire – hence the name conservatoire system. Its main features are ring keys, two octave keys, the forked F resonance key, duplicated E♭ keys and a low B♭. During the twentieth century it became the world standard; German makers (Mönnig, Kreul, Püchner), Marigaux in France and later Yamaha in Japan all build to it today.

The Viennese oboe

Vienna kept a tradition of its own: the Viennese oboe descends from nineteenth-century instruments (Koch, Sellner) and was developed further by Josef Hajek and later Hermann Zuleger. It has a wider bore, a narrower reed socket, a differently scraped reed, a different fingering system and a characteristically darker, rounder sound with a striking tone in the low register. The Vienna Philharmonic and other Viennese orchestras still play it; its sound is considered part of the “Viennese sound”.

The twentieth and twenty-first centuries

• 1904 Wilhelm Heckel presents the heckelphone, a baritone oboe an octave below the oboe.
• 1920s–1950s Léon Goossens (London) establishes a new ideal of sound with a singing, vibrato-rich tone; Marcel Tabuteau (Philadelphia) founds the American school with its long scrape.
• 1945 Richard Strauss composes his Oboe Concerto, prompted by the American soldier and oboist John de Lancie.
• from 1960 Heinz Holliger extends the technique (multiphonics, circular breathing) and inspires works by Berio, Henze, Lutosławski, Carter, Ligeti and others.
• from 1970 Historically informed performance revives the baroque and classical oboe.
• since 2000 New materials (plastic liners to prevent cracks), new reed materials and digital measurement in instrument making.

5Construction

The parts of the modern oboe

Part	Function
Reed (double reed)	the sound generator: two blades of cane bound onto a metal staple with a cork sleeve; usually 70–74 mm in total length
Top joint	the beginning of the conical bore, the left-hand finger holes, the octave keys and the half hole
Lower joint	the right-hand finger holes, the F keys, the E♭ keys and the thumb rest
Bell	the end of the bore; it shapes the low B and B♭; usually with a resonance hole
Mechanism	depending on the model about 20–45 keys, rings and levers of silver- or gold-plated nickel silver; flat and needle springs; pads of cork, leather or synthetic material

The bore is turned to high precision; deviations of a few hundredths of a millimetre already change intonation and response. Many makers fit a plastic or carbon liner into the top joint to prevent cracks caused by moisture and changes of temperature.

Key systems

System	Features	Where it is used
Conservatoire, semi-automatic	two octave keys, partly automatic and partly switched deliberately; better control in the high register	the standard in Germany and many countries
Conservatoire, fully automatic	the octave keys switch automatically; fewer movements, slightly less flexibility	France, the USA
Thumbplate system	a thumb plate instead of a ring key for the left hand	the United Kingdom (traditionally)
Viennese system	its own bore, fingerings and reeds	Vienna
Children’s and beginner models	reduced mechanism, often without the low B♭ key; also smaller “junior oboes” in C or E♭	music schools

Important features of professional instruments are the third octave key (for the highest notes), the F resonance key (which improves the forked F), the left F and left E♭, the low B♭ key, the trill keys (C6/D6, C♯6/D♯6), the “banana key” (on some models, for right-hand transitions) and occasionally the low A key (special instruments for works such as Mahler’s symphonies, which call for a low A).

Woods and materials

Material	Properties
Grenadilla (Dalbergia melanoxylon)	African blackwood; very dense, oily and dimensionally stable; the standard material. Since 2019 finished instruments are no longer subject to the strict CITES restrictions, but the wood is becoming scarcer
Cocobolo, rosewood, violetwood	a warmer, sometimes sweeter colour, and a different appearance
Boxwood	a pale wood; historic oboes and reproductions
Plastic (ABS, resin)	crack-proof and easy to care for; student instruments, outdoor use
Wood composites	such as “Green Line” material (grenadilla powder with carbon fibre and epoxy resin, Buffet Crampon) – crack-proof with a wood-like sound

6The reed

The reed is the soul of the oboe. It determines colour, response, intonation and dynamic range more than the instrument itself. That is why professional oboists spend a large part of their working time making reeds.

Material

Reeds are made from giant cane (Arundo donax), a grass that grows up to five metres tall. The best quality traditionally comes from the south of France (the Var, around Fréjus), and also from Spain, Italy, Argentina, California and China. Harvested cane is dried and stored for several years, then sorted by diameter (usually 10–11 mm for oboe), wall thickness, hardness and grain.

The stages of the work

1. Splitting: the cane is split lengthways into three pieces.
2. Pre-gouging (guillotining): the pieces are cut to length and worked on the outside.
3. Gouging: a gouging machine brings the inside to an even wall thickness of about 0.55–0.62 mm – the most important basis for quality.
4. Shaping: the folded cane is cut to its outline with a shaper tip; the shape affects breadth of tone, pitch and response.
5. Tying on: the two halves are bound to the staple with nylon or silk thread, the length is fixed (usually 70–74 mm) and the sides are sealed.
6. Scraping: with a sharp reed knife the tip, heart, back, channels and sides are worked to hundredths of a millimetre.
7. Clipping the tip, then fine adjustment according to crow, response and intonation.
8. Breaking in: a new reed changes in the first few days and is adjusted step by step.

The scrape

Style	Features	Where it is used
Short scrape (V or W shape)	a short scraped area with plenty of cane in the back; a darker, compact and stable sound	Germany, Austria, Europe
Long scrape (U shape, the “American scrape”)	a long scraped area with a thin tip and a clearly defined heart; flexible and rich in colour	the USA (the tradition after Marcel Tabuteau)
French scrape	between the two, with a bright sound	France
Viennese reed	a different shape and staple, for the Viennese oboe	Vienna

The crow

A finished reed is blown on its own (“crowed”). A good oboe reed then produces a sound containing several octaves at once, whose main pitch lies at about C5 to C6 depending on the school. Reeds that crow too high are often too hard or too short, those that crow too low too light or too open.

Bought reeds, tools and costs

Beginners play ready-made reeds (cane reeds about €20–35 each; synthetic reeds such as Légère or Fibercane are an alternative). From about the third to fifth year of lessons, students learn to adjust reeds; from advanced level they make their own. The basic kit is a reed knife, cutting block, mandrel, plaque, thread, staples and a shaper tip (about €150–400); gouging machines cost €1,000–3,000 and are often provided by music schools or conservatoires. With regular playing a reed lasts about two to six weeks.

7Acoustics and sound

The double reed acts as a pressure-controlled valve: the overpressure in the mouth presses the two blades together and closes the opening; the elasticity of the blades and the pressure wave returning from the instrument open it again. The air column determines the frequency at which this happens. The reed opening closes almost completely with every cycle, which produces a spectrum rich in overtones.

Because the bore is a truncated cone, the oboe behaves acoustically much like a tube open at both ends: it has both even and odd partials and overblows at the octave. The spectrum shows characteristic formants – frequency bands with reinforced partials – at around 1,000–1,500 Hz and around 3,000 Hz. They resemble the vowel formants of the voice and explain the “nasal”, speaking sound and the oboe’s excellent carrying power in the orchestra.

Air consumption is low: a long note uses considerably less air than on the flute. As a result, unused, carbon-dioxide-rich air is often left in the lungs at the end of a phrase. Oboists therefore have to breathe out deliberately before breathing in – a breathing technique of its own.

8Range and registers

Register	Range	Character	Technique
Low	B♭3 – E4	strong and astringent, hard to play pianissimo	relaxed lips, plenty of reed in the mouth
Middle	F4 – C6	the “core register”: vocal and the most flexible	the half hole and the first octave key
High	C♯6 – G6	bright, becoming thinner	the second and third octave keys, cross fingerings
Extreme	A♭6 – C7	difficult, cutting	special fingerings; solo and new music

In the orchestra the principal oboist traditionally gives the A for tuning (usually 440–443 Hz). The reasons are that the note is easy to hear, that its pitch is stable, and historically that the oboe can alter its tuning least.

9The oboe family

Instrument	Key	Sounds	Features and repertoire
Oboe musette (piccolo oboe)	E♭ or F	a minor third or a fourth higher	rare; new music
Oboe	C	as written	the standard instrument
Oboe d’amore	A	a minor third lower	a bulb bell (Liebesfuß); Bach (over 70 cantatas, the Mass in B minor, the Christmas Oratorio), Telemann; Ravel’s Boléro, Strauss’s Symphonia domestica
Oboe da caccia	F	a fifth lower	curved, with a brass bell; Bach (the St John Passion, the St Matthew Passion, the Christmas Oratorio)
Cor anglais	F	a fifth lower	a bulb bell and a curved crook; Dvořák’s Symphony no. 9 (Largo), Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (Act 3), Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, Rossini’s William Tell, Sibelius’s The Swan of Tuonela
Bass oboe (baritone oboe)	C	an octave lower	Holst’s The Planets
Heckelphone	C	an octave lower	a wider bore and a spherical bell; Strauss’s Salome, Elektra and An Alpine Symphony; Hindemith’s Trio

The German name Englischhorn and the French cor anglais have never been explained with certainty; a common reading derives them from “cor angélique” (angelic horn, after depictions of angels with similar instruments) or “cor anglé” (angled horn, after the instrument’s formerly curved shape). The instrument has nothing to do with England.

10Technique

Posture

The oboe is held at an angle of about 30 to 45 degrees away from the body. The weight rests on the right thumb beneath the thumb rest; a neck strap or a thumb cushion takes some of the load. The elbows hang loosely away from the body and the fingers are curved and close to the keys.

Embouchure

The lips lie lightly over the teeth and enclose the reed roundly and elastically – not biting, but supporting it from every side. How much reed is in the mouth, the pressure of the lips and the shape of the mouth cavity (an “o” or “ü” vowel position) control the sound and the intonation. Low notes need more reed and less pressure, high notes less reed and firmer lips.

Breathing

The basis is a deep, calm intake of breath and constant support, because the resistance is high. Because so little air is used, stale air has to be breathed out before the next breath in. Many oboists master circular breathing, in which they breathe in through the nose while the cheeks continue to push air into the reed.

Articulation

The tip of the tongue touches the tip of the reed or the lower lip. There are soft and hard attacks, double tonguing (“t-k”) and triple tonguing. Because of the resistance, tongue and air have to be coordinated precisely so that notes speak cleanly.

Vibrato

Oboe vibrato is produced mainly from the diaphragm and the breath support, in some schools with the throat or lips as well. It depends on style: sparing and ornamental in the Baroque, differentiated in Classical and Romantic music, colourful in French repertoire.

Extended techniques

Multiphonics, flutter tonguing, glissandi, quarter tones and microtones, double trills, harmonics, key noises, playing on the reed alone, singing while playing, and circular breathing. These were opened up above all by Heinz Holliger and by works such as Luciano Berio’s Sequenza VII (1969); the handbook The Techniques of Oboe Playing by Peter Veale and Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf documents them systematically.

11Schools, teaching and methods

Tradition	Representatives	Features
The French school	Georges Gillet, Fernand Gillet, Pierre Pierlot, Maurice Bourgue	a bright, agile tone with a fine vibrato; the Paris Conservatoire
The German school	Fritz Flemming, Lothar Koch, Helmut Winschermann, Ingo Goritzki	a darker, rounder tone and a short scrape
The English school	Léon Goossens, Evelyn Rothwell, Janet Craxton	a singing tone with vibrato, the thumbplate system
The American school	Marcel Tabuteau (Philadelphia, Curtis Institute), John de Lancie, John Mack, Ray Still	a long scrape and Tabuteau’s system of phrasing “by numbers”
The Viennese school	Alexander Wunderer, Hans Kamesch, Karl Mayrhofer	the Viennese oboe and its own tonal tradition
Switzerland, international	Heinz Holliger	new music, extending the technique

Studies and methods

Level	Works
Beginners	oboe methods (Christian Schneider’s Oboe spielen mit Spaß, Gudrun Hinze’s Die Oboe, Evelyn Rothwell’s A Tune a Day and The Oboist’s Companion, Essential Elements)
Lower and intermediate levels	Franz Wilhelm Ferling’s 48 Studies op. 31 (the standard work), Henri Brod’s studies, Albert Andraud’s Vade Mecum of the Oboist, Salviani
Advanced	Ferling op. 12, Gillet’s Études pour l’enseignement supérieur du hautbois, Pasculli’s 15 Caprices, Luft’s 24 Studies
Technique	scales and arpeggios (the Sellner method, Hinke), harmonic exercises
Reed making	handbooks (David Weber’s Oboe Reeds: How to Make and Adjust Them, Jay Light’s Essays for Oboists)

12Repertoire

Baroque

Composer	Work
Henry Purcell	oboe obbligatos in odes and operas
Tomaso Albinoni	oboe concertos from op. 7 and op. 9 (especially op. 9 no. 2 in D minor)
Alessandro and Benedetto Marcello	the Oboe Concerto in D minor (Alessandro Marcello; Bach arranged it for harpsichord, BWV 974)
Antonio Vivaldi	around 20 oboe concertos (RV 447–465) and concertos for two oboes
George Frideric Handel	the oboe concertos HWV 301, 302a and 287; trio sonatas; sonatas
Georg Philipp Telemann	concertos (in E minor and F minor among others), sonatas, the 12 Fantasias (played on oboe), concertos for oboe d’amore
Johann Sebastian Bach	Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C minor BWV 1060R; the reconstructed concertos in F major and A major for oboe d’amore; countless cantata obbligatos (such as “Ich habe genug” BWV 82); the Sinfonia of Cantata BWV 156
Jan Dismas Zelenka	trio sonatas for two oboes and bassoon

The Classical period

Composer	Work
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	Oboe Concerto in C major K. 314 (1777, for Giuseppe Ferlendis; later arranged as the Flute Concerto in D major); Oboe Quartet in F major K. 370 (for Friedrich Ramm); serenades and divertimenti for winds (K. 361 “Gran Partita”, K. 375, K. 388)
Joseph Haydn (attributed)	Oboe Concerto in C major Hob. VIIg:C1 (authenticity doubted)
Ludwig van Beethoven	Trio in C major op. 87 for two oboes and cor anglais; Variations on “Là ci darem la mano” WoO 28; Octet op. 103
Ludwig August Lebrun, Johann Christian Fischer, Franz Krommer, Jan Václav Kalliwoda, Vincenzo Bellini	concertos and solo works

The Romantic period

Composer	Work
Robert Schumann	Three Romances op. 94 (1849)
Jan Václav Kalliwoda	Morceau de salon op. 228; Concertino
Antonio Pasculli	concert fantasias on operas by Donizetti and Verdi (the “Paganini of the oboe”)
Carl Nielsen	Two Fantasy Pieces op. 2
Camille Saint-Saëns	Sonata in D major op. 166 (1921)
Charles Colin, Georges Gillet	concert pieces for the Paris Conservatoire

The twentieth and twenty-first centuries

Composer	Work
Richard Strauss	Oboe Concerto in D major (1945)
Ralph Vaughan Williams	Oboe Concerto in A minor (1944)
Bohuslav Martinů	Oboe Concerto (1955)
Paul Hindemith	Sonata (1938)
Francis Poulenc	Sonata (1962); Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano (1926)
Benjamin Britten	Six Metamorphoses after Ovid op. 49 (1951) for solo oboe; Temporal Variations
Henri Dutilleux	Sonata (1947)
Bernd Alois Zimmermann	Oboe Concerto (1952)
Luciano Berio	Sequenza VII (1969)
Witold Lutosławski	Double Concerto for Oboe and Harp (1980, for Heinz and Ursula Holliger)
Elliott Carter	Oboe Concerto (1987)
Isang Yun	Piri for solo oboe (1971); Concerto
Heinz Holliger	Studie über Mehrklänge; Sonata
Kalevi Aho, Wolfgang Rihm, James MacMillan, Thomas Adès	concertos and solo works of the present day

Chamber music

The wind quintet (Reicha, Danzi, Nielsen op. 43, Hindemith op. 24/2, Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles, Barber’s Summer Music); wind serenades and Harmoniemusik (Mozart, Beethoven, Dvořák op. 44, Strauss); quintets with piano (Mozart K. 452, Beethoven op. 16); the trio with bassoon and piano (Poulenc); the oboe quartet (Mozart); and baroque trio sonatas.

Orchestral solos and audition excerpts

Work	Passage
Bach, St Matthew Passion	obbligatos, among them “Ich will bei meinem Jesu wachen”
Beethoven, Symphony no. 3	the funeral march
Beethoven, Symphony no. 5	the cadenza in the first movement
Beethoven, Symphony no. 6	the scene by the brook, and the merry gathering
Brahms, Violin Concerto	the opening of the Adagio
Brahms, Symphony no. 1	the second movement
Rossini, La scala di seta	the overture
Schubert, Symphony no. 9	the second movement
Tchaikovsky, Symphony no. 4	the second movement
Bizet, Symphony in C major	the Adagio
Mahler, Symphony no. 1	the solos in the third movement
Ravel, Le Tombeau de Couperin	the Prélude and Menuet
Stravinsky, Pulcinella	the Serenata
Prokofiev, Peter and the Wolf	the duck

13The oboe beyond classical music

In jazz and pop the oboe is rare but present: Yusef Lateef, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Paul McCandless (Oregon, the Paul Winter Consort) and Bob Cooper played it in jazz; in film music (Ennio Morricone’s Gabriel’s Oboe from The Mission, 1986; John Williams, Howard Shore), musical theatre and pop arrangements it is used for melancholy and pastoral colours. In world music projects it meets related instruments such as the duduk, zurna and shehnai.

14Leading oboists

Period	Names
18th century	Giuseppe Sammartini, Johann Christian Fischer, Friedrich Ramm, Ludwig August Lebrun, Giuseppe Ferlendis
19th century	Henri Brod, Apollon Barret, Antonio Pasculli, Georges Gillet
Early 20th century	Léon Goossens, Marcel Tabuteau, Fernand Gillet, Evelyn Rothwell
Mid-20th century	Pierre Pierlot, Lothar Koch, Helmut Winschermann, John de Lancie, Ray Still, Manfred Clement
Late 20th century	Heinz Holliger, Maurice Bourgue, Hansjörg Schellenberger, Ingo Goritzki, Douglas Boyd, Jonathan Kelly
The present day	Albrecht Mayer, François Leleux, Ramón Ortega Quero, Céline Moinet, Nicholas Daniel, Olivier Stankiewicz, Cristina Gómez Godoy, Katharina Andres
Historical oboe	Paul Dombrecht, Alfredo Bernardini, Marcel Ponseele, Xenia Löffler, Katharina Spreckelsen

15Training and competitions

The oboe is taught at every conservatoire, usually with the cor anglais as a second instrument and reed making as a fixed part of the course. Important competitions: the ARD International Music Competition (Munich), the Tokyo International Oboe Competition (Sony), the Gillet-Fox Competition of the International Double Reed Society (IDRS), the Concours international de hautbois de Paris, the Barbirolli International Oboe Competition (Isle of Man), the Pasculli Competition (Italy) and the German youth competition “Jugend musiziert”. The IDRS is the international association of double-reed players.

16Buying and costs

Category	Guide price (new)	Notes
Children’s oboe, student instrument	about €1,500–3,500	plastic or wood, with a reduced or semi-automatic mechanism; rental about €30–50 a month
Instrument for degree study	about €4,000–7,000	grenadilla, semi-automatic, third octave key
Professional instrument	about €7,000–13,000	hand-selected wood, individually adjusted
Cor anglais	about €6,000–15,000	for advanced players
Reeds	about €20–35 each; reed-making tools from about €150	budget for the running costs

17Care and maintenance

• After every session, dry the top joint, lower joint and bell with a silk pull-through; remove condensation from the tone holes (especially the octave keys) with absorbent paper under the pads.
• The reed should be rinsed and kept in an airy reed case, never left in the instrument.
• Breaking in a new wooden instrument: play only 10 to 20 minutes a day for the first few weeks and increase slowly; this reduces the risk of cracks.
• Climate: avoid sudden drops in temperature, and warm the instrument in your hand or under your arm before playing. Never play hard straight away on a cold instrument.
• Corks should be lightly greased; do not oil or bend the mechanism yourself – adjust the screws only under your teacher’s guidance.
• Workshop: a check-up about once a year, a full overhaul every 5 to 10 years depending on use; have cracks treated at once (pinning, gluing).

18Health

The high blowing resistance puts a strain on the lip and facial muscles and creates pressure in the head and neck. Regular breaks, a reed that is not too hard, good breathing technique and breathing out stale air are therefore important. Braces often call for a period of adjustment. For persistent problems, clinics specialising in musicians’ medicine are the right place to turn.

19Learning the oboe

Stage	Content
The first weeks	posture, embouchure, crowing the reed, breathing, the first notes in the middle register (G4–C5)
Year 1	a range of D4–D5, simple songs, tonguing, legato, the half hole, reading music
Years 2–3	C4–C6, scales up to three sharps or flats, the octave key, dynamics, ensemble and wind band playing
Years 4–5	the full range, vibrato, the Ferling studies, baroque sonatas (Handel, Telemann), adjusting reeds
Advanced	the Mozart concerto, Schumann’s Romances, double tonguing, making your own reeds, orchestral playing, cor anglais
Preparing for a degree course	the Strauss concerto, Poulenc, Britten, orchestral excerpts, complete reed making

Practising 20 to 30 minutes a day makes more sense for beginners than long sessions – not least because the lip muscles and the breath need time to build up stamina. Many start on the recorder and change at nine to eleven.

20The oboe at Cuxhaven Music School

The oboe is part of what we teach. We advise on choosing a suitable instrument to rent or buy, introduce students step by step to working with the reed and on to making their own, and bring them into our ensembles early on. Related pages: flute and recorder.

21Frequently asked questions

Is the oboe really that difficult?

The first notes often come more quickly than on the flute. What is demanding is the reed, the blowing pressure and the intonation – all manageable with regular lessons.

Do I have to make my own reeds?

Not at the beginning; bought reeds are fine. From intermediate level it is worth learning to adjust them, and later to make your own, because it improves sound and control decisively.

Why does the orchestra tune to the oboe?

Because its tone carries and is easy to hear, and its pitch is less easily altered than that of many other instruments.

What is the difference between an oboe and a clarinet?

The oboe has a double reed and a conical bore and overblows at the octave; the clarinet has a single reed on a mouthpiece, a largely cylindrical bore, and overblows at the twelfth.

Why has the cor anglais nothing to do with England?

The name is probably a corruption of French terms (“cor angélique” or “cor anglé”) – the instrument comes from continental Europe.

From what age can you start?

With a children’s oboe from about eight or nine, with a normal instrument usually from ten or eleven. Hand size and breath capacity are what matter.

Is the oboe loud for the neighbours?

It carries well, but it is far quieter than a trumpet or a drum kit; ordinary practice in a flat is generally no problem.

22Glossary

Scrape

The shaved area of the reed; its shape (short or long) governs the sound.

Conservatoire system

The key system in general use today, after Triébert and Lorée.

Double reed

Two blades of cane vibrating against each other.

Shape

The outline of the reed.

Forked F

An alternative fingering for F, improved by a resonance key.

Half hole

The partly opened finger hole of the left index finger.

Staple

The metal tube with a cork sleeve onto which the reed is tied.

Gouging

Thinning the inside of the cane to an even wall.

Crowing

Blowing the reed on its own to check its quality.

Bulb bell

The pear-shaped bell of the oboe d’amore and cor anglais.

Octave key

A key for overblowing to the upper octave.

Giant cane

Arundo donax, the raw material for oboe reeds.

Pirouette

The lip disc on the shawm, zurna and suona.

Shawm

The medieval forerunner of the oboe.

Viennese oboe

The distinct Austrian design with a darker sound.

Circular breathing

Breathing in through the nose without interrupting the note.

23Sources and further reading

• Geoffrey Burgess, Bruce Haynes: The Oboe. Yale University Press, New Haven 2004.
• Bruce Haynes: The Eloquent Oboe. A History of the Hautboy 1640–1760. Oxford University Press 2001.
• Peter Veale, Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf: The Techniques of Oboe Playing. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1994.
• Philip Bate: The Oboe. An Outline of its History, Development and Construction. Benn, London, 3rd edn 1975.
• Evelyn Rothwell: Oboe Technique. Oxford University Press.
• David Weber: Oboe Reeds: How to Make and Adjust Them. Instrumentalist.
• Neville H. Fletcher, Thomas D. Rossing: The Physics of Musical Instruments. Springer 1998.
• International Double Reed Society: the journal The Double Reed.
• Article “Oboe” in: MGG; “Oboe” in: Grove Music Online.

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Last updated: September 2026 · Musikpedia editorial team, Cuxhaven Music School